I. PROGRAMMING DIVISION

The Programming Division has responsibility to develop, implement, and coordinate all activities designed to educate, entertain and/or provide support and information for the alumni network. This committee is headed by the Vice President of Programming and the arms of this Division are: Wharton Speaker Series, Special Interest Speaker Series, Authors Speaker Series, Entrepreneurial Series, Premier Speaker Series, Business Leadership Series, Event Support, University Relations, Special/Social Events and Alliances & Partnership. Committees which fall under the Programming Division umbrella include:

-Wharton Speaker Series Committee
The Wharton Speaker Series Committee is responsible for developing, implementing, and coordinating Speaker Series and programs designed to intellectually stimulate the alumni network. This committee identifies, invites, and introduces speakers for its President’s Forum. These entrepreneurial speakers are usually affiliated to the university and cover topics in their area (s) of expertise. Recent speakers included: Michael Bloomberg, Donald Trump, Rudolph W. Giuliani, Reg Jones, Leonard Lauder, James Woolsey, Steve Forbes, Maria Bartiromo, Gregg Spiridellis and Al Franken. The Wharton Speaker Series Committee is comprised of the following:

-Special Interest Speaker Series
-Premier Speaker Series
-Author Speaker Series
-Entrepreneurial Speaker Series
-Business Leadership Series

-Special/Social Events Committee is charged with the responsibility to develop, implement, and coordinate all activities designed to entertain the alumni network: culturally, socially, intellectually, and or emotionally. Activities include, Wharton nights/days (at the circus, opera, museum, and sporting events), family activities, singles events, and one or two major events each year that will raise money for, bring recognition to, and help promote the school and club. The premiere social function of the year is the Joseph Wharton Dinner. This is in keeping with the club tradition of hosting the premiere business school alumni event of NYC.

-Alliances and Community Service Committee has two primary areas of responsibility: (1) Develop, coordinate and maintain relationships with non-university related entities in order to foster professional and cooperative relationship building, ultimately for the benefit of Wharton alumni, and (2) Organize or facilitate community service opportunities for Wharton alumni to participate in or benefit from. The Alliances and Community Service Committee is involved in a range of activities, from evaluating and promoting events sponsored by other entities that could be of interest to Wharton alumni, to organizing community service projects that tap into the resources that are unique to Wharton alumni.

-University Relations Committee reports directly to the President and is primarily responsible for developing, implementing and coordinating all communications and relationships with the University of Pennsylvania as well as all other alumni clubs, administration, students, and faculty. The Office of University Relations focuses on strengthening the bonds between the university, its graduates and former students. The Alumni Relations Committee is charged with developing interesting and exciting ways of attract and retain young alumni to be involved with the University community in the first few years after graduation. The University Relations committee concentrates in these four areas: (1) Admissions (2) Faculty Connection (3) Placement (4) Development.

II. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIVISION

The Business Development Committee is designed to develop, implement, and coordinate all activities that are designed, to help alumni run or grow their businesses. This division includes the affinity groups. The following groups fall under the umbrella of this division:

- Leads Group
This group is primarily concerned with non-competitive networking councils to generate business for its members. The activities of the councils will include: lead generation; joint marketing, sales intelligence sharing and joint sales calls.

- Affinity Groups
Affinity groups are a great way to network with other professionals in your industry and attend events centered around your professional interests. At present, WCNY has five affinity groups (1) Angel Investors, (2) Entrepreneur, (3) Fine Arts & Design, (4) Hedge Fund and (5) Media & Entertainment. Additionally, we are looking for affinity group managers who might be interested in heading up the following new proposed affinity groups. Affinity group managers should currently be working in and/or have significant experience in the vertical/affinity area. This group focuses its attention around specific interest or industries like: investment banking, consulting, venture capital, retail, and young alumni. These groups meet to discuss common issues, problems and opportunities. The affinity groups are:

-Wharton Entrepreneur Affinity Group Provide a means for Wharton entrepreneurs at various stages of business evolution and varying levels of entrepreneurial experience to increase their ability to succeed by (1) pooling and sharing resources, ideas, best practices, (2) provide mentorship with other entrepreneurs and/or Wharton faculty, (3) building relationships with funding sources and (4) networking.

