I became an active member of the Wharton Club of New York in early 2005, when leaving a Fortune 100 marketing leadership career to pursue a personal goal of leading a new business start-up in media and entertainment. WCNY provided a great introduction to the huge, vibrant and eclectic Wharton alumni community in New York. Volunteering my time for the club also gave me a chance to give back on a personal level to the school that has had a tremendous impact on my professional career. I started out by joining a Leads Council (since evolved into Business Development Groups). Soon after I had the pleasure of meeting WCNY President Kenny Beck, who took the time to personally visit each council. He inspired us with his incredible spirit, enthusiasm and commitment that the Club would impact our business, careers and friendships. His own Leads Council success story, finding the buyer for his office furniture company, gave meaning to that commitment.

Through my multiple volunteer roles with WCNY over the years — Business Development Groups Chair, Marketing Vice President, Executive Committee member, co-founder of the Wharton Media & Entertainment Network (nearly 500 members strong!), Managing Editor of WCNY Magazine — I’ve seen Kenny in many roles over his years of club leadership. He is a relentless champion for the power of WCNY and the core value of “Take the Call”; leading an allvolunteer organization, serving one third of Wharton’s entire global alumni population; recruiting new club volunteers; building great leadership bench strength; investing in and upgrading WCNY’s membership publication into today’s full color WCNY Magazine; revitalizing the Joseph Wharton Dinner; supporting Wharton School’s admissions’ success with newly admitted student events; building the club’s capital base from a deficit to over $1 million; championing the club’s donation of $100,000 back to the school; his accomplishments go on and on. Most importantly Kenny has always been a ready friend, confidant and advisor to so many of us over his entire WCNY career, while transforming the Wharton Club of New York into what has to be the premier alumni organization in New York City today.