Connecting with Alumni
Our alumni form a powerful, worldwide network.
With more than 36,000 Wisconsin School of Business alumni living and working around the world, our alumni relations program strives to:
- Draw on the talents of alumni to help recruit, employ and mentor students and contribute to our instructional mission, and
- Develop esprit de corps among alumni, creating a network with a strong reputation both internally and externally
Over the past year, a primary focus has been better engaging alumni who are national business leaders to involve them in our mission and help them connect with each other. The CEO Summit and other targeted events have been part of this effort. We believe this greater involvement by high-achieving alumni can play an important role in elevating the school’s national reputation.
Another focus has been on building a culture and providing the tools to encourage all alumni to better connect with each other to make Wisconsin Business Alumni an even more powerful network. Over the past year, we have worked to improve and better target resources provided to alumni and students. A new and much-improved online alumni directory was developed during the year. This new resource, set to launch the end of 2007, will provide more of a “social networking”’ tool for alumni than was possible previously.
Other recent alumni relations efforts have focused on encouraging more alumni to participate at any level of giving, with specific emphasis on supporting the school’s Annual Fund. Our goal is to have a 20% overall participation rate by 2010, comparable to that of other top business schools.
Recognizing Achievement
In 2006-07, three outstanding alumni received the school’s
Distinguished Business Alumnus Award:
Phill Gross, BBA ’82, MS ‘83
Co-founder and managing director, Adage Capital Management
Paul Leff, BBA ’83, MS ‘84
Co-founder and chief investment officer, Perry Partners, Ltd.
Bruce R. Ellig, BBA ’59 , MBA ‘60
Corporate vice president, worldwide human resources (retired) Pfizer, Inc.
Susan Chapman, MBA '98 (pictured above), Global Head of Operations for Citigroup Realty Services, exemplifies how alumni can make a difference. She serves on the school's Dean's Advisory Board, is active in the real estate program and regularly recruits new students to our programs.
Gifts to Annual Fund |
|||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| $992,202 | $1,296,374 | $1,104,219 | $1,166,472 |
Looking Ahead
Expanded alumni involvement opportunities— through networking events, recruiting opportunities, in-person meetings and giving campaigns based on location and/or company, are being developed. A major new matching campaign for the Annual Fund is being launched in fall 2007, with the goal of significantly increasing the participation rate in annual giving by Wisconsin School of Business alumni.