RSM alumni from several MBA programmes who celebrated their 5-, 10-, 15-, 20- and 25-year graduation anniversary travelled from as far away as Japan, Thailand, the USA, Canada, Israel, Norway, Russia, Turkey, the UK and Switzerland to kick off their RSM MBA alumni reunion at the RSM Leadership Summit on Friday 7 October.
People-oriented leadership
The Summit explored the pros and cons of top-down decision-making versus people-oriented leadership with speakers such as OTB’s CEO Stefano Rosso and Dutch satirist Freek de Jonge, as well as RSM Professors Dirk van Dierendonck and Daan van Knippenberg. During the event, RSM Dean Steef van de Velde announced the recipients of this year’s RSM Distinguished Alumni Awards.
After the Summit, the reunion continued in an informal atmosphere, giving alumni the opportunity to catch up with former classmates, reflect on their time at RSM and in Rotterdam, and create new memories.
Storytelling workshop
Alumni returned to campus on Saturday 8 October to participate in an interactive educational workshop about storytelling, led by expert storyteller Simon Hodges. In the session, alumni explored what stories make up the alumni community, what we value, and how this is expressed. The participants started out by thinking about what inspired them during their time at RSM, with revealing statements such as ‘a sense of freedom’ and ‘complete trust because of our common experience’. Afterwards they went into exploring what drives them today which gave more insightful answers such as ‘my passion to make other people’s life better’, having an ‘addiction to change’ and embracing uncertainty.
The alumni reunion concluded with a social dinner at nhow Rotterdam, with spectacular views of the Erasmus Bridge and Rotterdam’s skyline.
RSM alumni community
The RSM alumni network brings graduates from RSM’s bachelor, master and MBA programmes opportunities for lifelong learning, professional development and social connections, post-graduation and throughout their career through various events and Local Chapters. With a growing network of more than 30,000 alumni worldwide, RSM’s alumni community is a very diverse one; including those who graduated from the first Bedrijfskunde programmes in the early seventies, to those who graduated only this year.
The next RSM MBA alumni reunion weekend is for alumni who were in the full-time MBA, part-time Executive MBA, OneMBA or MFM classes of 2012, 2007, 2002, 1997 or 1992. It will take place in Rotterdam on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 October 2017.
