A Message from the President of the SOM Alumni Association

Dear Fellow SOMers,

The Board of Directors for the SOM Alumni Association SOMAA recently kicked off its 2006-2007 year with a quarterly meeting in New York City. At this meeting we welcomed six new members:

• Christine Bader '00 London, England
• Robert K. "Bo" Hopkins '86 Greenwich, CT
• Paul Keenan '96 Cambridge, MA
• William V. Larkin, Jr. '80 Houston, TX
• Kofi Osae-Kwapong '80 Scarsdale, NY
• Joe Seldner '84 Princeton, NJ

We also have two new student liaisons, Zuri Briscoe '07 Greenville, MS and Amanda Doster '07 Portland, OR. In addition, joining me on the board's Executive Committee this year will be Lamont Lee '85 vice president, Ted McCarthy '96 secretary, Bracken White '96 treasurer, and Damon Danielson '86 president-elect.

We have an outstanding group and are all excited about the work we will be doing to pursue SOMAA's mission: to be a voice for alumni and to promote a lifelong community of personal, professional, and intellectual connections among alumni and to the school. We work to strengthen connections within the Yale community, in local communities, across management fields, and across sectors.

Last year we focused on a short list of priorities to achieve our mission:

• Expanded the mentor program to first-year students.
• Targeted 3 regional chapters to take them to "the next level."
• Tapped into alumni for advice on improving placement results.

Over the coming year we will build on each of those initiatives. In addition, we will be working on "SOMAA 2.0," where we will take an in-depth look at how SOMAA operates and how we can strengthen our collaboration with SOM.

In May, I made two trips to New Haven in my capacity as board president. On May 1, I attended one of Dean Podolny's Town Hall Meetings to present the SOMAA Teaching Award. In a dramatic presentation engineered by Pat St. Germain, director of Alumni Relations, Finance Professor, Nick Barberis joined us by telephone from London just as a picture of him was flashed onto the projector screen. Professor Barberis was selected for this award based on a new student voting system devised by Professor Barry Nalebuff and the overflow audience validated this result with a thunderous ovation.

On May 19, I again ventured north to present the second-year class with a New Alumni Gift: an SOMAA business card holder that will sit on the desks at their high-powered jobs they will be starting over the next few months. These gifts were presented at the conclusion of a champagne brunch that SOMAA co-sponsored. I joined Dean Podolny in encouraging the Class of 2006 to maintain their links to this special place following their graduation.

I encourage you as well to get involved in SOMAA and actively participate in our dynamic alumni community.

Regards,

Fred Smagorinsky '87
President, SOMAA