The UNC Kenan-Flagler Atlanta Breakfast Series

Call it a breakfast of business champions. In Atlanta six times a year, UNC Kenan-Flagler alumni enjoy their bagels, bacon and bananas at a power breakfast with colleagues and other business leaders. The UNC Kenan-Flagler Atlanta Breakfast Series brings together alumni focused on networking as they share a meal and some continuing education.

The breakfast series started last year and draws an average of 45 people to meetings at the Buckhead Club. Bernard van der Lande (MBA ‘78) formed the group with other alumni and the help of UNC Kenan-Flagler’s alumni affairs office.

“Nowadays, networking is very important,” says van der Lande, a director at Stanton Chase. “I noticed there was a gap here.”

To fill the gap, the group starts breakfast at 7:30 a.m., followed by a speaker, questions from attendees and more networking among alumni. The event lasts about two hours.

The group van der Lande started is the only UNC Kenan-Flagler alumni group with a speaker series.

“It’s a tremendous outreach vehicle to get alumni not only connected with other alumni, but there are outside networking opportunities, and it goes toward continuing education of alumni,” says Catherine Nichols, UNC Kenan-Flagler’s associate director of alumni affairs. “It’s a format we would love to export. We’re working on encouraging other groups to adopt this model.”

“You meet people you haven’t seen for years and also make new connections with younger people. It’s great to see how alums have worked their way into the Atlanta business community and done very well,” van der Lande says. “You make contacts within your own community. A lawyer might need a CPA. A CPA might need an entrepreneur. It gives you an instant network tool in the city.”

UNC Kenan-Flagler graduates looking for a job can benefit from the networking, too.

And the breakfast series benefits UNC Kenan-Flagler. “The school gets more recognition and a better base of people to help with funding,” van der Lande says.

The group has a volunteer board of directors to help ensure its success. “We have to build on it. Networking is not a one-time event,” van der Lande notes. Mack Horton (MBA ’76) is the current board president.

Board members look for people who can talk about timely topics or who represent a well-known company. Speakers have included CEOs of a large real estate firm in Atlanta and an IT company, a UPS vice president, a motivational speaker and entrepreneurs. The November speaker will be a Porsche executive. The speakers are sometimes, but not always UNC graduates.

Nichols’ office sends reminders to alumni about the breakfasts and helps with registration on the UNC Kenan-Flagler Web site, nametags and sign-in sheets.

“The alumni office has been a great support,” van der Lande says. “I don’t think we could have done it without their help.”