By Kiera Reilly, C’93 @KieraReilly
To celebrate the successful conclusion of Penn’s Making History campaign, the University is hosting “Time to Shine” events around the world to thank alumni, parents and friends for their support. California, home to over 27,000 alumni, welcomed President Gutmann at two events in California early in October – in Los Angeles and San Francisco – and our Penn family came ready to shine!
First up was Time to Shine Los Angeles at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where a record number of alumni, parents and friends attended to celebrate Penn. See more photos of the event here.
Terry Baris, C’84, Jess Garvey, C’09, and Aileen Level, C’99, GED’00, members of the Penn Club LA board and Time To Shine host committee are ready to welcome everyone.
Host Committee members Peter Shoemaker, C’86, Nancy Bergmann, C’89, Beth Kean, ENG’89, and Denise Winner, W’83.
PennClubLA president Brian Chi, W’10, is ready to promote the club’s upcoming events.
Heather Lieberman, C’94, President Gutmann, Matt Rosler, C’96, and Todd Lieberman, C’95.
The following morning, a small group of Penn donors and volunteers leaders met for a breakfast discussion with Eric Furda, C’87, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions. After a lively discussion, the alumni staff headed south to San Diego. We attended a reception with the Penn Club of San Diego. Hoopes Wampler, Assistant Vice President for Alumni Relations, provided guests with a campus update, and Eric Furda, spoke about admissions at Penn today. We were excited to welcome an enthusiastic crowd, including several potential Penn applicants. Click here to see the event photos.
Penn Club of San Diego president B. Bea Rajsombath, C’99, welcomes everyone to the event.
Former club presidnet Robby Koeppel Foss, C’92, GED’92, current president B. Bea Rajsombath, C’99, and Kiera Reilly, C’93, from Penn’s Los Angeles office.
Alumni Relations staff pose in La Jolla the night after a successful event as they prepare to fly up to San Francisco. L-R: Elise Betz, Liz Pinnie, Colin Hennessy, Kiera Reilly, Hoopes Wampler, Tara Davies, Eric Furda and Patrick Bredehoft.
Our crew then headed north to San Francisco for Time to Shine at the Regency Center, where we saw former Penn Alumni colleague Jason Horger, Jim, C’76, PAR’11, an Pat, L’81, PAR’11, Wong from Hawaii, and Belinda Buscher, C92, co-president of the Penn Club of Seattle – just a samplying of the many enthusiastic alumni and parents that celebrated with us. All the photos are here.
Alumni Relations staff ready to welcome San Francisco alumni and parents: Nicole Svonavec, Kiera Reilly, Elise Betz and Tara Davies
Former alumni relations colleague Jason Horger, C’91, came with his colleague from St. Mary’s College, and Belinda Buscher, C’92, co-president of the Penn Club of Seattle.
Former Penn Club of Hawaii president and current Interview Program Chair Jim Wong, C’76, PAR’11, pictured here with the Penn Alumni Interview Program’s Patrick Bredehoft, attended with his wife Pat Wong, L’81.
Penn Club of Northern California board members Mohammed Shaik Hussain Ali, GEN’08, Phil Crosby, C’92, club president Tom Eliaz, ENG’02, and Kiera Reilly, C’93
The Saturday after the Time to Shine events concluded, Penn Alumni Regional Clubs and the Penn Alumni Interview Program hosted an alumni leadership conference for alumni club boards and interview committee chairs. We are thankful for the incredible work these volunteers perform on behalf of Penn, and we are also incredibly grateful that they “donated” their Saturday to be with us to learn about how these groups can work together to support the University. See photos from the conference here.
Penn Alumni club board members at the West Coast Alumni Leadership Conference
As seen by the photos here, Penn certainly shines in California thanks to our wonderful alumni and parents! If you live in California and are not already connected with the alumni network here, there are many opportunities to get involved:
Wharton Club of Southern California
Penn Club of Northern California
Wharton Club of Northern California
Hurrah, Hurrah to our California Penn family!
Frankly Penn 