Alumni Campus Day 2022: EDHEC graduates return to their old lecture halls to celebrate their class reunion

Upon their arrival on the Lille campus (Rue Verte in Croix), our alumni were welcomed into EDHEC’s grand auditorium by an enthusiastic double act: Martin Barbier (EDHEC Master 1988), Director of EDHEC Alumni, and Audrey Haverkamp (EDHEC Master 2012), EDHEC Country Manager for the UK & Ireland, who set the stage alight.

René Rohrbeck, Director of the Foresight, Innovation and Transformation (FIT) chair, and Alix La Cotte, Project Manager, opened the traditional lecture hall presentation and invited graduates in attendance to discuss the key trends that have marked society in recent years with the aim of better anticipating upcoming transformations and building a smoother and more desirable future.

The presentation was followed by an IAC, or Inter-Association Competition in which 9 student associations at EDHEC took to the stage in an effort to convince the audience to award them the €500 cheque offered by EDHEC Alumni to implement their project. It was the Objectif Réussite team who garnered the most votes. To support equal opportunities, each year this association helps secondary school pupils from the Lille metropolitan area to produce high-quality homework. It also runs numerous projects offering guidance to students and cultural stimulation to young children.

In the afternoon each class went on a tour of the EDHEC campus or met up in one of the lecture halls to share their fondest memories. The team from the Social bar, an accelerator of good times, were on hand to help them with games and songs from their past, and it wasn’t long before they dived back into the laughs of their student years at EDHEC.

Our graduates also attended a presentation by Emmanuel Métais, Dean of EDHEC, on the challenges that the School is committed to tackling to maintain its level of excellence and continue to have a positive impact on society.

Anne Guillon (EDHEC 1990), Director of the Foundation, then took to the stage to present the tangible impact that graduates can have by making donations. She was accompanied by two donors, Jean-Paul Marchal (EDHEC 1967) and Stéphane Perotto (EDHEC 1992), as well as a student grant beneficiary, Ayman Khassamie (EDHEC 2026). All three shared their amusing and moving testimonials about the importance of developing a positive culture of giving at EDHEC. Give, receive, transmit.

And to bring their get-together to a close, all attendees enjoyed drinks & hors d’oeuvres made available by EDHEC Alumni before heading off to the restaurant of their choice to enjoy the rest of the evening.