Club and Network News
Kellogg Alumni Club of Beijing
The club hosted a successful New Year’s dinner on Dec. 17, 2023, attracting 20 attendees from a diverse range of 24 graduating classes. The event provided an opportunity for alumni to connect and reflect on the past year.
Kellogg Alumni Club of Dallas-Fort Worth
The club recently hosted “The Future of Retail: A Fusion of Tradition and Innovation,” a speaker series that showcased how traditional retail can approach modern challenges in an innovative way. A collaboration between Pinto Ranch and the Kellogg Alumni Network of Texas, the event featured a panel discussion on topics such as e-commerce, supply chain innovations and consumer experience technologies. The panel featured industry leaders Irina Pelphrey ’19 MBA, VP of health innovations at Albertsons; Vikram Talada ’04 MS, MBA, chief business officer at Woot, an Amazon business unit; and Enrique Nehme ’08 MBA, CEO of Western fashion retailer Pinto Ranch and an apparel specialty expert.
The Kellogg DFW Club, known for its active engagement and large alumni network, played a crucial role in organizing this event. The highlight of the evening was the unveiling of a pair of handmade ostrich cowboy boots made by Pinto Ranch with the Kellogg Northwestern logo on them! The first pair will be sent to Dean Francesca Cornelli as a thank you gift from the Kellogg Alumni Network of Texas. You can order your own Kellogg logo boots by reaching out to [email protected].
Kellogg Alumni Club of New York
The club began 2024 with renewed enthusiasm! We have an excellent new hands-on leadership team whose collective efforts are making a difference for our alumni club. They are sharing their time and talents as we work together to ensure that we connect with alumni in the New York area throughout the year.
Their efforts have produced results: The pandemic limited our ability to hold in-person events, but we saw a significant rebound last year with our alumni events. In 2023, we successfully hosted nine events, eight in person and one virtual. The leadership team continues to plan a variety of events for our alumni, including professor-led discussions, volunteer projects such as Kellogg Cares Day, and professional panels with career advice and networking. The club recently hosted a sold-out 20th Anniversary Super Bowl Ad Review event in New York City with Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing. We are also planning innovation and entrepreneurship events around AI and revamping our roster of social events.
Kellogg Alumni Club of San Diego
On Feb. 12, 2024, the club hosted Ivy Onyeador, assistant professor of management and organizations, for a discussion on diversity, equity and inclusion. The discussion was attended by club co-presidents Bryan Bennett ’85 MBA and Karlo Teran ’09 MBA, as well as several other alumni from the area. Topics of discussion included the differences between implicit and explicit biases and how to manage both types of biases in an organization. Her presentation was followed by an informative question-and-answer period as alumni sought advice on managing in this challenging climate.
Kellogg Alumni Club of the Twin Cities
The club learned about the business of sports last fall from Minnesota Vikings COO Andrew Miller ’07 MBA, ’07 JD, at the Vikings training facility in Eagan, Minnesota. We also hosted professor Tim Calkins for the 20th Anniversary Super Bowl Ad Review at General Mills World Headquarters in Golden Valley, Minnesota.
Kellogg Club of Japan
The Kellogg Club of Japan recently hosted its annual meeting in Tokyo, bringing together 82 members from the classes of 1978 to 2023. Kazuo Matsuyama ’93 MBA, president at Asahi Breweries Ltd., and Natsumi Akita ’00 MBA, chief culture officer and chief people officer at Mizuho Financial Group, discussed corporate management from the perspective of marketing and staff engagement.
Kellogg Club of Portugal
The club held an annual dinner with a wine tasting session in Lisbon on Nov. 29, 2023.
Alumni Club of Shanghai
In January, the club hosted a conversation with Richard Zhang ’93 MBA, equity partner and head of Greater China for Apax Partners, on the topic of the economy, investment and career development. Karen Yin ’03 MBA, the managing director of North Asia for AkzoNobel Powder Coatings, moderated the discussion, which was followed by a Q&A and networking.
Kellogg Executive Women’s Network
Last year, KEWN made great progress toward its goal of reaching and connecting with Kellogg alumnae all over the country. Our new KEWN Board has alumnae from the East Coast, West Coast and Atlanta and a new board position dedicated to new alumnae. We recently launched the KEWN website (kelloggexecwomensnetwork.com) and continue to develop innovative programming based on input from alumnae.
In fall 2023, we hosted a virtual welcome event in addition to our traditional in-person welcome and networking event held in Chicago. Women who attended the Chicago event in September heard from Ellen Connelly Taaffe ’97 MBA,clinical associate professor of management and organizations, who discussed her new book, “The Mirrored Door.” Attendees received a complimentary copy of the book. The virtual welcome in November featured KEWN board member Brooke Madison ’08 MBA, who spoke about resilience.
In addition, we hosted our 16th Annual Holiday Gift Wrapping and Brunch to provide gifts for babies and mothers supported by Community Alternatives Unlimited. Everyone enjoys this opportunity to gather over the holidays and support this great organization. In March, we held the first of many new in-person events outside of Chicago with a charity event in New Jersey to benefit Moms Helping Moms.
We cordially invite you to join us on our website (kelloggexecwomensnetwork.com) or social media pages and subscribe to the KEWN email newsletter to stay up to date on KEWN news. Feel free to contact us at [email protected] with your ideas!