President's Message

Dear HAUS-A Community Member:

It is my great pleasure to reach out to all of you. The HAUS-A team has a lot to be grateful for, including our team, our successes in 2015, our plan for the future and of course, all of you!

Our Talented Team
I have a great deal of gratitude to the members of the HAUS-A leadership team for the hard work that they've contributed toward the group's growth and development. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our founder Ivan Shumkov, who envisioned HAUS-A back in 2008. I'd also like to express my thanks to HAUS-A's fabulous leadership team members: Benjamin Fortunato (Director of Special Events), Greg Haley (Director of Recruitment and Membership), Matthew Singh (Director of Events) and Nancy Hou (Creative Director) for their collective efforts in making  HAUS-A the fantastic Shared Interest Group that it has become. Their great efforts, endless energy and tremendous creativity is beyond amazing!


This Past Year
In 2015, our team demonstrated great commitment toward offering quality events free of charge to all members of the Harvard community, most of which were completely sold out!  With the team's endless efforts, HAUS-A successfully organized walking tours of Newark, NJ in partnership with the Harvard Club of NJ, and our great colleague Antonio Valla; the Fulton Center Transit Station in Downtown Manhattan (led by our own HAUS-A leadership team member Greg Haley), and other exciting tours of the Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Williamsburg waterfront. We also hosted happy hours and networking events in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and co-sponsored two Global Networking Nights at the Harvard Club of New York. What a busy year!  As if this weren't enough, we also made improvements (and will continue to update) our website, developed a stronger mission: to provide quality networking opportunities to the Harvard community, and had great fun at the same time! Our team has devoted endless hours toward the group's mission and has continued to demonstrate tremendous grace, humor and a great sense of professionalism. The friends we've made, the memories we've shared and the knowledge we've gained through this process is unparalleled. We've made huge strides as a Shared Interest Group jand I couldn't be prouder of serving as HAUS-A President for this past year.

What's to Come
As HAUS-A continues to grow and offer quality programs, I am supremely confident that it will meet and even exceed all expectations. In the coming months, you will notice new changes in HAUS-A's leadership team and overall structure, exciting events and program offerings, and stronger ties to the Harvard Club of New York and local alumni groups. Stay tuned!

Opportunities to Get Involved
At this time I invite those of you who would like to volunteer to join the HAUS-A leadership team and help map out its bright future to reach out to us. I truly hope that if you are up for it, you embark on that challenge. Contact us at board@haus-a.org if this is something that you're interested in pursuing! 

 

Best Wishes,
Olga Abinader GSD MUP '08
HAUS-A President 2015