The Mission
The SUNY Alumni Club ("The Club") was created to provide and encourage social and networking opportunities for all SUNY alumni, primarily those living outside of New York. Additionally, "The Club" will foster communication between the alumni and their individual college/university, as well as promote voluntary community projects and support services on a school/SUNY level. "The Club" conducts monthly functions for members to socialize and network in hopes of enhancing their personal life and/or business careers.

The history of how it all began
In 2001, Jeffrey Travis (Oswego '89), had been running the Oswego Alumni Club of Atlanta for about 5 years. Attendance at events was never what he thought it should be or could be. He wondered if other local SUNY alumni clubs were suffering the same fate. A quick search on the Internet showed that Cortland and Binghamton had active local clubs. A few emails later to Bernie LoBracco (Cortland/Albany) and Paula Brightwell (Binghamton) determined that they too were looking for better attendance at events. Because these three believed in the three tenets of the group (networking, social and community), they did what it took to bring all the SUNY alumni groups in the Atlanta area together and hence the SUNY Alumni Club of Atlanta was born.

January 2002, proved their efforts were not in vain as some 140 SUNY alumni, young and old alike, packed into Chicago's Pizza on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs for the 1st Annual Networking Experience. Other smaller events were conducted throughout the year and a good time was had by all, even at the picnic in the July Atlanta heat.

In 2003, the SUNY Alumni Club of Atlanta took over an entire restaurant (Tony's on Holcomb Bridge in Roswell) on a Friday evening as approximately 160 alumni came to swap business cards and share stories. We also reached out to SUNY itself and they reciprocated by having Michael Luck, VP of Philanthropy and Alumni Affairs at SUNY, attend and give a speech. The speech endorsed the club and validated the existence paving the way for additional all SUNY alumni groups to start up throughout the US and beyond.

The club tried something new in 2004 by taking the event into the city of Atlanta and conducting it at a hotel even knowing travel and traffic would be a deterrent to some. Location kept some away but the numbers were still in the 130 range. Attendance was assisted by having Chancellor King attend and give a great speech regarding the SUNY family and how much money is generated because of SUNY alumni and patents that SUNY alumni have received.

The Chancellor also surprised the founders of the first all SUNY alumni club, Paula, Jeffrey and Bernie (below left - right), by presenting them with the Chancellor's Award for Alumni Excellence.

It's not just an Atlanta thing
Today the Atlanta Club looks to take the experience it has gained over the last four years to be able to assist local All-SUNY clubs in other cities in getting up and going. Currently South Carolina is making strides as the second all SUNY alumni club and Washington DC has held some All-SUNY events. Will your area be next? If you have questions please send an email to info@sunyalumni.org and we will be glad to discuss and share with you our experiences of running a club.