Chicago

The Kellogg Alumni Club of Chicago kicked off the school year by reaching out and connecting with alums and students in several different ways. The fall began with the highly successful Worldwide Wednesday with Kellogg, in which alumni clubs around the world hosted events on the same day. KACC hosted a boat cruise for alums on Lake Michigan with members of the Kellogg Alumni Advisory Board and Whit Shepard, associate dean of development and alumni relations.

KACC is now hosting weekly professional-development, social and networking events in the city, north/northwest suburbs and western suburbs. Alums can attend KACC events in several locations that are convenient to their work or homes.

Professional development opportunities abounded in recent months with the KACC sponsoring events on estate planning, diversity, purchasing and operating franchises, start-up and turnaround CEOs, and leading effective teams. The KACC book club did some great reading over the past few months, including the newly published book The Psychology of Leadership by Kellogg Professor David Messick and Stanford University Professor Roderick Kramer.

The highly popular ongoing career workshop series, "Staying Up in a Down Market," continued for alums who are in transition or considering a career change. Successful executive coaches/career consultants led hands-on workshops to help alums develop a personal strategy, game plan and go-to-market strategy for their careers.

Chicago alums were also able to take advantage of several social and networking opportunities, including TGIFs in several downtown and suburban locations, a Wildcats football game, a golf outing at the challenging Seven Bridges Golf Course, La Boheme–Café Style! opera and the popular KACC annual holiday party.

The KACC leadership also spent the past several months reaching out to student groups by hosting the leadership of the TMP and full-time programs at monthly board meetings during the fall and winter. The groups discussed opportunities to host and participate in events together. The KACC also hosted its annual open board meeting, which encourages all KACC members to provide input and have the opportunity to become actively involved in the club.

Finally, KACC's Kellogg Incubator Support Team received some nice feedback for their work supporting the Technology Innovation Center, a nonprofit venture between NU and the city of Evanston. TIC supports early-stage, technology-based companies and uses KACC alums to provide consulting help to its members. One of the TIC member companies was featured in both a local newspaper article and The Wall Street Journal due to its success.