By Steve Seepersaud
May 10, 2018
Rory Clark '05 is proficient at making real estate deals happen in New York City. He's a broker for Halstead Property and has consistently been one of the company's top producers. The attributes needed to be successful in his position are helping Binghamton's alumni outreach.
Clark has served on the Alumni Association board since 2015, and prior to that co-founded (and still co-leads) the Metro New York Chapter. He assumed the chapter's leadership role at a critical time for the Alumni Association when it was relaunching regional chapters and wanted a strong engagement program in the heart of Binghamton's alumni network that is home to nearly 50,000 Binghamton graduates.
"We had some great events happening in the city, but I saw an even bigger opportunity to help build and grow a wide-serving alumni network that could better serve alumni and current students.
"In my real estate career, building and cultivating relationships is one of my favorite parts of the business and that translated very seamlessly to a leadership role with Binghamton, both in welcoming recent graduates to the alumni world and helping nurture a platform for alumni to help each other in the form of advice, job searches, volunteer opportunities with the school and much more," Clark said.
Drawing on his desire to meet like-minded people, he found other alumni were also interested in organizing and attending events that catered to their career interests in the form of networking opportunities and education in a friendly setting. In the past few years, in addition to holding frequent, all-inclusive events, the chapter has successfully created events and programs for alumni wanting to connect with each other in marketing, real estate, entrepreneurship, law, wealth management and government/nonprofit.
"When we started the chapter, the most common thing I heard was 'I didn't know this alumni network existed,' and now we have a lot of our events selling out," Clark said. "Our chapter is more than just an event-planning organization. It has become a powerful platform and resource for alumni to find their place as alumni and to give back to the school and current students."
As he meets alumni and hears about their Binghamton experiences and what they are doing now, he knows drawing upon their good feelings for the University can motivate them to attend more events and to volunteer. That's what made him want to connect back after graduating.
"I always felt Binghamton was the perfect platform for me to get a great education and pursue my career goals," said Clark, whose board service concludes in June. He'll continue as chapter co-leader. "As I stood at my wedding beside best friends I made during freshman year, it reminded me that the good feelings I have about Binghamton are because of the amazing relationships I formed."
