2015 - 2016 Alumni Association Annual Report

Dear SOM Alumni,

I hope 2016 is treating you well! I am excited and sad as I write this letter to you. Excited, because this letter is coming to you in our first ever Yale School of Management Alumni Association Annual Report. Sad, because my term as President of the SOMAA ends this month.

First, I want to give a big shout-out to everyone who has stepped forward to help our Alumni Association be more responsive to alumni needs and engage an increasing number of alumni in SOMAA. Whether serving in a leadership capacity for one of our 53 Global Chapters, organizing a chapter event, helping SOM with admissions or career development activities, or voting in our annual Board election, I deeply appreciate these meaningful and welcome contributions to our alumni community.

Pam Farr ‘78President Yale School of Management Alumni Association (SOMAA)

Letter from the President

With a truly global base of more than 7,300 alumni that is growing by more than 350 each year, there remains much more we can do together to support and stay connected with each other and the school. Over the last two years, the Board has been engaged in a strategic planning effort to find new ways to serve the needs of our expanding and increasingly diverse alumni community. That plan is still in development but you can read more about some exciting changes in this report and in future communications. This Annual Report also provides information on initiatives and events sponsored by our chapters and alumni worldwide, as well as a glimpse of what’s to come next year.

It has been an extraordinary and wonderful experience for me to lead this amazing organization for the last two years. As a member of the Charter Class, I have felt privileged to get to know alumni who have passed through SOM’s halls over four decades. Despite the changes and growth the school has experienced, in my view SOM’s students, deans, faculty and staff remain dedicated to the founding principles and values of our school.

I know you’ll be in good hands under the leadership of incoming SOMAA President Suzanne Francis ’80 and her leadership team. I urge you to get involved with SOMAA in whatever way you can. Whether in a leadership capacity or as a participant in the myriad of alumni activities, staying connected with classmates and meeting other SOM alums is truly rewarding and enriching.

I hope you enjoy our first Yale School of Management Alumni Association Annual Report.

With warmest regards,Pam Farr ‘78President, SOMAA

All images on this page photo credit: Tony Rinaldo

The Yale School of Management Alumni Association (SOMAA) was established to promote lifelong connections among alumni and between alumni and the school.

Participation in a local chapter is a rewarding way for alumni to stay connected with SOM and each other. We have an impressive network of global chapters led by dedicated local alumni and supported by the SOM Office of Alumni Relations. (If you aren’t already connected to an SOM local chapter — or want to connect with a chapter when traveling, please go to http://alumni.som.yale.edu/connect/chapters. Click on chapters for a complete list.)

All of our chapters share a strong commitment to helping alumni engage with SOM, greater Yale, and Global Network communities. Chapters reg-ularly host dean, faculty, and alumni presentations. Local chapters tailor social gatherings, career networking,

Admissions

SOM alumni continue to play a vital role in the school’s Admissions efforts. In addition to encouraging prospective students to apply, alumni have also attended recruiting events around the world and have engaged with prospects as they consider the school.

SOM alumni have made hundreds of calls welcoming admitted students to the community, and supported scholarships to help the school attract top MBA talent. In the coming year, SOM Admissions will launch new initiatives to encourage alumni to refer strong candidates to the school, as well as work with alumni to host information sessions for potential applicants at employer worksites.

Global Chapters

This May, we look forward to welcoming the 38th SOM class to our current alumni community of more than 7,300 individuals. As our numbers grow, SOMAA’s importance to the School grows as well. SOM recognizes the remarkable difference fostering lifelong alumni engagement can mean in the vitality and success of its ongoing academic mission. SOMAA is the School’s most important tool in furthering such engagement.Created, supported and largely financed by SOM, with the additional support of volunteers around the globe, SOMAA is an independent voice for alumni interests in every aspect of the life of the School. We are committed to promoting a vibrant community of personal, professional and intellectual connections within Yale, in our local communities, across management

fields and across sectors. The activities of the Association are guided by the desire to strengthen these ties and increase meaningful engagement with the School in all phases of professional and personal life. We also serve as a direct action clearinghouse that connects interested alumni with opportunities to work with students, faculty, Admis-sions, the Career Development Office (CDO), the Office of Alumni Relations at SOM, the Association of Yale Alumni (AYA) and the greater Yale community.This Annual Report, the first prepared by SOMAA, illustrates some of the ways the Association’s activities over the past year have furthered SOM’s core mission of educating leaders for business and society.

student treks, and service opportunities to reflect their unique locale and to support local alumni interests. Last year, SOMAA chapters sponsored more than 170 events developed locally and in collaboration with the Office of Alumni Relations.

