President’s Message: April 2024
April 2024
On behalf of the Yale Club of South Florida (YCSF), once again I am pleased to offer you, our valued members, an update on the Club and its activities.
In the Lunar New Year of The Dragon, the Club has come roaring into 2024 after a busy 2023. While we were sad to see Sam Thypin-Bermeo (YLS ’15) and Leila Iskandarani (YC ’23), depart the ranks of our board, we wish them well as both have moved on to exciting and well-deserved new career opportunities—in the case of Sam, while also welcoming another bundle of joy into the Yale Community.
Meanwhile, we are pleased to add several new board members to our ranks in 2023, namely Mark Schlangel as our new Treasurer, Michael Zwerner as our new Director of Communications, and Mo Zhou as our new Director of Social Media.
Please join me in congratulating the following Club leaders, including our newest member of the EC, Director of Special Initiatives, Chiyel Hayles:
Grant Schafle (YC ’11) – Co-Vice President
Jennifer Gammond (SOM ’19) – Co-Vice President
Tyler Godoff (SOM ’16) – Director of Programming
Giovanni Christodoulou (YC ’12) – Secretary
Michael Zwerner (SOM ’11) – Director of Communications
Mo Zhou (SOM ’11) – Director of Social Media
Chiyel Hayles (YLS ’17 and SOM ’17) – Director of Special Initiatives
As always, I encourage you to reach out to me or any of the EC Officers if you have any questions regarding the Club and its activities. More importantly, if you’re interested in assisting the Club in any capacity, please contact us.
We began 2023 with one of our signature events, Feb Club Emeritus. Over 70 Yale alumni, family, and friends gathered in Miami’s downtown Brickell neighborhood to celebrate with drinks, music, a massive sushi spread courtesy of Abe Ng (P. ’27), CEO of the Sushi Maki chain of restaurants in South Florida, and pizza from Frank Pepe’s newest Florida location in Plantation. Attendees were able to make their own subs featuring Wenzel Sauce from the company founded by all-star lacrosse goalie and fullback for the Yale Bulldogs, Eric Wenzel (YC ’03). Plus, there was plenty of Yale-related SWAG and giveaways, courtesy of the Yale Alumni Association (YAA) and generous Yale alumni. Once again, our Director of Programming, Tyler Godoff, led the charge on this event, which concluded to rave reviews by attendees, some of whom came into town from as far away as New York City for the evening.
In March, the Whiffenpoofs gave one of their annual South Florida performances at the Wolfe University Center at FIU, followed closely by an evening NHL matchup of the Florida Panthers vs. the Nashville Predators, including a pre-game chalk talk by Yale SOM alum, former SEAL Team TWO Bronze Star Medalist, and Panthers Executive Vice President Rob Stevenson (SOM ’21). Such has been the success of our Panthers events that we repeated the evening for the third year in a row last month.
In mid-March, Yale alum and author Paul Kaplan (YC ’94, SOM ’01) gave a book talk at Temple Beth Am on his book Jewish South Florida. Attendees had the opportunity to hear little-known stories behind many local personages and key synagogues, delis, bakeries, community centers, and performance centers, including the Jewish Museum of Florida, Miami Beach Preservation League, Rascals, Wolfies, Holocaust Memorial, old Jewish downtown Miami, the Flagler Museum, old downtown West Palm Beach, historic houses in Fort Lauderdale, and much more.
March also included a RedPath Faculty speaker event at the historic Biltmore Hotel featuring Professor A.J. Wasserstein, the Eugene F. Williams, Jr. Lecturer in the Practice of Management at SOM. An audience of over 50 assembled over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres during an evening at the grand, iconic landmark. Professor Wasserstein led a conversation on search funds, a blossoming post-MBA career arc for Yale graduates which offers aspiring entrepreneurs an opportunity to catapult into CEO roles and material equity ownership.
In April, the Club continued its regular series of happy hours, including one at Bay 13 Brewery in Coral Gables during which attendees were treated to an acoustic classical guitar performance by Yale alum Koh Kazama (YC ’12 and MUS ’13). Similar happy hours were hosted by the YCSF on its own or in conjunction with other local All Ivy Plus alumni clubs in September and October.
May involved the launch of a joint effort with the local Harvard and Princeton Clubs to allow YCSF members to serve as volunteers at The Chapman Partnership, a local shelter whose purpose is to help motivated residents become self-sufficient. This ongoing effort will allow members of all three alumni clubs to work the front lines serving meals to over 500 Chapman Partnership residents at their Miami facility. Chapman Partnership serves three hot meals a day, 365 days a year, totaling more than 800,000 meals annually.
