After my tenure first as president and now chairman of the Wharton Alumni Executive Board, it is time to pass on the leadership role to my successor. This summer, L. David Mounts, WG’04, our current president, will replace me as chairman, and my old Wharton classmate, Bruce Schulman, WG’99, will move up to the president role. I will remain on the board as chairman emeritus. We have the greatest confidence in David and Bruce to continue their impressive work to help take Wharton, the alumni community and our board to the next level.
As I reflect on my last six years on the board, I realize we have made significant progress in a number of areas in close working partnership with Wharton, the Board of Overseers and our other advisory boards. On the alumni side, we have established a thriving Class Ambassador program with more than 100 members, made great strides in unifying our Global Clubs Network and established a new alumni IT platform. Wharton has also established the Lifelong Learning Initiative, which I encourage everyone to learn about at http://lifelonglearning.wharton.upenn.edu/.
Currently, our board is working closely with Wharton on several major initiatives, including Lifelong Learning, the Public Policy Initiative and the Penn-Wharton China Center.
This is a time of change on a number of levels at Wharton. As many of you have already heard, Dean Thomas S. Robertson has announced that he will not be seeking reappointment when his term is up. Dean Robertson has been a great leader for Wharton and a friend to all of us on the board. We will miss him at our meetings, but we won’t have to go far to see him as he will remain on campus as a professor of marketing. Dean Robertson, thank you so much for everything you have done for Wharton.
Jon M. Huntsman Sr., W’59, HON’96, has stepped down after many years in his role as chairman of the Board of Overseers, which the Alumni Board reports to. Many of you know Jon best for his contributions to establish Huntsman Hall and the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, but his accomplishments and contributions to Wharton are far too numerous to mention here. Jon, thank you for all you have done for our School.
William L. Mack, W’61, a long-time member of the Board of Overseers and generous contributor to Wharton, replaces Jon as our new chairman. Bill, we all look forward to your leadership of our combined boards and working with you in the years to come.
It’s an exciting time for Wharton with these changes; however, some things will always remain the same. We are the best business school in the world, with the largest, most impressive, loyal and tightknit alumni community a school could ever wish for.
It has been my sincere pleasure to serve this great organization as your Alumni Executive Board chairman these past years, and I look forward to continuing to serve Wharton and our alumni community however I can in the future.
All the Best,
Rob Newbold, WG’99
Chairman, Wharton Alumni Executive Board
