The Largest Yale Event West of the Mississippi

On Saturday, March 15, over 400 Yale alumni and guests gathered for the 2003 Yale California Alumni Gala at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. An event for all Yale Schools and all classes, this was a unique opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues and to meet many new and interesting people.

The guests at the gala included a wonderful mix of Yale classes and schools as well as a mix of locales within both southern and northern California. It was a great opportunity for SOM alumni to connect with the broader Yale University alumni community in California. SOM was a prominent force at the gala: two symposia participants were SOM alumni (Nancy Pfund '82 & Heather Corcoran '94), and the keynote speaker was SOM Associate Dean and Professor, Dr. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. And half of the planning committee was SOM alumni too!

The evening was a taste of New Haven in California. The cocktail reception featured Yale singing group "Out of the Blue," in California on their spring break tour. Following cocktails, there were four symposia featuring a variety of accomplished Yale alumni, all leaders in their respective fields. Four concurrent sessions included panel discussions on Politics, Real Estate & Development, Biotechnology, and Arts & Culture. We then enjoyed a delicious dinner in the Grand Ballroom at the Palace Hotel, followed by more singing and a momentous keynote speech on "Greed, Deception & Integrity" by SOM's Jeff Sonnenfeld. The evening concluded with live music and dancing until midnight.

Given the overwhelming response, we plan to make the California Alumni Gala an annual event. We set the bar for the largest Yale event west of the Mississippi with over 400 in attendance. Next time we are going for 500!

Thanks to all the SOM alumni on the organizing committee: Jennifer Hom '99, Laura Jones Joukovski '00, Namita Kamath '02, Hando Kim '99, Shannon Small '00, Ingrid Stabb '99, & Juliana Park Youn '99. Thanks also to SOMAA as a significant sponsor for the event. And, thank you to all who came out for the gala! We hope to see you again next time.