Alumni Events/Networking

We host 1-2 Back-to-School Alumni events a year.  These are typically all-day events from 8:30 am to 5pm in Bove auditorium on the Newark Campus and include breakfast, lunch, and several coffee breaks.  These events have been mammoth successes—each one has been attended by over 120 EMBA alumni.

The morning is comprised of a get-together over breakfast followed by 1.5 hour updates on key, “must-know”refresher topics delivered by former EMBA professors and, occasionally, guest speakers.  For example, the first reunion included refresher updates on Six Sigma, Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM), Analyzing Yield Curve Inversion, and Forensic Accounting.

The last reunion included refresher updates on Strategic Marketing, Strategic Execution, $-Yuan exchange rate dynamics and the huge US trade imbalance, and Strategies for Wealth Creation and Management.

From the mid-afternoon till 5pm, we conduct a Speed Networking session.  EMBA alumni come prepared with their business cards and with a very clear idea of the type of career transition they are looking for.  Each speed networking interaction is limited to 15 minutes, and then participants are told to change “partners”.  All in all, very effective, and a lot of fun!

INTERNATIONAL NETWORKING

Rutgers EMBA has been conducting classes in China since 1993.  Consequently, we have a large cohort of Rutgers International EMBA (IEMBA) graduates from our China and Singapore programs.  Every June, when the US Embas visit China for two weeks, we conduct networking sessions in Beijing and Shanghai.  These are very well attended, and often are the first steps in forming strong networking alliances across the Pacific.

EMBA GOLF CLASSICS

These are organized totally by the current classes, and are usually held on the Rutgers golf course in New Brunswick.  Golf is followed by dinner and of course, vigorous networking all day!  Often, golf classes for first-time golfers are also arranged.  If golf is not your thing, then do attend the dinner and the networking.

The Embas have been very successful in obtaining valuable corporate sponsorship for the golf classics.  Thanks to pioneering work by Keri DeMayo (Emba 2006)and Amar Shrivastava (2006), who worked with Michael Desenna (2006) to bring in Vonage, and Chris McCrae(2006) to obtain sponsorship from Sirius Satellite Radio for the last EMBA golf classic.