During 2015-2016, alumni had the opportunity to return to the classroom to participate in the following:

• Dean Ted Snyder and Professor Kyle Jenson’s presentation on SOM’s exciting Entrepreneurship offerings.

• Nobel Laureate Robert Schiller’s discussion on Irrational Exuberance.

• Professor Amy Wrzesnieski’s analysis of how people make meaning of their work in difficult contexts.

• A panel discussion led by former Dean Jeff Garten on “Globalization, The Next Phase”.

• Senior Associate Dean David Bach’s case study of “Management Beyond Markets”.

• Professor Tony Sheldon’s talk on Social Enterprise.

SOMAA’s Mission and Purpose

Photo credit: Tony Rinaldo

Photo credit: Tony Rinaldo

Alumnus Jay Readey, ‘04 hosted a program on “Innovation Houses,” where as part of his Presidential Scholar Program, Jay led an effort to re-purpose vacant houses and revitalize communities in distressed Chicago neighborhoods. In Santa Monica, alumnus Lazlo Bock, ‘99, Sr. Vice President of People Operations at Google, led a discussion of his book “Work Rules! Insights from Google that will Transform How You Live and Lead”.

Events hosted jointly with other Yale schools or interest groups focused on social finance; using private investment to improve land and water environmental performance; and advancing women in leadership roles and increasing their presence on corporate boards.

2016 promises more opportunities to connect or volunteer through your local chapter. Just visit the Alumni website at alumni.som.yale.edu. Click on Events or Chapters.

Board 13%

Chapter 53%

Program 34%

Career Development

Career Development at SOM isn’t just about providing resources and support for the job search process for current students; it serves the entire alumni community as well. SOMAA has worked closely with the School over the last year, examining how these services can best meet the needs of our increasingly diverse alumni community. With an average age of 45 and graduating classes spanning nearly four decades, alumni can be found at every career stage. The Career Development Office can help provide resources to alumni seeking jobs and advice to alumni transitioning between sectors and industries. With the Career Development staff, SOMAA has been building programs for SOMers in their “Third Act,” including guidance on identifying and

Marketing and Outreach

SOMAA is constantly looking for new ways to improve SOM alumni engage-ment. The Board works closely with SOM’s Marketing & Communications and Alumni Relations departments to support their efforts.We began several important initiatives over the last year as we looked for the most effective ways to stay in touch with our wide-flung — and all too busy! — fellow alums. During 2015, SOMAA’s Marketing & Outreach Committee focused on the following activities:• Conducting the bi-annual SOMAA

alumni survey, compiling and analyzing the results and presenting to the Board a set of recommendations on how to better engage our alumni base.

• Helping SOM in the redesign of the Alumni website, which went live March 2016

• Creating the inaugural issue of the SOMAA Annual Report, which you are reading now!

Strategic Review of the SOMAA

Since 2014, Board members have dedicated considerable time to a comprehensive strategic review. Several task forces were organized to determine how and where SOMAA can best focus its resources and efforts to better serve alumni and SOM.An initial benchmarking study examined the practices of alumni organizations in ten peer management schools. Questionnaires and interviews provided useful data and background information from administrators who work with alumni. We learned that SOM, as is often the case, is unique in sponsoring and supporting an alumni association governed by an independently nomi-nated and elected board. With these findings in mind, our strategic review resulted in the adoption of several initiatives by the Board.

Treasurer’s Report

The Treasurer of SOMAA has two main responsibilities: responding to requests from local SOMAA chapters, SIGs and student groups for funding, and reporting to the Board on spend-ing levels and patterns vs. its budget.SOMAA derives its modest budget of approximately $52,000 from two sources: the School’s direct financial support and fees derived from chap-ter events. This amount, however, represents only a small fraction of the more than $1 million spent by the School in support of Alumni Affairs activities in the last fiscal year.The Board, through its Funding & Investment Task Force, has analyzed how SOMAA sources and invests its funds. On the sourcing side, the Board is working with the School to budget its activities based on alumni headcount, so that as our alumni body grows, our ability to support alumni activities keeps pace. On the spending side, in addition to Chapter, Program, SIG and Board spending, we are seek-ing to allocate a portion of our budget to strategic initiatives, such as global regional alumni councils, which will enable alumni outside of North America to engage with the school and their fellow alums more readily.

realizing leadership opportunities, and opportunities for service as a board member or a non-career worker or volunteer.Last summer, Julia Zupko, Assistant Dean and Director of Career Devel-opment at SOM, attended alumni events in several major cities around the world. At each event, she led a workshop entitled “Linked In for a Lifetime” and offered individual coaching sessions for alumni seeking career advice and assistance. SOM’s LinkedIn community now includes 4,159 members, more than half of all alumni. To review the services offered by the Career Development Office, visit som.yale.edu/programs/mba/careers/career-resources.Alumni are a critical source of information and referrals around job opportunities for new SOM graduates and fellow alumni. Alumni networks are a primary reason that students choose to attend a management program. Every effort from individual alumni on this front helps!

