For Rob Dinerman, W’78, the new VP of Marketing and Communications for WCNY, “everything rises and falls on leadership.” Rob learned this quote and philosophy from his work advising business transformation and coaching executives as part of the John Maxwell Team. Rob hopes to elevate his Marketing and Communications (Marcom) team using similar principles.

Rob came into his role asking, “Why is the Club’s paid membership a small portion of the alumni base in the New York region? Why do alumni engage with the Club? Why do alumni read the WCNY Magazine?”

Rob will put into practice something he thought about 40 years ago when he volunteered with then Club President Bob Bedell, WG’68. Bob emphasized, “We need to connect with the next generation graduating.” To broaden WCNY’s appeal, Rob will focus on alumni who volunteer their time and talent and treasure for local and global causes. Alumni might volunteer for a non-faith-based or faith-based 501(c)(3). They may be a board member of an organization. The theme is that Wharton alumni have a heart. Wharton alumni give back.

Rob himself serves as incoming President of the New Providence Board of Education and Vice President of The Union County School Board Association in New Jersey. Rob also serves as a member of the John Maxwell Presidents Advisory Council.

Second, Rob aims to promote WCNY as a tool for alumni as they go through life stages from graduation to early career to marriage and family and to empty nester and retirement. The Club provides resources, networking, knowledge and processes to assist in this life’s journey. From an organizational perspective, Rob hopes his Marcom team can co- ordinate and present the messaging of the Club’s affinity groups and events that provide so much value to alumni.

If alumni have read in this magazine about the panels and events put on by the Hedge Fund (WHFN) events, Alumni Angel Network (WAAN) pitch nights, and CFO (WhCFO) or Real Estate (WREI) panels, then they know the high caliber of the presenters and participants. Rob will work with his team to inform more alumni about these offerings before and after they occur.

So, who is on the Marcom team? The team includes:

WCNY veterans Kent Trabing, WG’01, Editor of the Wharton Club of New York Magazine (circulation 26,000); Peter Hildick-Smith, C’76, WG’81, P’13, Managing Editor and previous VP of Marketing and Communications; and Udi Chattopadhyay, WG’01, Chair of the Sponsorship Committee and VP of University Relations.

New members of the team include Professor Jim Hazy, WG’88, Social Media Chair; Jim Rhodes, W’92, Chair of Member Benefits; Soumyo Chakraborty, WG’01, Chief Technology Officer; and Avi Crawford, W’15, Membership Chair.

Rob describes his team members and their work for the Club:

WCNY Magazine: Kent Trabing and Peter Hildick-Smith

Kent and Peter produce a quality periodical that comes out two times a year, spotlighting Club offerings and accomplished alumni. Feedback and readership of the magazine have been excellent. Fascinating alumni have been interviewed, like: J.D. Power, WG’59; Jay Fishman, W’74, WG’74; Leonard Lauder, W’54; John Bernstein, C’82, WG’87; Ed Feulner, WG’64; Wayne Silby, W’70; Ara K. Hovnanian, W’79, WG’79 and Roger Farah, W’75.

Kent seeks enthusiastic feature writers to cover these alumni, as well as the top-tier events and panels that WCNY puts on every month. If you’d like to write for the magazine, email editor@ whartonny.net.

Chair of the Sponsorship Committee and VP of University Relations: Udi Chattopadhyay

We also hope to increase sponsorship of the magazine. Udi has volunteered to enlist paid sponsorship in a world of digital media. If you’d like to gain exposure to alumni and other business leaders working in marketing, business development and sales, contact Udi at universityrelations@whartonny.com.

Social Media Chair: Jim Hazy

Jim is a Professor at Adelphi University, with a background that includes executive roles at AT&T and EY. Jim must figure out what value social media can add to the Club, including our LinkedIn and Facebook destinations.

When I analyzed social media effectiveness while working at the tech advisory firm, Gartner, I saw many clients waste time, money and talent for little return, because social media was a checklist item in the marketing budget.

CTO: Soumyo Chakraborty

Soumyo is a VP in the Engineering Division at Two Sigma Investments, a technology-driven investment management firm based in New York City. His responsibilities there include technical project and product management, and strategy.

Soumyo hopes to establish a deeper connection with the Wharton community. He seeks to understand the great variety of impactful work that alumni are engaged in, and nurture a lifelong relationship with the School. His goals are to help the Club better leverage technology in reaching out to the large alumni base in the region, delivering valuable services and improving the level of member engagement.

Soumyo plans to optimize the Club’s website, virtual broadcast capabilities, content policy, and other technologies that make it easier for all volunteers to add value to their WCNY portfolios. His first action was to introduce G Suite as a platform for collaboration, enabling WCNY teams to share documents, calendars and contacts.

Membership Chair: Avi Crawford

Rob asked our newest team member, Avi Crawford, to look at problems from our members’ viewpoints, instead of from the Club leaders’ perspective. Avi brings great experience for this role, having spent two years working with the Penn Club, forming relation- ships with President Regina Jaslow, W’97, and Programming Chair Jennifer Gregoriou, W’78, and with our administrator, Gabriela Sanchez.

Chair of Member Benefits: Jim Rhodes

Jim is a senior investment strategist with twenty years of experience of bulge bracket, institutional sell-side fixed income strategy. Jim also serves as a Board Member for Setai Wall Street, and is a Lifetime Member of the Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York. Jim hopes we can learn and enhance the benefits of member-facing teams, such as Business Development; Programming; Career Development and the Wharton Investment Resource Exchange.

Finally, the MARCOM team would like to receive your input on why you value being a member of the Wharton Club of New York.

Send any ideas you have for Marketing and Communications at WCNY to Rob at rob@robertdinerman.com.