Esade Alumni General Assembly

The Ordinary and Extraordinary General Assembly of Esade Alumni was held on 1st December. At the meeting, a report on activities, accounts and the management of the Executive Board during the 2020-2021 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 outgoing Esade Alumni President Maite Barrera (Lic&MBA ‘98); 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), Treasurer of Esade Alumni.

Report on activities

After the welcome remarks, Patricia Valentí mentioned the main milestones of the 2020-2021 academic year, which was marked by the pandemic and the transformation of Esade Alumni with its new brand repositioning with a purpose, mission and narrative focused on creating a sense of belonging to a community of responsible leaders who have a significant impact on organisations and society. In addition, Esade Alumni has developed a new Sustainability Plan, aligned with Esade, using the B Corp methodology; celebrated the 15th anniversary of Alumni Social; launched a new coaching service; and returned to face-to-face gatherings by holding its Annual Conference in Barcelona, which had 700 in-person attendees and 3,000 online attendees. All of these are examples of the association’s commitment to society, sustainable growth, and the professional and personal development of alumni.
The community has been intensely involved throughout this pandemic-dominated year. More than 2,700 alumni have been actively involved through the Executive Board, the Institutional Council, and the boards of our Clubs and Chapters, as well as by mentoring, volunteering, serving as delegates and investing in entrepreneurial projects. Together, we have had a positive impact on society and have left our mark.

Along similar lines, in her last remarks as head of the association, Maite Barrera noted: “The pandemic has forced us to reflect and refocus our mission, purpose and values to concentrate on people and their transformative actions and develop impactful initiatives, which is what defines and motivates us as a community. We are here to give and contribute to the common good, to create a fairer, more prosperous and more sustainable society.” After leaving her post, Maite Barrera will join the Institutional Council.

Financial report

Oriol Pinya (Lic&MBA ‘95), also on his last day as Esade Alumni Treasurer, presented the final figures for the 2020-2021 year and the 2021-2022 budget. Esade Alumni closed the 2020-2021 academic year with a surplus. As for income, the structure has remained constant, with 84% of revenue coming from fees and the remaining 16% from sponsorships and collaborations. This year has been characterised by the adaptation of expenses and income in response to the evolution of the pandemic and by improving proposals for digital events and programmes.

With regard to the income and expenditure budget for 2021-2022, the association expects to operate along similar lines, continuing to improve the digital structure by adapting the event model to in-person, hybrid and online formats and launching new services in line with Esade Alumni’s new Sustainability Plan as well as our strategy. Finally, no fee changes were approved.

After the unanimous approval of the report on activities, the accounts and the management of the Executive Board during 2020-2021, as well as the budgets for 2021-2022, the partial renewal of the Board was carried out in accordance with Articles 11 and 12 of the Esade Alumni Charter. The members of the joint candidacy formed by Daniel Sánchez (Lic&MBA ‘92), founding partner at Nauta Capital, and Isabel Ferrer (Lic&MBA ‘95), Marketing Director for EMEA at Mattel, were elected.

Finally, the amendment of articles 12 and 16 of the Esade Alumni Charter, concerning the Executive Board (limiting the President’s term of office to three years) and the Institutional Council (establishing that at least 25% of members must be present for a quorum to be valid) was presented and approved. After the presentations, the meeting finished with a question and answer session.