These included:• A funding strategy, based partially

on per capita allocation, designed to focus resources on supporting initiatives undertaken by local chapters that serve a rapidly grow-ing alumni body.

• Adding Board representation from regional councils of international chapters to encourage greater participation in a more consistent and cost-effective manner. Europe is the first regional council with a designated representative who will participate as a Board member this year. Regional councils in Asia and Latin America are now under development.

• Increased focus on supporting events and activities that strengthen ties between current students and alumni in order to encourage a smooth introduction for students into the alumni community post-graduation.

This strategic review will conclude in April and remaining projects will be handed off to the standing Board committees for completion in the coming months.

Photo credit: Tony Rinaldo

$35,000 School Funding

$17,500 Event Fees

SOMAA Funding SourcesProjected FY 2016

FY 2015 Spending = $56,364(Jul14 - Jun15)

Chapter: Alumni Chapter eventsProgram: Events not associated with Chapter,

e.g., Student events with alumni involvmentBoard: Board activities, primarily the two meetings

the Board holds in New Haven each year

Note: Beginning mid-FY 2016, SOMAA began to track spend-ing on alumni-related, non-Chapter special interest group activities, such as LGBT and minority-focused events.

A Look At Where We Work Now

Stay Connected with our New Alumni Website

Recognizing Service to Alumni

Each year the Board of SOMAA selects individuals to receive the SOM Alumni Leadership Award and the Faculty Alumni Engagement Award.

The Alumni Leadership Award is presented to a SOM alumni who has gone out of their way, over several years, to take on a variety of volunteer roles to help fellow alumni stay con-nected with each other and the school. The Faculty Alumni Engagement Award is presented to a faculty member who has consistently given their time to engage with alumni at chapter events around the world.The 2016 Alumni Leadership Award is being presented to Sue Rotolo Dorsey ‘81. Sue has been an extraor-dinary SOM and SOMAA volunteer. The class of 1981 counts on Sue as their communications hub and a crit-ical link to the school. She has served as Class Secretary for the class of 1981 since she graduated; a role she has taken very seriously and has done with great pride. Also, she has served on every reunion committee over the last 35 years. Well known for “going that extra mile,” this year Sue has re-

searched contact information for classmates that were missing from the class list to insure they received reunion invitations. Alumni Relations adds their testimonials on her fast response to calls for help and her thoughtful, easy-to-work-with approach to getting any job done without complaints or excuses.Over the last three years, Sue has been an active member of the SOMAA Board, serving as vice-chair of the Nominating and Board Development Committee, and as a member of the Global Chapters Committee. Sue has also led and participated in many events sponsored by the Bay Area SOMAA Chapter and has served as an AYA representative.

The Faculty Alumni Engagement Award for 2016 is being presented to David Bach, Senior Associate Dean for Executive MBA and Global Programs. Hundreds of alumni in Bangalore, Boston, London, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco have deepened their knowledge of non-market strategies as David led them through illuminat-ing case studies and robust debate. David’s dedication to meeting with alumni individually and collectively during his busy travels is impressive. We deeply appreciate that through David’s innovative strategic work, we are drawn into closer relationships with the students and alumni in SOM’s Executive MBA, its Master’s in Advanced Management, and the 28 Global Network for Advanced Management schools. Thank you, David, for engaging alumni in advancing Yale SOM’s mission to educate distinctively global leaders for business and society. We are honored to present the third annual, SOMAA Award for Outstanding Alumni Engagement to you.

Recognizing the importance of digital connectivity and ease of access, SOM has recently launched our new SOM Alumni website. We made it easier to stay connected to all that makes SOM special.

