When I came to the United States from Singapore as an international student, I was excited to attend the Wharton School. It was not originally my intention to stay after graduation to make a life in this country. Nevertheless, I thought it would be a good experience to interview for jobs here, to practice and learn from the process. Ultimately, I landed a position that even my parents (who wanted me to return home) told me to seize. Plus, I met my husband, Jason Jaslow W’95 EAS’95. The rest, as the adage goes, is history.

The alumni featured in this issue remind me that Wharton continues to attract and welcome the best from around the world, no matter their origin. These stories show immigrants who strongly desire to contribute to our society and advance their lives.

Inspired by his podcast The Immigrant Entrepreneur, WCNY Editor, Kent Trabing, WG’01,
captured these amazing alumni stories.

Anju Marempudi, WG’05, got his idea for EventVestor during his first day in class. He shares about providing alternate datasets to hedge funds, creating WCNY’s Fintech Affinity Group, and helping his home state in India develop blockchain.
L.D. Salmanson, WG’13, from Israel, created Cherre, which provides millions of data points to the commercial real estate industry. L.D. had absolute clarity about what he wanted to achieve at Wharton and did.
Edrizio De La Cruz, WG’11, of Arcus, expresses the enthusiasm and grit of someone who came as a boy from the Dominican Republic, and went from mechanic to Wharton and then to successful fintech founder.
Sara Yoon, W’12, founder of Pop Up Nation, has a passion to help small retailers gain a foothold in the market, remembering her Korean parents who started out selling electronic gadgets on a table in downtown Newark, New Jersey.
Kaihan Krippendorff, Eng’94, W’94, with a German mindset, created his firm Outthinker, 14 years ago, to guide Fortune 500 companies in helping their own intrapreneurs collaborate and innovate.
Solomon Liou, WG’10, founder of KidPass, combined lessons from Wharton and his Taiwanese parents, to go directly to his future customers to understand their needs.
Tony Andreoli, W’97, used his connections as VP of WCNY Business Networking and Business Development meetups, to co-found a blockchain company, Tribeca Workshop.
Alexandra Bonetti, W’07, founder of Talent Hack, talks about how she was inspired to help staff health clubs. Alexandra’s sadness that the Venezuela of her youth no longer exists calls to mind the challenges that many alumni rise from.

I hope to see you at this year’s Joseph Wharton Awards Dinner on October 11. Seriously, if you attend, please introduce yourself to me. It’s also a great place to connect with our Club’s leadership and volunteers where most will be in attendance.

This year’s worthy honorees will be:
2018 Joseph Wharton Award for Lifetime Achievement: Arthur D. Collins, Jr., WG’73, retired Chairman and CEO of Medtronic;
2018 Joseph Wharton Award for Leadership: Jonathan Gray, C’92, W’92, President and COO of Blackstone;
2018 Joseph Wharton Award for Social Impact: Anne Welsh McNulty, WG’79, Managing Partner of JBK Partners and President of the McNulty Foundation;
2018 Joseph Wharton Award for Young Leadership: Kunal Bahl, W’06, Eng’06, Co-Founder and CEO of Snapdeal.

Regina Jaslow, W’97
President, Wharton Club of New York
Co-Founder, Dove Tree Style
Chief Revenue Officer, Amplicare
Phone: 201-679-0433
rjaslow@whartonny.com