-Hedge Fund Affinity Group Bring together Wharton alumni who are members of the greater hedge fund community. You must be directly working in the hedge fund arena including hedge funds, allocators, lawyers, accountants, bankers, third-party administrators, third-party marketers, or real estate professionals specializing in the hedge fund space.

-Wharton Fine Art & Design Group Foster networking and sharing of resources among Wharton alumni who have a professional interest in the fields of fine and decorative arts, design, and décor. In addition, the group hosts events for the Wharton community so those who are interested personally in art & design can benefit from the perspective of members and member contacts.

-Media & Entertainment Affinity Group Increase networking and learning among professionals in the media & entertainment sectors for Wharton alumni. Networking can be difficult in these sectors, especially since Wharton has a relatively small alumni base in them. We hope to build relationships among participants that open doors to new business, career possibilities, and useful industry and company information.

-WIRE (Wharton Investment Resource Exchange) This entrepreneurs’ affinity group filters and finds potential investment opportunities and provides joint introductory functions with the Angel affinity group. It is currently focused on established and later stage businesses.

- Real Estate Investing - Small Patterned after the real estate investment clubs that are popping up all over the country, this group will allow Wharton alumni who are involved in small real estate transactions to share information and resources.

- Real Estate Investing - Large This group will be a forum in which Wharton Alumni real estate professionals can share information, resources and experiences, benchmark best practices, discuss opportunities, build personal relationships and make deals.

- Investors Affinity Group Patterned after investment clubs that are popping up around the country, this group will allow non accredited Wharton Alumni who have an interest in investing to share information and resources.

- Private Equity Affinity Group This group will be dedicated to creating a forum in which professionals within the private equity and venture capital asset classes can share experiences, benchmark best practices, discuss opportunities, build personal relationships , and make deals. The group will cover all investment sectors and stages and seeks to accelerate the careers of members through unparalled access to a network of Wharton peers.

- Financial Advisor/Financial Planner/Private Client This group is oriented towards Wharton professionals involved in money management for individuals. The group will enable networking and sharing of salient best practices and enable discussion of issues amongst members. The educational event schedule may include topics ranging from how to acquire and retain clients, discussion of new strategies and products that professionals may wish to offer, etc.

- Boutique Consulting Affinity Group For senior level personnel or founders of boutique consulting firms with 5 to 100 consultants. The group welcomes all consulting areas including technology, strategy, vertical-focused (healthcare, HR, etc). The focus of the group will be to share best practices as it relates to running a growing consulting company, i.e. sales & marketing, hiring, operations, etc. Through the network created, it should also serve as a vehicle to help form strategic partnerships with other complementary consulting firms and/or provide a mechanism for companies to introduce one another to prospective clients.

- Technology Affinity Group The aim of this group is to bring Wharton alumni in the NY area working at technology-centric companies, i.e. those in software, information technology, mobile technology and/or web development. The New York area is a national leader in technology development and the goal of the Technology Affinity Group is to promote and support the growth of this industry in this region amongst Wharton alumni. The group will run an educational event schedule, sponsor a wide variety of economic development programs aimed at assisting member companies as well as networking events to enable members to develop opportunities amongst each other.

- CFO/Finance Affinity Group The CFO Affinity Group will serve the needs of senior finance executives of corporations - large and small - who are alumnit of Wharton. The principal focus of the group will be to identify issues, share ideas and best practices and enable networking amongst Wh alumni. Issues/ideas that the group may cover but is not limited to include: financing and capital structure, expense management, planning & forecasting, optimizing resource allocation, leveraging technology within finance, aligning finance and strategy, compliance, etc. Through the identification and sharing of best practices and networking, the bringing in of expert speakers, etc, the CFO affinity group aims to make some modest contribution to the work of its members.

-CEO Support Groups This group is established to educate and support CEOs of similar size companies. There are four categories: (1) Companies with 100 employees and at least 50 million in sales (2) 50 employees and 10 million in sales (3) fewer than 50 employees and less than 10 million in sales, and (4) start ups (companies less than three years old). This group must sign a confidentiality agreement.

