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4 May 2023

Talent Synergizer 2023: behind the scenes, a strong alumni association

“I am really impressed by the quality of the organization of this talent event. Everything has been thought out so that participants feel comfortable and can fully enjoy the event” (Zheng Zou, Geneva EMBA student). Such an event could never become a huge success without the impressive support of our alumni.

The “Talent Synergizer” event was born while visiting the Hive Innovation Lab, a space designed by Yves Perrin, formerly Head of HIAG Suisse Romande and who just retired. Yves belongs to the first class of our Geneva EMBA, which he attended about 30 years ago. Our alumni are faithful and imaginative.

We had a free space at our disposal, we still needed some support for organizing the meeting. Sergej Zelewitz, Geneva EMBA alumnus and head of SV Group Suisse Romande, ensured he catering at an affordable price. Pascal Rocha Da Silva, Geneva EMBA alumnus and Délégué à l’Economie de la Ville de Genève, convinced the city to support us financially.

It was easy to mobilize about 50 current students and young graduates from our EMBA. They were enthusiastic about the opportunity. But our goal was also to attract about 20 companies. Our Alumni Association entered in the game and found about 80% of the companies, some of them even represented by an alumnus/alumna : ID-Quantique, UNCTAD, Alpian and RTS for example.

Our concept was based on round tables, that we wished to be facilitated by alumni. The Association was again at work, and engaged 9 of them : Anne-Christelle de Savignac, David Chazal, Elena Royal, Fabien Jacquet, Hakan Ekinci, Isis Gouedard, Mira Lanutti, Olesya Blagova and the President of the Alumni Association of the Geneva EMBA, Alain Sigrist. They did not only provide an effective contribution to the debates, but also truely enjoyed the moment for themselves. “Thank you, what a beautiful evening of exchanges and sharing!“, said Isis.

Last but not least, the whole organization was conceived and led by a team of super involved alumni, Laurent Clavel, Mira Lanutti and Elena Royal. They designed the concept all together. They found companies for attending the event. They took care of every detail before as well as during the meeting. And they will now focus on publishing the white paper summarizing the learning of the evening. For Elena, “TIt was great to support the MBA of UNIGE in its commitment to drive a change and to unite talents and corporate world in its diversity. Thank you to everyone! “. Mira added “Grateful, proud and excited – that’s how I feel after last Thursday’s night when The Geneva EMBA by the University of Geneva event Talent Synergizer 2023 took place at the Hive Innovation lab in Meyrin. Huge gratitude to Jean-Yves Mercier for trusting us – Elena RoyalLaurent CLAVEL and myself – in nurturing this brain baby of his. Very proud we all turned this inaugural event into an absolute success. Such an immense privilege it was to facilitate some of the group discussions, share experiences and learn from others. No post can do justice to the quality and depth of the discussions we had. We have taken stock of the realities of today’s world of work, the struggles companies face, and the transformation needed to address them. We’ve also taken the talents’ perspective in navigating the complexity and how to adapt and stay relevant in a world of constant disruption, digitalization, and transfer of jobs. More of all this in the article. What an honor to have Marc Benninger, the Editor in Chief of HR Today, and benefit from his masterful moderation of the plenary. Thank you so much to all companies who joined and sponsored, the participating alumni who facilitated group debates, and the EMBA candidates. I was very happy too to see some of those whom I’ve interviewed over the years and hear of their professional successes post the EMBA programme. Well done, all. Talents are made, not born! Now onto the next steps – all the pain points that we turned into gain points during this evening will be brought together in a White book to be published in the next weeks. Stay tuned“.
“. Laurent Clavel, who coordinated the team, concludes : “Thank you to all the students, company representatives, facilitators, and organizers for their participation in this evening which was a true success!!!

When those whom we should be thanking show so much gratitude, it is of course a sign of a successful event to which they were able to contribute. But it is also a sign of the vitality and strength of our alumni network. Even when the 2 years of study at the EMBA are over, sometimes long ago for some of them, they know they can continue to benefit from moments and rich learning experiences as well as joy and friendship. A big thank you to all our alumni as well as to the Alumni Association from the Geneva EMBA !

Do you wish to join and to be involved in this vibrant association ? Please contact Alain Sigrist, president of the Association Alumni eMBA UniGE.

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