The TRIUM Alumni Steering Committee
(TASC) is coming off a good year in 2007 that saw
a major alumni event in Florence, Italy, coordinated
with the NYU Stern alumni office, as well as the launch
of an alumni blog and NetVibes Universe just for the
TRIUM community. “Our job in 2008 is to build
our community of students and alumni around online
and offline venues,” said Paul Ward, TRIUM 2006
and chairman of the committee. “TASC is totally
a volunteer committee, so a lot of the scalability
of our efforts will come from a combination of technology
and from our TRIUM colleagues.”
The
committee comprises members from multiple cohorts,
with Victor Meyer (T2003) and Margaret-Ann Cole (T2004)
returning for a third year. Mr. Ward said, "I'm
thrilled that Victor and MAC have decided to remain
on the board. They are anchors for the program
and have put in real sweat equity on the committee.
They are stars among the other committee stars, and
it's humbling and exciting."
Other members include Florence Klein
(T2005), Florent Lafond (T2006), Calvin Chin (T2007),
Graeme Morphew (T2008), and Alfredo Ergas (T2008).
(Their biographies and photos will appear on the TASC
blog over the next week.) Just as importantly, the
members span multiple continents, from South and North
America to Europe and Asia. Mr. Ward said, “Networking
at the executive level still takes place as much on
the ground as it does in cyberspace. Having such a
geographical spread for our committee members means
that we have alumni leadership just about everywhere.”
Already under discussion are alumni events in South
America and in China.
TASC members, appointed by TRIUM,
will be spending 2008 reaching out to every cohort
to help students network, advance their careers and
enjoy time with the friends they made in TRIUM. For
some, career advancement has come rapidly after TRIUM.
Florent Lafond, a committee member, started off as
a vice president at Valois, a French packaging company
with a global supply chain. He recently has been promoted
to vice president of business development for Asia,
and is the president of the Spanish subsidiary of
Valois. “TRIUM for me was a wonderful experience,
combining strong and intensive intellectual work as
well as meeting talented people from all around the
world,” says Mr. Lafond. But, he adds, “TRIUM
is still young and we are a just a few [representatives]
compared to other large EMBA cohorts… The alumni
committee has to cultivate the strengths of the program,
and of course continue to build the guanxi.”
Outreach is not just important,
it’s gratifying to committee members. Margaret-Ann
Cole, a managing consultant at global HR consultancy
YSC, said, “For me, the TRIUM experience hasn’t
ended. The things I valued most about TRIUM are still
ongoing: the people and the learning. Each year I
have had the opportunity to meet a new class and create
a multi-cultural network. There are always events
at our host schools that I can get real value from.”
Looking to 2008, Ms. Cole said, “I want the
committee to make networking with my TRIUM colleagues
easier.”
Mr. Ward agrees. “Getting
together with people offline, in-person, shouldn’t
be a headache. We’ve drafted a ‘how-to’
guide for events that will be coming out soon, and
we’re experimenting with web-based event organizing
tools that any TRIUM alum can use to put together
an event.”
“Still,” Mr. Ward continues,
“staying in touch is just part of the issue.
To be really vibrant, our alumni and students will
want venues where they can really engage with each
other – on ideas, opportunities, challenges,
and personal issues. TASC sees our job as helping
to create this kind of engagement. The blog is just
the start. It’s going to be a big year for TASC.”
http://howdoyouseetheworld.blogspot.com
http://www.howdoyouseetheworld.com
http://www.netvibes.com/howdoyouseetheworld
