Member Experience Committee

Jan Saragoni, ks’89, Co-Chair Andy Freed ’90, ks’94, Co-Chair

The journey to provide the highest quality of experience and opportunity for our members continues to be our commitment, and this past year we have made considerable strides organizationally and strategically.

The Committee structure was re-imagined during the winter of 2022-23 to better reflect the goals and objective of the Committee thanks to the vision and leadership of its new co-chairs – Andy Freed and Jan Saragoni The Committee was renamed “Member Experience” with the objective to oversee the overall marketing and membership initiatives of the club with the goal of expanding membership and introducing a more strategic approach to engagement. Four key sub-groups within the committee were created and identified as key “drivers” of increasing member engagement – Member Events, Member Journey, Member Interaction and Harvard Connections.

Our full-time staff has been strengthened by an exceptionally experienced and skilled team that is responsible for all of the membership and marketing activities of the club. The roles and responsibility of this group is extensive as they are tasked to manage the journey of our members from the first interaction throughout the lifespan of their membership. They also manage the brand identity of the club and work directly with every department and numerous committees to help maintain consistent messaging and marketing within club operations. Our Senior Director of Marketing & Membership –Becky Blaeser ’98 – joined the HCB team in August and is supported by a superior team that has – for the most part of FY2023 – been understaffed due in part to the departure of the event director position in mid-December Despite the challenges, the team has responded admirably and the commitment and sacrifice of Cheryl Moderski, Jackie Deschamps, Dan Farmer and Darius Howell should be commended The team will be looking to expand in FY2023 with the securement of a full-time events director and the addition of a membership manager to support the growing needs of our valued members.

The team has successfully managed all prospecting, on-boarding, member relations, member activities and member experience for more than 4,700 members. Member retention will continue to be a focus. This past year, we saw a slight improvement in long-term attrition levels with the loss of 384 members.

In summary, we ended FY2022 with 3,150 dues paying members up 166 members from the previous year We continue to offer one-year complimentary membership to recent graduates from Harvard College and all the professional schools as well. This year’s new graduate initiative saw record numbers in the first days of deployment which is a bright sign for FY2023.

Our membership continues to be bolstered by the energy and interest from the MIT, Fletcher School and Yale Club membership categories. This past year, the structure of the Commonwealth membership was adjusted. The Commonwealth program – which is restricted to 50 new such members per fiscal yearnow requires each candidate to secure their own sponsor and wedding clients are no longer offered automatic membership without a sponsor. The membership staff has been fortunate to work with Deborah Millin and the Ambassador Committee. The role and responsibility of that sub-committee will be restructured and re-imagined in FY2023. The goal will be to leverage the new marketing assets and expand ambassadorship activities of the club both through experiences and geographically.

The investment in the future of the club was realized through the engagement of an outside marketing firm “Better” during FY2022, which began with a comprehensive market audit and survey of our brand from a membership perspective The result of that analysis was the development of a strategic marketing plan aimed at generating new memberships and helping with overall membership retention The team at Better was then tasked with creating new marketing assets including engaging photography and videos and updated and more relevant and compelling messaging. A marketing plan will be executed beginning this spring which will see all of the marketing assets utilized to create greater brand visibility and generate a significant increase in membership. The marketing plan will see the club – for the first time in its history – utilize a strategic mix of digital and targeted advertisements and promotions through social media platforms, the Harvard Alumni network and an internal LinkedIn ambassador program.

Despite the loss of a full-time events director, member activities have continued to expand and we now offer an average of more than 250 member activities per year. The variety of member events has been diversified to better reflect the membership demographic and needs, both in person and virtually. A renewed focus and investment in Special Interest Groups (SIGs) has seen the introduction of new SIGs –Bio-Innovation and Golf – and the increased activity of existing or previously dormant SIGS.

The lower level ClubPub has been re-activated and is slowly becoming a destination for our members. ClubPub now hosts monthly member activities including specialized events such as Team Trivia, Game Night, Viewing Parties, and Tasting Events and soon live music and limited food service will be introduced A highlight from this past year were a series of engaging Leadership Events held at the Clubhouse Last year was capped off by a Fireside Chat with Governor Maura Healey.

We will continue to focus on bringing high-profile speakers and presenters to the club and also look to introduce regional and even global event experiences A key priority for member events in FY2023 will be to secure a full-time events director and create a short and long-term events strategy that will take into consideration the expanding and evolving membership profile.

Our members have been enjoying access to the University of Massachusetts Club at the top of One Beacon. Activity has been steady and consistent as our members as being able to access club-level amenities in downtown Boston. Activity within our Reciprocal Network and Golf Society continues to be high and has proven to be a significant member value benefit.

Looking ahead, the work of the Committee and Staff will focus on improving the technical platform that is used to engage and communicate with members. Enhancing and expanding the relationship with the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) will also be a priority as we aim to gain greater access to our largest membership prospect base.

Much has been accomplished, but there are huge initiatives and steps to be taken in the future as we aim to be the absolute gold standard for member engagement and be exceptional in everything that we do for our members We sincerely appreciate your support and hope you will take advantage of services and events we offer.

In conclusion, we pass along the words of Mark Zuckerberg ’17 who said that “Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend.” We urge you to use the power of your words and experiences to help us continue to grow our community.

Respectfully Submitted,

Jan Saragoni, ks’89, Co-Chair

Andy Freed ’90, ks’94, Co-Chair