Update from SOM Alumni Association

Fellow SOMers,

Greetings from the SOM Alumni Association!

SOMAA recently held its second board meeting of the 2006-07 year in New York City. The objective of our meeting was to identify specific steps we can take to work more closely and collaboratively with SOM to achieve our mission of building connections within the alumni community and being a voice for alumni. This meeting was the culmination of a six month process that we called “SOMAA 2.0,” where we took an in-depth look at how SOMAA operates and ways we can strengthen how we work with SOM. The board, along with our counterparts at SOM, associate dean of development and alumni relations Nevin Kessler and director of alumni relations Pat St. Germain, are very excited about the action plans we have developed and about ushering in a new era of alumni engagement and impact.

SOMAA is working on several initiatives to continue to build bridges between alumni and SOM: 

• We recently launched the third year of our alumni mentor program which pairs alumni volunteers with first-and second-year students to provide advice and support during the job search process.
• We are putting the finishing touches on a new SOMAA website that will provide a range of new resources, including web community and social networking features, for SOMAA Regional Chapters and alumni.
• We are working with Allyson Moore, the new director of the Career Development Office,  to conduct the second annual survey of alumni recruiters to get feedback to improve the process of recruiting SOMers.

Finally, early next year we will be soliciting nominations for next year’s SOMAA board elections. Please start thinking about fellow alums (including yourself!) who you believe would be outstanding candidates for our board. This is a very exciting time at SOM and at SOMAA and an unusual opportunity to make a personal impact on the future of the school.

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

Regards,

Fred Smagorinsky ‘87
President, SOMAA