To enrich programs and opportunities for its students and promote closer ties with its younger alumni, the Pamplin College has established a Recent Alumni Board.

Comprising a diverse group of 25 young professionals, the board will encourage recent alumni to get involved with the college through social and professional activities.

Lynn Anderson

Yusuf Abugideiri

“We want to encourage recent graduates to contribute their time, talent, and resources to further enhance Pamplin’s community and targeted growth initiatives,” said Yusuf Abugideiri (FIN ’09), a financial planner with Yeske Buie in Vienna, Virginia, who co-chairs the board with Lynn Anderson (FIN '07), director of partnerships and portfolio products at NBC Universal in New York City.

Anderson said the board had its first two meetings this summer and have identified the college’s undergraduate mentoring program and a freshman management course as two early initiatives board members can support.

Members represent majors from all six Pamplin departments and graduation years from 2006 to 2013. They represent a diversity of career fields, including investment banking, human resources, advertising, and hospitality, and a range of geographic locations, from New York, Boston, and Chicago to San Francisco and Seattle, from metro Washington, D.C., and Richmond to Williamsburg and Blacksburg.

They will work through committees on policy, outreach, and initiatives and collaborate with Pamplin administrators and staff on programs and activities.

In addition to mentoring, board members will participate in job shadowing programs, career workshops, talks, and networking opportunities to help Pamplin undergraduates make a successful transition to the workplace.

They will serve as an advocate for Pamplin in hiring efforts at their own employers; strengthen ties between the college and its recent graduates by attending, hosting, or coordinating events and working with Virginia Tech’s regional alumni groups; make annual financial contributions to the college; and work with the Pamplin Advisory Council (PAC) and departmental advisory boards.

Indeed, it was a PAC committee that took on the task last October of creating the board and articulating its purpose, mission, and responsibilities.

Gina French, Pamplin’s college relations director, said PAC’s Recent Alumni Board Planning Committee, chaired by Bridget Ryan Berman (GBUS ’82), reviewed nominations and selected the initial board members for the dean’s approval. Committee members will also help guide the new board in its early years.