Black Alumni Gather in New York
by Beatrice O. Sibblies ’90 & Maxim Thorne ’89, JD ’92
As we consider the experience of attending the Black alumni retreat at the Yale Club of New York City on June 17, 2005, we were struck by three strong sentiments. First, we were excited that the Yale Black alumni body had achieved critical mass, and we marveled that last year’s 35th anniversary celebration of the Afro-American Cultural Center had fanned a certain fire in Yale black alumni that grew in intensity as the day unfolded. Second, we were inspired that Black Yale alumni are making a difference on campus and in the wider world and that resources exist within the community to support each other to reach even higher levels of success. Third, we welcomed the news that significant advancements are being made in the quality of Black life at Yale and we were moved by a powerful call to action to be a part of building that experience.
The day’s event opened with a provocative panel on networking led by Keith Ferrazzi ’89, the New York Times best-selling author Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets of Success, One Relationship at a Time. Keith’s panel moved us to think about how we invest in our network of relationships as a critical anchor for career success. The panel sparked a debate about challenges in building professional relationships across race and gender. While we did not leave with all questions answered, we wholeheartedly feel that Keith presented a powerful paradigm that is worth exploring as individuals as well as a community. We are happy to know that Yale intends to work with Keith to include training in building personal networks as a part of the soft skills education available to undergraduates.
The second panel of the afternoon was comprised of leading black executive recruiters who talked about the recruiting industry, with special attention to trends and developments in recruiting African-American job candidates. We were primed with insights on how to work with recruiters to achieve our career objectives. Importantly, we got the opportunity to network with these recruiters and each other. Already, we have heard from individuals who have been interviewed for executive level jobs because of this forum – cheers to Woody Britton ’70 (Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of New Jersey-based Preod Corporation, an executive search and business advisory company) and Virginia Clarke (global leader of the Global Diversity Project for Spencer Stuart, a leading privately held, global executive search firm) for practicing what they preached!
The closing panel on Black Life at Yale was inspiring! Professor Jonathan Holloway ’95 PhD, the first African-American Master at a Yale residential college (Calhoun), led an informative discussion. We were impressed by the advancements made in key areas such as increased recruitment of African-American students, more generous financial aid, ground-breaking success in grooming and recruiting new tenured professors, and excellent new courses on issues affecting the community. We felt a certain call to action – especially for those of us in a financial position to do so. The newly created ORD Leadership Forum at Yale (named after deceased student leaders Don Ogilvie ’68, Armstead Robinson ’68, and Glenn DeChabert ’70) needs our support to raise $2M to fund a multi-faceted, campus-wide program to help develop the leadership skills of Yale undergraduate in the increasingly diverse environment in which we live.
The attendees grew is number and energy intensified as many more alumni joined us for a beautiful cocktail reception. And finally, as we sipped our last glass of wine and had our last hors d'oeuvre, it felt refreshing to bond again with our friends from Yale and realize how much we still had in common and still needed each other – and how much Yale still needed us. We hope to have many more of these events to go to – they are not to be missed.