Time has a way of passing very quickly around here. It’s hard to believe that my two-year term as president of TABA will be ending in December. So much has happened. The TABA of today looks quite different from the organization I first became associated with six years ago, with new board members, new board leadership, new school leadership and a greatly expanded scope of activities and initiatives. These are changes we should all be proud of as we build our alumni association to better serve Freeman and its mission and goals, which will in turn create even greater value and recognition for our diplomas.
Tom Spiers (MBA ’01), president of TABA
Before touching on all of the positive developments over the past several years, I’d like to take a moment to recognize the members of the TABA board, without whom none of this would have been possible. The 20-plus members of the board—with more being added every year through the launch of new chapters—truly understand the meaning of service. The time, effort and commitment required to serve on the board can be long and taxing at times, but each member has sacrificed other commitments for the greater good of the organization and in turn Freeman.
If you are reading this, you are a member of the association as much as any board member, and you too are encouraged to serve for the greater good of Freeman. This can be accomplished in many ways, such as assisting your fellow alumni and recent graduates with finding jobs or providing monetary support for school projects, which will become increasingly important as the Freeman School continues to implement its new strategic plan. With all our growth and achievements over the past several years, the most exciting accomplishment has been the increased involvement of alumni in volunteerism and giving, both of which have a direct impact on achieving our mission and goals.
The South Florida Chapter of TABA held
its inaugural event on June 18 in Miami.
Everyone should now be aware that TABA is in the midst of a growth spurt, aided by the creation of chapters in various cities. To date, we have chapters in New York, Washington D.C., Miami, Nashville and Houston with more to come. This is a very exciting development for our organization, and we encourage alumni without a chapter in their area to contact Rhonda Brown for information about forming one.
We have also planned another outstanding Tulane Business Forum, to be held on Friday, Sept. 27, 2013. This event continues to grow each year and has evolved into a three-quarter day conference with continuing education credits for certain professionals. All alumni are invited to register and attend this year’s forum, which will include keynote addresses from Daryl G. Byrd, president and CEO of Iberiabank Corp., and José S. Suquet, chairman, president and CEO of Pan-American Life Insurance Co. Additional information can be found at www.tulanebusinessforum.com.
A number of other TABA events are also right around the corner, including Freeman Days, so get out and get involved, support your school, and have a great time while doing so. I hope to see plenty of new faces in the months and years to come.
All the best,
Tom Spiers
President,
Tulane Association of Business Alumni (TABA)
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