In Boston, Chris Ciunci ’95, founder and CEO of Tribalvision, was the featured speaker at a gathering of about 18 alumni.

Swarthmore alums from across the country participated in coordinated receptions hosted by the Swarthmore Business Network on March 1. More than 100 graduates turned out in Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

Speakers included Boston-based Chris Ciunci ’95, founder and CEO of Tribalvision, discussing how an idea can become a business plan and how he acquired his first customer, then turned that first step into a rapidly growing business. In San Francisco, Ellen Hanak ’79 of the California Public Policy Institute spoke about water-management policy in her state, and Brendan Moriarty ’04 discussed the challenges and opportunities of land conservation in this era of stressed budgets.

After attending the event in New York, Ana Chiu ’06 says, “Thanks so much for organizing these events! The NYC one was great. I met a lot of great Swatties who of course are doing interesting things. Can’t wait for the next one!” New York also attracted Leo Deibel ’12, who wrote, “The event was a lot of fun, and it was wonderful seeing and speaking to all the alumni.” Leo chronicled his bus journey to New York City to network with Swarthmore business alums in a recent issue of The Phoenix.

Networking in New York were (from left): Ana Chiu ’06, Cindy Brome ’77, Al Weller ’68, Arlyss Gease ’10, and Jo-Anne Suriel ’00.

The Swarthmore Business Network was formed in fall 2010, when Rob Steelman ’92 created the affinity group on LinkedIn, a business-networking website. The goal of the group is to “bring together the community of business alums by providing a forum for career and community development,” he says. “Job postings, career-switching advice, graduate-school guidance, supplier/customer inquiries, and other business-related topics are being discussed openly online among the 800-plus members.”

The Swarthmore Business Network is balancing its online and in-person activities with more events planned for 2012. For more information, visit the LinkedIn site: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2471375 or contact Rob Steelman at robsteelman@alum.swarthmore.edu.