Dear Members,
Since I wrote to you last month we have had a very busy time! We held the first Emeritus Lunch in a very long time and celebrated 10 years of this important group in our club. We thanked Phil Smith for his service as Chair for Emeritus and saw him hand over to Mhairi McEwan. Thank you Mhairi for taking on this important role! Following the fully sold out lunch at the Ivy club, with Ronan Dunn, former CEO of O2 and Verizon and current of Chair of Six Nations Rugby as our speaker, Mhairi is already working on plans to repeat this event in 2025.
Also following the survey I conducted at the beginning of my season, and your request to have a members only event, we held a wonderful summer drinks event at the Diageo roof top. Hosted by both Cristina Diezandino and Debra Crew CEO at Diageo, thank you to both of them for a wonderful, intimate and special evening.
Finally last week we had our final dinner of the season, and my final dinner as your Chair. Shirine Khoury Haq CEO at the COOP Group shared with us the incredible history of where the COOP started, her impressive two year’s in the CEO Chair, and reminded us how important diversity, equity and inclusion are if you want to achieve great things in any business. Thanks also to my good friend Stevie Spring, both for helping to secure Shrine but also for a warm, funny and perfect length vote of thanks!
As I now pass on the baton to your new Chair Alessandra Bellini, I want to take a moment to thank you all for your support and enthusiasm during my season. Special thanks should also go to Liv and Charlotte who have been incredible through out the year, with no request to difficult or any email at any time of the day or night left unanswered! Thank you both, without your help it simply would not have been possible!
Last week I did also discover an interesting fact, we have an unsung hero for the club in our midst, Nick Smith. Nick I know is known to you all, but possibly less well known, is that he has been our Treasurer for 21 years! Nick thank you for all that you do for the club and your words of wisdom throughout my season.
Looking ahead to September, I know you will all welcome Alessandra with the same warmth and enthusiasm that you did me. Please see the 2024 – 2025 MGGB dates:
2024:
September – Wednesday 4th
October – Wednesday 2nd
November – Wednesday 6th
December – Wednesday 4th
2025:
February – Wednesday 5th
March – Wednesday 5th
April – Wednesday 2nd
May – Wednesday 7th
June – Wednesday 4th
July – Wednesday 2nd
It has been a huge pleasure to be your Chair this year, Alessandra will I know, knock it out of the park!
Enjoy your summer one and all!
Jess