Dear Grad Techers, Alumni, Friends, and Supporters:

A few months ago, in our 2014 Annual Report, I wrote about the Grad Tech Club’s activities throughout the fall.  While that writing feels just moments ago, much has occurred in the interim, including my walking the field at Alumni Stadium alongside the Class of 2015 just three days ago.  We began the year with an ambitious agenda to equip members with the knowledge and skills necessary for success in the tech industry, to raise the overall profile of the BC MBA program within Tech, and to get our members hired.  With the year behind us, it’s time to reflect on how we did.

Equip Members with Knowledge and Skills

Despite losing our VP of Analytics to full time employment, Code & Coffee lived on throughout the year.  As a result, several of our members were able to add “Python” to the skills section of their resumes and have been exposed to the CodeAcademy platform where we will doubtlessly find ourselves again.

Likewise, perhaps our biggest success was with the Product Team.  Every Thursday through the duration of the year, several of us met to address pain points, ideate, and build a product.  Our efforts culminated in a demo of ForgetMeNot, our personal belongings app that uses bluetooth beacons to let you know when you are walking away from your valuables.  The process allowed us to cultivate skills in Product Management, Product Marketing, UX Design, and Product Development.  In our presentation we were able to highlight these disciplines to our classmates and generate more interest in the functions.  You can read about some of our experiences here and see our Demo Deck here. 

Finally, one place we hoped to make progress in service of skill building was in our digital marketing initiative.  In this arena, however, we were a bit disappointed.  We expected to have enough interest to assign a new pair of people to the initiative each month but the interest did not materialize.  Instead, we had a repeat team experiment with Google Adwords to help drive web traffic.  While the initiative failed to realize its full potential, combined with our other programming and initiatives, I am still confident that we have made significant headway toward equipping our membership for success.

Raise the Overall Profile of the MBA Program in Tech

Throughout the year we have continued to highlight everything we do through an active online presence on our blog, Facebook, and Twitter.  We have hundreds of site visits per month, thousands of Twitter impressions, and have grown our Twitter followers by 550 over the course of the year, a 900% increase!

We have also made our presence known beyond the Digital World.  We have strongly integrated into the fiber of the overarching BC Tech/Entrepreneurship scene by partnering with undergrads for TechTreks, BCVC, and other initiatives, linking up with Jere Doyle and the Center for Entrepreneurship, and plugging in with the BC Tech Council.  Likewise, we have also brought a strong presence to Boston Tech events such as the BPMA’s Product Camp, BU’s TechConnect, and the TiE Startup Con.  People are starting to know our name, our next task will be to make sure they know what we can do!

Get Our Members Hired

On this critical front, we have also made substantial progress.  We put a lot of emphasis on this tier in the spring, bringing in seasoned tech recruiter Larry Kahn as well as a panel of alumni to share advice, experiences, and best practices. Additionally, our Hire an Eagle page has seen over 300 views in 2015 alone with 80% of featured members now hired at great firms including LogMeIn, Optum, Constant Contact, EMC, and a top startup accelerator, as well as one member whose startup was accepted into the Soaring Startup Circle 2015 class.

BC MBAs continue to make their mark in the Tech Sector but more can be done and we need all of our alumni in great tech companies to continue to make special efforts to give back and bring more Eagles on board.  We know the caliber of people that come out of the Heights, let’s make sure we give them the chance to make an impact.

What’s Next?

We have accomplished a lot over the last year, but the journey is not over.  It has been my great privilege to lead the GradTech Club this past year, and now I am pleased to be passing the torch to the capable hands of rising Second Years Alexa Villalobos and David Hackett.  The two possess complementary skills and abilities that will help the Club continue its ascension and achieve new and impactful accomplishments.  For my part, I will be pursing my startup, Radici Travel, full time and will (of course) stay strongly connected to the BC scene.

Thank you again for all your support!  Truly, #WeAreBC and #BCisTech!

Sincerely,

David LoVerme

Outgoing President, BC Grad Tech Club