The Ordinary and Extraordinary General Assembly of Esade Alumni was held on 16^th December. At the meeting, a report on activities, accounts and the management of the Executive Board during the 2019-2020 year were presented and approved. Two new Executive Board members were also elected and the budget for the current year was presented. The meeting was led by Maite Barrera (Lic&MBA ‘98), President of Esade Alumni; Patricia Valentí (MBA ‘02 / Promociona ‘17), Director of Esade Alumni; Ignasi Rafel (MBA ‘94), Secretary General of the Executive Board and Oriol Pinya (Lic&MBA ‘95).

Report on activities

After attendees were welcomed, the impact of COVID-19 on the activities of Esade Alumni was discussed. For this academic year, an organisation was established in accordance with the guidelines of the Esade Alumni Strategic Plan, with emphasis on the four main pillars of the plan: Get Involved, Be Global, Connected to Society, and Esade Engagement & Contribution. The Get Involved pillar was aimed at getting alumni more involved and willing to participate in the association (exemplified by success stories such as participation on boards, the Thesis Awards, the new Directors’ Club, etc.).

Patricia Valentí briefly reported on how the value proposition had been adapted and updated and explained how the alumni clubs and areas moved all of their planned activities and services online in less than a week, with an average of 50 activities per month. With respect to the Be Global pillar, she noted that the 84 chapter boards were given guidance and that the number of website users and visitors to the Content Hub increased. (The decision was made to open up the Content Hub as an easy way to be present and help the entire alumni community in this very vulnerable moment.) With regard to the third pillar, Connected to Society, she highlighted the importance of the social and entrepreneurial areas of Esade Alumni’s strategy, as well as the excellent work of the 290 volunteer Pro Bono Consultants. At the beginning of the year, the Forum of Trustees was launched as a means of promoting alumni who belong to the governing bodies of social entities. Activity also continued on the entrepreneurial front: 450 projects were assessed and a total of €3.5 million was invested.

As for Esade Engagement & Contribution, new ExEd programmes were launched online to facilitate the ongoing education of alumni (ESports, Legal Tech and Omnichannel & E-commerce Strategies). The response has been very good and coordination and support work has been carried out in a new fundraising campaign. Finally, she noted that, given the remarkable circumstances of the past year, Esade Alumni has tried to amplify the voices of alumni, and that the alumni, in turn, have been keen to participate.

Financial report

As for the annual accounts, Esade Alumni closed the 2019­2020 academic year with a positive result, with 82% of income coming from fees and 18% from operating income, with an adjustment between expenses and income to achieve a balanced budget. The bulk of the difference was caused by the cancellation of the Annual Conference and other in-person events since March.

As for the income and expenditure budget for the 2020-2021 year, the association will continue in the same vein, acting prudently in view of the new social context that this year is likely to entail. Therefore, there will be no major changes in either fees or balances. It is important to note that Esade Alumni is increasingly an association with a global community, so digital investment will continue to be an important factor going forward.

Renewal of the Esade Alumni Executive Board

After the unanimous approval of the report on activities, the accounts and the management of the Executive Board during 2019-2020, as well as the budgets for 2020-2021, the partial renewal of the Board was carried out in accordance with Articles 11 and 12 of the Esade Alumni Charter. David Cerqueda (ADE&Lic&MBA ‘98), Chief Digital Officer and Managing Director for Diversification at the Godó Group, and Josep Salvatella (EMBA ‘04), founder and CEO of RocaSalvatella, were elected as a joint ticket. Finally, an amendment to Article 5 of the Esade Alumni Charter was presented and approved. After the presentations, a question and answer session was held. The meeting was then adjourned.