20%

20.3%

29.7%

12.7%

9%4.3%

4%

SOM Alumni by Sector (Total 100%)

Finance

Consulting

Nonprofit

Technology

Law

Retail

Other

• Access our new alumni website: alumni.som.yale.edu

• Discover your network with a simplified log on process using your social media account

• Participate in SOM and Alumni Regional events

• Catch up on alumni news

Newly Elected SOMAA Board Members

SOMAA Board members serve a three-year term. Each year, members of the SOMAA Nominating and Board Development Committee seek nominations from SOM alumni to fill vacancies on the Board. From those nominations, the committee develops a slate of candidates who represent a broad range of SOM’s alumni community, and submits that slate to the alumni for a vote. Results of the 2016 election of new members for the SOMAA Board were announced in March 2016. The Board is pleased to welcome the following representatives to the Board for the 2016-2019 term:• Jonathan Fitch

‘78, Boston, MA• Laraine Balk Hope

‘86, Washington, D.C.• Jeffrey Juger

‘11, San Francisco Bay Area, CA

To insure representation from the increasing number of SOM alumni living abroad, the Board created a new class of Board representatives in 2015. Over the next few years, SOM Chapters outside the continental U.S. will organize by geographic regions into Regional Councils. Each Regional Council will select a representative to the SOMAA Board who will serve a one-year term. The first SOMAA International Regional Council to be fully operational is Europe. The Board is pleased to welcome the first-ever International Regional Council representative for 2016-17:• Juggu Mehdwan

’96, Switzerland

SOMAA’s Board of Directors The work of the Association is overseen by 18-25 directors, nominated by fellow alumni and selected by a vote of the alumni. There are also several ad hoc non-voting members of the SOMAA Board. These include two student members selected by, and representing, the first and second year classes; four SOM alumni representatives to the Association of Yale Alumni; the Chair of the SOM Annual Alumni Fund; and three representatives appointed by Dean Snyder from his leadership team.

To expand our ability to incorporate the views of our growing global alumni network, the Board adopted a new process this year, encouraging regional associations of international chapters to select a representative to the Board. The term of our first representative for all of Europe will begin this April. We hope to add additional representation from Asia, Africa, and the non-US Americas over the next two to three years.

Current members of the Board of Directors are listed on the back cover of this Report. Short bios and contact information are available on the SOMAA website.

As in years past the 2016 Alumni Reunion is a special opportunity to reconnect, engage and enjoy the company of our 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2015 alumni.

Reunion Weekend

Special Thanks to the Office of Alumni RelationsThe efforts of the SOMAA and its Board members have received remark-able support throughout the year from the talented and hard-working staff of the Office of Alumni Relations.

We extend our thanks to all of you: Senior Associate Dean Joel Getz, Kavitha Bindra ’05, Courtney Lightfoot, Angela Pieczko, Michele Carpenter, Cindy Charlesworth, Kaela Heaslip and Sylvia Jones. Imagine 14,760 hands (7,380 alumni x2) clapping loudly!

PRESIDENT Pam Farr ‘78

VICE PRESIDENT, TREASURER Jon Rubin ‘86

VICE PRESIDENT, SECRETARY Toddy Turrentine ‘80

VICE PRESIDENT Suzanne Francis ‘80

VICE PRESIDENT Don Freeman ‘08

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Julien Mininberg

School of Management Alumni AssociationBoard of Directors

This annual report was funded by our corporate sponsor Northwell Health

Northwell Health (formerly North Shore-LIJ Health System) is New York State’s largest health care provider and private employer, with 21 hospitals and nearly 450 outpatient practices, serving 8 million people in the metro New York area and beyond. 61,000 employees working to change health care for the better.

Find out more at Northwell.edu.

Michael Barker ‘10 ‘10 M.F.A.

Devrim Celal ‘96

Tanya Chermak ‘83

Rob Danzig ‘93

Kerry Dinneen ‘84

Elise Eplan ‘88

Jeffrey Feldman ‘95

Jason Hill ‘11

Richard Hunt ‘81

Ryck Lent ‘90

Christina Mainelli ‘11

Shannon Marimon ‘10

Josh Milberg ‘07

Heidi Olson ‘88

Philip Plottel ‘98

Rob Quartel ‘78

James (Rocky) Query ‘81

Ramon Soto ‘08

Mauricio Voorduin ‘97

Patrice Wolfe ‘89

Directors-at-Large Ex-Officio Board Members

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES Vivien Shen ’16

Josina Becker ’17

AYA REPRESENTATIVES Dean Blackman ‘99

Chris Francazio ‘96

Andrea Sehl ‘81

Kirk Fancher ‘98

SOM ADMINISTRATION Ted Snyder

Anjani Jain

Joel Getz

Kavitha Bindra ’05

ALUMNI FUND CHAIR Thomas Halsey ’81

This publication is the work of the School of Management Alumni Association. This report does not reflect the views, opinions or policy of the Yale School of Management.