Jesse Winter

Justin Davis '07, left, chats with Cornell trustee Elizabeth Moore at the networking reception during the Cornell Mosaic conference Feb. 4 at the Cornell Club in New York.

NEW YORK -- An alumni-driven event to celebrate diversity and advance inclusion, the Cornell Mosaic @ New York City conference, drew about 130 alumni and guests to the Cornell Club on Feb 4. Organizer Renee Alexander '74, Cornell's director of minority alumni programs, called it "a smashing success." The conference, "Celebrating Diversity and Advancing Inclusion," capitalized on the success and energy of the first Cornell Mosaic conference, held last spring on the Ithaca campus, which brought Cornell's African-American, Asian-American, Latino and Native American alumni together.

The New York City conference began with a luncheon and a panel presentation on "Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace." Concurrent sessions in the afternoon covered personal finance and "Life on Campus 2006," which included a talented group of student presenters. A networking reception followed, and the afternoon was capped with the annual Pan Asian New Year Banquet (held at a nearby restaurant), sponsored by the Cornell Asian Alumni Association.

Mosaic "really met, if not exceeded, our expectations," Alexander said. "We had a full house. People came energized. People came expecting something really special to happen that day." The panel discussions were spirited, she said, and the workshops engaged the audiences. "The energy and creativity come from the alumni themselves."

Jesse Winter

Benny Lorenzo '74, general partner and senior portfolio manager with B.L. Capital Partners, co-moderates a panel at the Cornell Mosaic conference in New York Feb. 4.

Conference presenters included Sheryl WuDunn '81, industry and international business editor for The New York Times; Kenneth Roldan '86, CEO of Wesley, Brown & Bartle; Magda Yrizarry '84, MRP '03, vice president of workplace culture, diversity and compliance for Verizon Communications; Christopher Metzler, a member of the faculty at Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and the director of EEO, Diversity and Inclusion Studies at Cornell; Ken Gurrola, MBA '95, vice president with JP Morgan Chase; Andrew Bang, MBA '05, client portfolio manager with GE Asset Managements; Angela Mwanza, MBA '00, vice president with Lehman Brothers Private Investment Management; Neil Kawashima, J.D. '96, partner with McDermott, Will and Emery; and Kent Hubbell '67, Cornell's Robert W. and Elizabeth C. Staley Dean of Students.

Additional regional Mosaic conferences are slated for Philadelphia (Feb. 18), Los Angeles (April) and Chicago (May). See http://alumni.cornell.edu/mosaic/ for more information.

Their goal, Alexander said, is to "keep that energy flowing for Cornell's alumni of color ... to encourage greater participation, awareness and a level of involvement in what's going on on campus."

Mosaic events and conferences are sponsored by Cornell's Minority Alumni Initiatives Implementation Committee. Several have received grant support from the Cornell Alumni Federation.