Building the Alumni Community at All Latitudes
FROM THE MARCHES IN CENTRAL ITALY TO CALIFORNIA, BY WAY OF CHINA AND AUSTRALIA. WHO ARE THE LEADERS OF THE BAA, AND WHAT DO THEY DO?The word “community” comes from the Latin communitas, communion. Community is not merely physical closeness, but sharing values ​​and interests. Bocconi alumni constitute a community of over 100,000 people, organized by the Bocconi Alumni Association (BAA) in 73 chapters covering 34 countries across the five continents. A community that lives through the work of local leaders, active in finding the right things to engage their own base.
"I've been Chapter Leader of the Ascoli-Fermo-Macerata Area since 2011, but I started working with alumni in the Marche Region in 2007," says marketing manager Daniela Martino. To build community in your area, according to Daniela, two things are needed: "On the one hand, you need to analyze the profile of the alumni population to understand what professional event might be more appealing; on the other hand, you need to look what the local economy expresses, in a logic of reciprocal exchange of high-value content." Examples are the events that the BAA Chapter organizes in collaboration with the Sferisterio Arena (such as the July meeting with Bocconi Professor Bocconi Andrea Rurale in conjunction with the premiere of Madame Butterfly), but also the launch of a fundraising initiative among alumni to institute a scholarship for students coming from local areas affected by the 2016 earthquake.
Gianpaolo Camaggio, managing director of SinoGlobal, an investment advisory, is presently leader of the Bari Chapter, but in the past he used to be Chapter Leader in Beijing: "For me developing the community has always been about engaging people with common interests who share the same values, ​​and have found in the BAA group a point of reference," he explains. "Precisely for this reason, when I returned to Bari after six years working in China, I decided to do it again." Of his experience as Chapter Leader, Camaggio points out an aspect: "When you are abroad, you identify even more with the values ​​of your community and you better understand how deeply the university has marked your path. There is also the fact that in a foreign country, it is always very useful to compare experiences and judgments about the local reality".
Advice, tips, and a veritable orientation service for those who want to understand how to best deal with the new business reality: this is what the Sydney Chapter did last year. It’s headed by Anastasia Di Carlo, associate director at Quentin Ayers, an investment advisory company: "We are very focused on networking events; it is a priority for our group. Our desire is to make the chapter an increasingly important point of reference for the whole alumni community here. Ours is also a very practical job concerning help with visas, job advice and the sharing of professional experiences." In fact, the BAA network is also a chance to seize unexpected opportunities, such as "finding internships for our exchange students".
Moreover, fine-tuned networking is all the more important when you have to represent Bocconi so far away. Pietro Bonanno, Chapter Leader for the San Francisco Area, confirms: "I have established a personal relationship with each member," the alumnus says. "I noticed that what is useful is to ask people to tell their story. It is from the stories of everyone that a sense of community is born." Various are the activities organized by the SF chapter: "Events with prominent guests are especially appreciated. For example, the meetings with BAA President Riccardo Monti or withy Guido Quaroni, vice-president of Pixar for software R&D. And we are being asked to do two things: events in collaboration with alumni of other universities (there are seven major universities here) and events devoted to entrepreneurship, considering the fact that we are in the cradle of digital innovation."
In short, close to or far away from Milano, the stories of Daniela, Gianpaolo, Anastasia and Pietro relay the same message: that community is always about communion around shared ends and values.
by Andrea Celauro
Translated by Alex Foti
