Highlights from the First ESSEC Class Reunion

On Saturday 14 March, the very first Class Reunion took place on the Cergy campus. A day dedicated to the classes of 2001 and 2006. In total, nearly 300 alumni attended.

The day began with a keynote by Clara Chappaz (E11), followed by a Q&A session with Perrine Bismuth (E05), President of ESSEC Alumni. Former Secretary of State for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs, Clara is now Ambassador for Digital Affairs and Artificial Intelligence at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

“I am very pleased to inaugurate this very first Class Reunion. After ESSEC, I continued my studies on the Harvard campus. Once students graduate, they meet again five years later for their first class reunion. In the end, it is a way of never really leaving the school.” A feeling widely shared among alumni, as recalled by Vincenzo Vinzi, Dean of ESSEC Business School. “I don’t like hearing people say: ‘I left the school in such-and-such a year.’ Students may leave the physical campus, but they always remain part of the school.”

The importance of the collective

Clara Chappaz highlighted the strength of the network and the importance of shared values in an increasingly uncertain context. “I graduated in 2011. I remember that we already felt the period was particularly challenging. Students were questioning the meaning of professional life and the end of so-called ‘happy globalisation’. Fifteen years later, crises are accelerating. In a fragmented world, it is both easy and tempting to turn towards one’s own interests. This first Class Reunion is therefore a very powerful symbol: the desire for collective spirit.” The former Secretary of State also reflected on the origins of her commitment to public service and the common good.

“Every ESSEC graduate, whatever their role within an organisation, can also take part and make a commitment,” she noted. Among ESSEC’s values, she particularly cherishes that of responsibility. “ESSEC’s mission is to be a ‘world school with French roots’. I believe that says it all. When you meet another ESSEC graduate, you recognise each other. I cannot quite explain how. Perhaps simply because we share the four core values of innovation, responsibility, humanism and openness.”

What does it mean to be ESSEC?

The afternoon continued in the main auditorium with the testimony of three alumni around a central question: “What does it mean to be ESSEC?”. A vast question, given the diversity of alumni careers. Yet one common element stands out: every graduate recognises that ESSEC has shaped them far beyond their professional life. “At the time, one of the school’s slogans in French was: ‘Succeed in life rather than merely succeed at life’,” recalls Sabine Roux de Bézieux (86), founder of the Fondation de la Mer and member of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE). Very often, interpersonal relationships continue well beyond the years of study.

Romain Lachens (06), Director of Engagement for Paris 2024, co-founder of Winvolve and expert in community engagement for organisations, found exactly that: a team. This team, known as “Les 20coeurs”, still enjoys meeting today and regularly works together. “During the first seminar, the professor told us: ‘The person sitting next to you will be your partner for the coming year.’ That person was Tony Estanguet.” Reunited at the Paris 2024 Organising Committee alongside many other ESSEC alumni, they worked together on the opening ceremony. “I believe ESSEC taught us to stay the course with high standards. For the Olympic opening ceremony, we had no Plan B. Quite simply because having a Plan B removes the power of Plan A.”

Adaptable and open-minded

Another element that everyone agrees on is “a certain something that we recognise in one another”. “One must keep in mind that being ESSEC means having been second at least once in one’s life,” jokes Sabine Roux de Bézieux. “We are often in the position of the challenger. That pushes us to be imaginative and to explore alternative paths.” Antoine de la Gatinais (96), partner and lawyer specialising in international mergers and acquisitions and private equity, says he is proud “of what the school has become”. In professional life, he identifies ESSEC graduates as people who are “adaptable, open-minded and original, often deeply human and committed”.

These are essential values in the world that is emerging, particularly with the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence. For Clara Chappaz, “we must accept the discomfort of not knowing, cultivate critical thinking and dare to ask questions”. The afternoon concluded with two conferences: Guillaume Chevillon hosted a masterclass on artificial intelligence, while Angela Sutan spoke about the circular economy.

Alumni then spent the rest of the evening enjoying the campus, including drinks at the Foy's and a concert by the band JAM ESSEC.

See you next year.