Strength Through Connections

Babson is fortunate to have so many people who celebrate meaningful connections, developed during their time here, with the College. Thankfully, these connections often continue and deepen long after they leave. I have the honor and opportunity to represent Babson in front of numerous audiences, but I gain a true appreciation of the significance of that connectivity and its importance to our future success during my meetings with alumni around the world.

The Babson network operates on many levels, but, at its most basic and personal, it is alumni interacting with each other and our community as employers, mentors, volunteers, donors, and advocates for our College. During my first year as president, I’ve had the privilege to engage personally with alumni across the United States at events in Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., as well as internationally in Chile, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

The global reach of Babson is incredibly powerful. Our alumni represent 110 countries, and our more than 35,000 alumni are the College’s most influential ambassadors. Alumni are a powerful resource, which is growing every year and generating new opportunities to advance our mission of developing entrepreneurial leaders who create economic and social value everywhere.

While we rightfully celebrate our impact and influence around the world, Babson also has a significant connection with Boston. We have a physical presence in Boston, and it is one we plan to grow significantly. We also will continue to connect the Babson community with Boston’s most influential business, policy, and education leaders—many of whom are alumni—to increase our impact and profile as we become even more integrated into one of the world’s most innovative cities.

To better foster this deep connectivity among Babson’s wide-ranging constituencies, we’ve been reimagining and reenergizing our reunion programming to provide opportunities for alumni to reconnect with the College in more meaningful ways. Reunion activities and content will be driven largely by alumni preferences and input gathered by our growing volunteer operations. We are planning to extend the footprint of our reunions beyond the Wellesley campus into Boston to take advantage of the diverse cultural and entertainment options on our doorstep.

We’ve also embarked on an ambitious plan to take our graduate reunions global—hosting gatherings during the next several years in Asia, Europe, and Latin America—to create new opportunities to share Babson with the world.

Babson’s competitive advantage will remain durable, even as universities around the world introduce entrepreneurship into their academic programs, because our unique and dynamic network of alumni and friends is committed to supporting and accelerating the success of our graduates as they reach for their dreams.

Kerry Healey