The summer offered Club members the opportunity to attend two sporting events, in June, a Miami Marlins game hosted in conjunction with the Penn, Wharton and Princeton Clubs of Miami and in August the Club’s first outing with the Miami Dolphins under their new coach, Mike McDaniel (YC ’05), as the Finns took on the Atlanta Falcons in a pre-season game. Guests were able to watch the action from a private outdoor party terrace offering a press box-style view without having to brave long lines for food and drinks.
In August, local alumni, current students, and parents welcomed the incoming Yale College Class of 2027 at a farewell reception before heading to New Haven. The venue on South Beach was the Fine Art Gallery named after Yale alum Elena Bulatova (Fox International Fellow ’08) where the newest members of YC each received custom t-shirts and branded Yale cookies among other SWAG.
With the end of summer, representatives of the Club were pleased to represent Yale at a local reception hosted by the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) honoring Cecilia Altonaga (YLS ’86), Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The reception commemorated the 20th anniversary of Chief Judge Altonaga’s appointment to the bench as the first Cuban American woman to be appointed to any federal court in the U.S.
Continuing its tradition of bringing innovative social events to alumni, the Club hosted a private Omakase sushi event at Bondi Sushi’s new location on Miami Beach. Omakase derives from the phrase Omakase shimasu, which translates to "I trust you, chef." In omakase dining, the chef serves the first course based on what fresh ingredients are available that day, then creates the following course based on the diner's reaction to the initial course.
Following on the record-breaking success of recent Harvard-Yale Game Watch Parties in 2021 and 2022, in November the Club worked with the owners of Frank Pepe’s in New Haven to reserve, exclusively for Yale and Harvard alumni and their families, one of Pepe’s satellite locations in Florida. Over 100+ attendees were treated to all they could eat pizza, salad, and drinks. Kids under 21 attended for free, and those who came to watch the game projected live on a big screen while touting Yale Boola Box SWAG courtesy of the YAA. Alumni posed for selfies in front of the Club’s custom selfie-screen and were also invited to go back into the restaurant’s kitchen to make their own pizzas. Yale won The Game, by the way, and the Ivy League Championship outright!
The end of 2023 brought not one but two events for alumni during Art Basel week in December. A private reception for Yale alumni was held at the prestigious David Castillo Gallery founded by Yale alum David Castillo (YC ’96), where he offered remarks on his career journey from his undergraduate studies in New Haven to opening his eponymous gallery in Miami. On view were Impressions, a solo exhibition of new works on silk by Chinese-born painter, Su Su. A separate gathering was held at the Elena Bulatova Gallery in South Beach, site of the Club’s earlier send-off event for incoming Yale College students.
As we rolled into 2024, the Club certainly did not lose any momentum. I invite you to stay abreast of all upcoming events on this website, which again was redesigned and relaunched in 2023 under the leadership of our Co-Vice President, Grant Schafle. We also look forward to resuming the Club’s participation in the Yale Day of Service (YDOS) on May 11th featuring a family-friendly beach cleanup at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne.
Note that the YCSF is committed to pooling its efforts with the Yale Club of the Palm Beaches to the north of us in co-hosting and cross-promoting events we hope will appeal to alumni from both regions. Also, a crowdfunding effort remains ongoing for the Club’s quest to obtain its own Mory’s Cup from the same silversmith that provides cups to Mory’s in New Haven. Those who participate in the crowd fund will have the opportunity to have their names engraved on the Cup, which will reside in New Haven for use by YCSF members when they visit Mory’s and which will be sent down to Florida for special Club occasions.
Hosting events with broad appeal is only part of the Club’s ongoing effort to bring local Yale alumni together. We continue to expand our online and social media outreach with our LinkedIn community and Instagram page (yaleclub_soflo).
This spring, the Club has received renewed interest in Yale Book Awards from local high schools, many of which had suspended or scaled back their award programs for promising students during COVID but have ramped up activities in the post-COVID world. If any alumni are interested in spearheading the Club’s participation in the Yale Book Award program, please contact me directly.
Monthly newsletters will continue to help us to update members on the Club’s activities. Please let us know about the types of events and initiatives you’d like to see the Club sponsor. Keep us on our toes!
Another important milestone the Club achieved in 2023 was recognition by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. With this status, the Club will be able to accept tax deductible contributions from alumni, family, and friends to help fund our growing body of events and initiatives. Moreover, and contributions can be made through several convenient applications/channels that the Club has established and that the board and I will outline further in future communications.
In concluding this annual President’s Message on behalf of the YCSF, many thanks to all Yalies in our region, including family and friends, who support the Club and its mission to serve the needs of Yale Alumni and families located in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.
Boola, Boola,
Jonathan Kim, SOM ‘00
