Dear Mason School of Business alumni:

Greetings from Williamsburg! 2008 brings opportunities for success to The Mason School as promising as they are challenging. I am confident we will rise to those challenges because of alumni and friends who have already partnered with us by making impact investments - and with the help of those who will.

Recent travel took Dean Pulley and me on a ten day trip to Delaware, Philadelphia and New York City on the east coast as well as Palo Alto, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego on the west coast. As tiring as the travel was we were both energized by the excitement and commitment of alumni and friends we visited along the way.

What is generating that excitement and commitment? The growing recognition that we are second to none in providing personalized, experience-based business education. We embrace that by refining and executing our Transforming People Through People, Programs and Place business model. The hallmark of our model is a world-class education, through both the classroom and experiential learning opportunities, that transforms our students - undergraduate and graduate alike - into professionals equipped with the leadership behaviors and skills that are most important in business. And we deliver that educational experience in a highly personalized way.

We have the right people - very talented students and a superb faculty - as well as leading edge programs and curricula. We will have the right place in Alan B. Miller Hall to allow us to realize fully are vision. The keys to our success are our alumni and friends who choose to make impact investments that will help us continue bringing our vision to life.

I invite you to visit From Groundbreaking to Grand Opening, a site that details our "G2G" Initiative. You can view aerial photos documenting the construction of Alan B. Miller Hall and you can take a virtual tour of our new home. You will also read about the plan that outlines our financial need.

Please join us - those of us at The Mason School of Business and those alumni and friends who have already locked arms with us through their financial support - and make an impact by investing in our future and in our students' future.

I close again by thanking you for all you do for us. As always, I welcome your thoughts and suggestions. I can be reached by phone at 757-253-4915 or by e-mail at richard.shermer@mason.wm.edu.

Best regards,

Rich Shermer
Alumni Director