Elizabete Andersone

BSc’19, Candidate for Communications and Marketing
“There is no finish line.”

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Why are you interested in this area?

The reason for me choosing the communication and marketing position for SSE Riga Alumni Association is relatively simple. It’s something I already do daily in my professional life, so adding a little twist of community management to it would help me advance my skills while making a meaningful contribution to the alumni community and strengthening it along the way. 

Why is the SSE Riga Alumni community important to you?
Why should it be important to other Alumni?

When graduating from SSE Riga, I perceived the Alumni Association as a fundraising machine for scholarships that organizes networking events here and there. One might find some truth to it, but being out there for a few years and meeting other alumni in professional settings has changed my views. 

Now I see the SSE Riga Alumni community as a network of existing and future graduates united through their shared experience of SSE Riga. This comes with its standards, quality, and values. It’s more than 2500 like-minded people to look up to, ask for advice, or enter into various ventures with. It’s about a high level of interaction and long-lived relationships that eventually create more value for the alumni community and society as a whole. 

What would you like to achieve in this position?
What would you like to achieve together with the AA team?

Building upon my previous answer, such a strong network is only possible by enabling consistent communication between the Alumni Association and fellow alumni. After a brief chat with Akmis, the current board member taking care of communications and marketing, I’m determined to continue the monthly Alumni Insider newsletter and increase its reach. During these times of limited face-to-face contact, the newsletter is essential for staying up to date with alumni affairs.

Next up, have you noticed that there are three different websites associated with SSE Riga Alumni Association? One of those will have to be merged with existing ones to instill clarity and clear messaging around the AA. The same goes for social media channels – the information is scattered around various private and public groups across all possible channels, creating a lot of unnecessary noise. 

To make it all possible, I’d encourage the board to zoom out and define the unique value of the Alumni Association and the main benefits of being involved with the network of fellow graduates. Now, when events and networking are limited, an undistracted reflection would go a long way. Based on that, I’d develop a long-term strategy on how to introduce consistency around the value that Alumni Association brings, communicate it to existing and future alumni, and sustain their constant involvement beyond membership payments and donations.