BGS Alumni Network

While Beta Gamma Sigma strives to provide a lifetime of benefits for all its members, nowhere are these benefits as apparent as they are within the Alumni Network. Alumni Chapter members of Beta Gamma Sigma are able to network with other BGS lifetime members, and have access to professional contacts and development opportunities that are otherwise unavailable.

One member who has benefited from his membership in the BGS Alumni Network is Martin Schmidler, Vice President of Information Technology for UniPro Foodservice. Schmidler joined the Atlanta Area Alumni Chapter shortly after moving from Cincinnati in 2003. He explained that in an attempt to get situated with his new surroundings, he looked up the local BGS Alumni Chapter and started to attend their meetings.

“I really found a number of the presentations to be inspirational, and I was very impressed by the quality of the presenters,” he said.

In 2004, Schmidler attended an alumni meeting in which Patricia Harris, CEO of Cobb Microenterprise Center, gave a presentation regarding her organization’s work in providing entrepreneurial training to low- and moderate-income individuals wanting to start their own businesses. The presentation, which coincided with a computer upgrade at Schmidler’s workplace, caught his attention.

Schmidler called Harris the next week. “I liked your presentation,” he said, remembering the conversation. “You’re doing a lot of good work. Can you use these computers?”

While Harris was unable to find use for the computers, she was able to put Schmidler in contact with another organization, Tech Corps, a group dedicated to narrowing the digital divide through improvements in educational technology at the K-12 level. Through this connection, Schmidler and UniPro Foodservice donated 100 desktop computers to the national non-profit organization.

Since that time, Schmidler says that UniPro has donated another 10 computers to Tech Corps, and is planning to donate another 50 later in the year.

Schmidler gives credit for the donations to the Alumni Network. “Before attending that meeting, I would just thumb through the phone book looking for somewhere to dispose of these kinds of things. I just wasn’t aware. But that presentation got me thinking.”

Continuing, Schmidler said “It shouldn’t be about what the network can do for me, but how I can use the network to help other people.”

And Schmidler has done just that, having not only made his own friendships within the network, but also introducing friends capable of mutually benefiting each other.

“This is truly one of the biggest benefits of the alumni network,” Schmidler said. “It’s not just about collecting business cards...but meeting people.”

For more information on joining the Beta Gamma Sigma Alumni Chapter in your area, check the alumni section of BetaNet located at www.betagammasigma.org/alumni.htm.