For more information on the other Affinity Groups of the Wharton Club of New York, please visit the Affinity Groups page.

III. CAREER DEVELOPMENT DIVISION

This division is charged with the responsibility to develop, implement, and coordinate all activities designed to help alumni enhance their careers, change careers, find a job, find an employee, and/or conduct a job search.

In addition, the division’s mission is: to maintain continuing contact and dialog with the Alumni; to involve them in all aspects and activities of the program; and to assist them in their personal career search. The division also oversees the job board which is a conduit to the job market for its membership. Committees included in the Career Development Division are:
-Career Speaker Series
-Job Leads
-Career Networking

IV. MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION

The Marketing and Communications Division develops, coordinates and maintains all communications with members including: sponsorship, newsletter, member directory, the website, meeting minutes, email blasts, annual report. It ensures that all member communication vehicles are relevant and available to the needs of our members. This division is responsible for creating communications and services for the membership in order to ensure a high percentage of member retention and for the process of bringing new members into the club. Since the addition of new members is vital not only to the survival and prosperity of the alumni network, it is perhaps the most important function of the chapter. Committees included are:

-Member Benefits Committee develops and maintains special discounts, services, programs etc that are offered only to our members. The committee is charged with identifying and evaluating membership benefits which meet the needs of our members.

-Webmaster develops, coordinates and maintains the website. The Webmaster is responsible for improving the quality and accuracy of information on our websites through the development and implementation of a set of standards and guidelines in consultation with the President of the club.

-Sponsorship Committee develops and implements plans to increase and maintain corporate sponsorships. This committee seeks to cultivate and maintain strong sponsorship bonds with companies in order to raise funds to underwrite the cost of our club’s events.

-Marketing Committee is charged with the responsibility to develop, coordinate and implement plans to increase membership. Its mission is therefore to improve member retention by peer-to-peer interaction with dropped members. Additionally to Identify and recruit potential members.

-Communications Committee develops, coordinate and maintain all communications with external forces to promote the organization and its activities. The PR committee’s goal is to increase public awareness of the Alumni network and its activities.

V. FINANCE AND OPERATIONS DIVISION

The Finance Division develops, implements and coordinates all functions that provide support for the other divisions. This division is under the guidance of the treasurer, who handles the accounting affairs for the Club.

-Accounting & Budgeting Committee
The mission of the Accounting & Budgeting Committee is to develop and implement plans and procedures for all accounting practices of the organization. In addition this committee supervises the accounting firm. The Committee also develops and implements procedures for budget and planning. This committee is also responsible for developing, and implementing the club’s annual and five year plan.

-Human Resources Committee
The mission of the Human Resources Committee is to undertake an on-going and systemic review of the club’s policies, processes, practices and standards. The committee is headed by the HR Manager who develops, and implements plans and procedures for paid staff and volunteers including: recruitment, indoctrination, compensation and benefits. The committee is responsible for the policies and procedures handbook. Please click here for Click here for Volunteer Sign Up Sheet.


VI. EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT’S DIVISION

This division oversees external relations and the regional chapters. Related groups are:

-Government Relations Committee is responsible to develop, coordinate and maintain relationships with federal, state, city and local governing agencies in order to further the goals of the organization and the school. This committee’s purpose is to mobilize speakers from governmental officials to speak to the alumni body on legislative and political issues affecting higher education and the economy at large. Past invited speaker was Ambassador Franklin L. Lavin, US Ambassador to Singapore.

-Connecticut Committee reports to the Executive Vice President and organizes a variety of events out in the "country" for those who don't have the opportunity to attend those in the city. The Committee focuses on four major areas: Speakers, Career Development, Business Development and Social. This committee encourages Wharton people do business with each other, hire each other, make new friends and have more fun!!
-Long Island Committee
-Northern New Jersey Committee

If you want to join a committee, email your committee preference, what you would bring to the committee, what you would like to get out of the experience, and your contact information to volunteers@whartonny.com