PowerUp online initiative bolsters Kellogg alumni community

Since its launch Jan. 14, the new Kellogg School alumni Web site has enabled nearly 10,000 Kellogg alums to "Power Up" and connect with Kellogg --- including more than 1,300 brand-new users. Of these, almost 7,500 alumni updated their contact information.

The initiative has proven a powerful tool to enhance the Kellogg School network. With incentives such as a contest to award the 20 millionth IBM laptop computer and a competition among Kellogg alumni clubs to encourage the most members to update their alumni profiles via the new Web site, the online portal has brought Kellogg graduates together and deepened their relationship with the school's professors by providing easy access to many faculty publications and research.

Selected randomly from among all alumni who logged onto the Web site, Patricia Ozaki '97 was the winner of the IBM laptop. In the clubs competition --- divided into categories of small, medium, large and extra-large based on membership --- the top winners were, respectively: Benelux, the United Kingdom and Brazil (tied), Boston and the Bay Area. Prizes ranged from $500 to $1,000 for the first-place winners, with smaller prizes awarded to the runners-up.