NEXT THE AWAITS CHAPTER

As he moves into his new role, Mr Bernard Toh (Architecture ’84), the outgoing Director, NUS Office of Alumni Relations, looks back on challenges faced and triumphs achieved.

situation was here to stay for a while, my team and I pivoted to the digital space and soon became adept at using Zoom to conduct webinars, networking sessions and even online sing-along sessions. Before COVID-19, the digital space was seen as a last resort. Now, it has become the norm, with many of our programmes in hybrid mode.

What would you consider to be your biggest achievement at OAR?

I am not sure if it is right to call it my “biggest achievement”, but after taking over, I quickly got a sense of what needed strategic attention. There were two areas: Knowledge of our alumni family and how well we were engaging our alumni. The first had to do with our alumni database. We invested three years in shaping the new database system. At the same time, we discovered an instrument called “Alumni Engagement Metrics”, which measures alumni engagement in four modes: Philanthropy, Volunteerism, Experiential and Communications. We added a fifth area — Lifelong Learning. Although this is still a work in progress, I am happy to have introduced a way to help gauge the effectiveness of our engagement work.

What was the most enriching aspect of your time as Director?

Alumni relations is about relationship building — this is the most satisfying and enriching aspect of the role. I am deeply grateful to all those I have met in Singapore and across the globe. Each of them has taught and given me something. I hope I have reciprocated in some way.

What are your hopes for the NUS alumni community? That it will grow from strength to strength. I have always believed and preached that alumni groups must be self-organising, self-sufficient and self-sustaining. I have witnessed such growth in several of our alumni groups.

Will your new role afford you more time to pursue your passions — and what would those be?

I have a new hobby — gardening. I hope to grow edible plants, and have already started to reorganise the pocket-sized garden that I am blessed with!