AGSM Sydney Alumni Branch locks in a new network

AUTHOR: Deborah Tarant   DATE: 14.12.06   ISSUE 2, 2006

Fortunately, among the 50 keen applicants who volunteered to become committee members, there was a sufficient heterogeneity of industry, gender and alumni. The great diversity was also reflected in the CEOs, CFOs, prominent board members and entrepreneurs representing AGSM graduate years from the early 1980s to 2005 who met at the launch event.

The new Sydney Alumni Branch potentially unites more than 4,000 Sydney-based AGSM former students.

Andrew Mencinsky is the inaugural President of the AGSM Sydney Alumni Branch.

Photo: Andrew Mencinsky

Their high level of enthusiasm was shown at the event, which had a waiting list of potential guests wishing to join the 250 alumni who gathered at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art in April to hear Allco Managing Director Peter Yates (former CEO of Publishing and Broadcasting Limited) recount the highlights and idiosyncratic times he experienced working for Australia’s richest man, the late Kerry Packer. Mr Yates’ anecdotes of his time heading the Packer business empire tied in with his observations on leadership models and the how the values of leaders flow through the culture and body of organisations.

In welcoming guests, Andrew Mencinsky outlined three important functions the newly established AGSM Sydney Alumni Branch would fulfil starting with the benefits it offers all members to tap into a well-connected professional and social network of AGSM alumni.

“Metcalfe’s law states the power of a network is proportionate to the square of the number of members. The AGSM network is large, and it is growing and becoming more powerful,” Mr Mencinsky told guests. While the branch’s planned quarterly events have a viable social purpose, they will focus on bringing together Sydney alumni groups with similar interests and forging links with alumni from other leading business schools.

The new Sydney Alumni Branch potentially unites more than 4,000 Sydney-based AGSM former students.

The new alumni branch will also offer opportunities for members to continue career development and learning, through events focussed on relevant topical issues with a wide range of speakers. Plans are underway to formally establish a means for members to access each other’s insights and know-how through an alumni-to-alumni mentoring program, Mr Mencinsky said.

More than this, the Sydney Alumni Branch will play an active role in benefiting the broader community by supporting scholarships to AGSM, raising awareness of cultural activities through alumni channels and encouraging charitable works. Proceeds from the launch event went to the Sydney Alumni Community Leader Scholarship which will be awarded to an employee of a not-for-profit (NFP) organisation.

Mr Mencinsky who was the winner of the AGSM Chairman's Prize in 2005 and currently heads IT for ISIS Projects, a premium commercial and hotel fitout and refurbishment company, suggested the eagerness towards setting up a Sydney alumni branch had come from the shared, transforming experience of undertaking an MBA. “It taught us to embrace change and ongoing development, to take risks with business and with life.”

The Sydney Alumni Branch will play an active role in benefiting the broader community.

In taking on the presidency, Mr Mencinsky said he had an interest “in promoting and preserving the equity of the AGSM brand and reputation, especially in an environment of decreased government funding and increased competition”.

“A strong alumni community contributes towards this reputation, so by building and maintaining the alumni community I can contribute towards further developing the AGSM,” he said.