Volunteer Spotlight: Michelle Liu, WG'97

Michelle Liu, WG'97,  is the President of the Wharton Club of Beijing.

What is your greatest achievement since graduating from Wharton?

Fifteen years ago, a few years after graduating from Wharton, I moved back to my hometown Beijing with my husband.  I felt very lucky to be able to witness the great transformation of the city and, to my greatest pride, to raise my three children in the city which I associate with all my childhood memories - and now my children's. 

What motivates you to volunteer for Wharton?

I met with a lot of interesting people while at Wharton, and some of them became life long friends of mine.  When I moved back to Beijing, I felt somewhat disconnected from younger alumni.  Through working with the club, I am very happy to get to know more younger alumni and some current students and faculty, which has been wonderful.

What is your vision for your club?

I was involved with the initial founding of the Beijing alumni club.  At that time, there were only a few Wharton alumni living in Beijing.  Now that the Wharton community has grown to hundreds, there is a need to build a bigger and more active platform for alumni, students, and faculty who travel to Beijing to stay connected.

How do you keep people motivated?

As I said my vision for the club is to build an active platform for alumni to get connected, exchange ideas and information, for social and business networking.  Getting more people involved in organizing interesting events, adding value to the network by better facilitating information flow, and creating opportunities for people are all the ways I try to get people more involved.