A great man once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”  And so I draw the inspiration of his memory, and begin the 18th Session of the Executive Committee by saying to my fellow alumni, “Ask not what your School can do for you – but what you can do for her.”

Over the last few years, we have cast aside all doubt that our MBA Program is one of the world’s bests.  Given the tender age of our University – some of us may even have children older than HKUST – our meteoric rise can only attribute to the caliber of our academic team, real life impacts made by our alumni, and tireless efforts from everyone in the University, the Business School and the MBA Program.
 

Yet compared with our global top 10 MBA Program, the strength of our alumni community is not as easily measured nor as well documented.  Magazines and institutions will not rank us as Asia’s or even the world’s #1 MBA alumni community.  Nor will corporate leaders we meet compliment us on it.  But it should not stop us from striving for it.

We will not become the world’s #1 community within the next year, or the next 10.  But let us begin.  So let me sound the bugle now.  Dear fellow alumni, in your hands more than in mine, will rest our success, as it is an undertaking too great for one man, or one team, one class or one generation of alumni. 

How?  You may ask.  It is simple.  Start by asking what you can do for your alma mater and community.  Then do it.
 

Join an event, or host one.

Join a MBAAA interest club and team, or create one.

Reach out to your fellow classmates, or to an alumnus you have never met before.

Contribute time, ideas or resources to our causes, or take one of our younger alumni under your wings.

Give back what you have learnt in class to your society in the name of HKUST MBA, or spread the word of those who did.

Ask not what your School can do for you – but what you can do for her.  Because only through the contribution of each and every one of us, can we truly share and shape the pride in being a HKUST MBA alumnus.



Fritz Chen (FT07)
President, HKUST MBA Alumni Association