Dear Sonoma MBA Community,
It's a good day and we are excited to share that we have been able to return to many of our in-person immersive experiences, which I am sure we can all agree are some of the biggest highlights that our programs have to offer. This brings a sense of optimism and also requires a little adapting for all involved. I just googled “adjusting from online to in-person events” and there are 2.7 Billion results, so I know I’m not alone. That being said, I am very grateful to be able to meet and see people in-person again. I have deeply missed the benefits of human interaction such as bonding and camaraderie that this brings.
In January our incoming Wine EMBA Cohort (Wine 10) was able to meet for EMBArk and our newest Global Wine EMBA Cohort (GWEMBA 2) was able to meet in Sonoma and San Diego for their first residential. Visiting students from the Kedge Business School located in Bordeaux, France, joined some of our Professional Wine MBA students in Sonoma for the course, International Wine Business Strategies, and participated in some stellar winery business visits focused on Sustainability. In April and May, Cohorts WEMBA Wine 9, GWEMBA 2 and PMBA 2020/21 each went to France and EMBA Cohort 12 went to Portugal for their International study tours.
At the end of May, we celebrated the Wine Business Institutes 25th Anniversary on campus at the Wine Spectator Learning Center. This was a joyous occasion to celebrate leaders in the making as well as those already making history. A quick shout out to the GWEMBA students who traveled four hours to attend the celebration.
We also celebrated commencement in person this year with 25 “new” Professional MBA graduates. At the end of Summer, 45 more MBA graduates, will join our esteemed group of more than 790 Sonoma MBA Alumni.
We are now preparing to welcome our new PMBA 2022 cohort in August, and the third Global Wine EMBA cohort (GWEMBA 3) in October. The Professional MBA program aims to bring a new lens of “purpose” to business (as expressed by Dean Coget), which is one of the strategic priorities embraced by the School of Business and Economics.
All this is to say that “things are looking up”. Our MBA Alumni Forum Leadership Team members are preparing to offer some great speaker events and continuing education workshops, and I want to encourage you to take that extra step to come and reunite (in-person) with your fellow cohort members, and also to meet some new and interesting people who will surely further your reach and network.
I am so grateful for the engagement and contributions of our MBA learning community. As you may hear me saying repeatedly, your success is our success, and so I invite and encourage you all to share any news about your achievements so that we can all celebrate your accomplishments together. I’ll leave you with this song and look forward to seeing all of you in-person in the near future.
Sincerely,
Soo Haylett