On 6 February, the ESSEC Foundation invited numerous alumni to New York for its annual meeting, thanks to the warm welcome of François Luiggi (H92), president of the ESSEC Alumni USA Chapter and general manager of the Pierre Hotel.

Click here to view photos of the event!

The evening served as an opportunity to thank donors involved in the development of ESSEC, both in France and internationally, and engage new alumni in the School’s projects.

While ESSEC’s International Advisory Board* met in NYC and participated in the event, Thierry Fritsch (E80), President of the ESSEC Foundation, and Vincenzo Vinzi, Director-General of ESSEC, shared the School’s Foundation-supported priority development plans:

• Campus 2020 (the complete reinvention of the Cergy campus and the associated development campaign) headed by Gilles Pélisson (E79), alongside the School and the Foundation.
• Equal opportunities through the allocation of 250 social grants per year.
• Academic excellence and the joint development of dual degree programmes with internationally leading universities to remain competitive in the long term and respond to new economic, societal and environmental challenges. Following the announcement of a dual degree programme with UC Berkeley’s School of Engineering in October 2019, Vincenzo Vinzi announced the signature of a dual degree programme with Parsons School of Design on 6 February.
• Entrepreneurship, marked by the recruitment of a new Entrepreneurship and Innovation Centre Executive Director, to position ESSEC as the academic hub of the French start-up ecosystem.

An event that showcases the ESSEC community and its ability to bring its alumni and faculty, as well as representatives of other academic institutions, together to build the School’s present and future.

* The International Advisory Board, an international consultative body made up of leaders from the business world, academia and international institutions, meets to project the long-term organisation of ESSEC and reflect on changes in society, the future of Business Schools and the role that ESSEC must play in responding to this global and worldwide transition.