Crandall Challenge
WHARTON GRADUATE EMERITUS SOCIETY
Crandall Challenge
THE WHARTON GRADUATE EMERITUS SOCIETY
The Crandall Challenge to WGES Members
The Crandall Challenge Committee is committed to the principle of active involvement by WGES members in business and community affairs at whatever level to effect change where change is needed and to support the next generation of leaders where such support is needed to keep our institutions strong and viable.
We believe that active involvement is good for each WGES member; it is good for the Wharton School community; it is good for our country and it is good for the international community.
Our message is clear: Stay involved!
After collecting input from all members of the Steering Committee, The Crandall Challenge Committee will develop a set of action steps to encourage all WGES members to spread our message of active involvement.
Co-Chairs:
McClain Gordon, WG’73
John Hendricks, WG’66
Crandall Challenge 2024
WGES members can begin thinking about submitting nominations for the Crandall Challenge Citations that will be awarded in May 2024.
McClain Gordon and John Hendricks, Chair and Vice-Chair of the WGES Crandall Committee, announced that nominations for the Citation will be accepted during January 2024 and February 2024. Those receiving the Citations will be selected by March 31, 2024.
How to Get Started Helping Others
Thinking about volunteering but haven’t made up your mind exactly as to what or where? Maybe we can help. Several simple steps can make the path clearer, easier, and more specific to your needs and interests. Here are some of them:
- Narrow the field: What areas of human endeavor interest you most? From aardvarks to zymurgy, many things happening in life need attention, help and betterment. Whether it’s tennis, math, cooking, plant life, poetry – or anything else – volunteer groups most everywhere will welcome your help. Go where your heart and head may lead you.
- Consider time: Estimate the hours you’d be willing to donate to volunteer activity in a month. Even an amount not likely to change your lifestyle still affects your schedule. Whether two or twenty, it should be a committed period you enjoy, so you and your working partners get the greatest benefit. Also include necessary travel time.
- Get help: There are multiple sources ready to supply future direction. If you have a computer, several national websites offer help. Several states also have websites devoted to helping you reach volunteer organizations in your region and city.
Here are three national websites and two state websites devoted to helping citizens find the right place to lend a hand:
New York State
Pennsylvania
With or without a computer, the first-rate source for volunteering direction is your library’s Reference Librarian. These professionals usually know what’s happening locally and regionally, and will help you get connected with the right organization.
Good luck with your search. Let us know if we can help further to get things under way.
The Crandall Committee of WGES
Recipients of the 2024 Crandall Challenge Citation
McClain Gordan and John Hendricks, Co-Chairs of the WGES Crandall Challenge Citation Committee are happy to announce the Crandall Challenge Citation Awards for 2024 and present the bound Crandall Citation and an engraved Chalice to the recipient.
John Campbell, WG’78
New York, NY
John Campbell’s Wharton education provided the basis for a very successful career on Wall Street, which in turn provided the opportunity to learn the lesson that ‘some of the greatest contributions to bettering society must be done on the individual,
personal level. John has implemented that lesson by working with the Achilles Track Club, which provides partners to accompany blind and other disabled runners and athletes – John has run in the New York Marathon with a blind running partner, and has helped a group of disabled climbers to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. He has taught at universities in Ireland and China, and worked with an NGO in Palestine, to raise the understanding of US Capital Markets and ethics. More recently, he has been actively involved in a leadership role with an organization which provides corrective surgeries for children who require major reconstruction, and has demonstrated his personal commitment by anonymously donating one of his kidneys.
John Edwards, WG’72
Sydney, Australia
Deputy Chair and Director of Australian Business Volunteers (ABV), a 40+ year old Not for Profit organization based out of Sydney, carrying out a range of skilled volunteering projects in communities in South Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Australia. Projects are generally sponsored by large corporates or government Aid Agencies and resourced by a network of skilled and experienced volunteers, focused on building business skills in developing country communities (eg indigenous communities in mining areas), or business focussed recovery in communities affected by natural disasters (eg rebuilding multiple communities after the devastation of the huge bushfire and flood catastrophes in parts of Australia in 2020-21 that destroyed many towns and communities). The Board members are all volunteers and I have actively worked with them as both Acting Chair and Deputy Chair to successfully rebuild the amazing work of this NFP after the near crippling impact of Covid on its operations. Projects are now running at a record level, and growing in size and significance at a demanding rate.
The Crandall Challenge Citation Award Honor Roll:
This honor roll is in recognition of the large number of Wharton Graduate Emeritus Society members who draw upon the skills, knowledge and talents they acquired at Wharton Graduate to make significant contributions to the improvement of their communities and to the quality of life of our nation through continuous volunteer endeavors.
- Challenge Honorees
- 2017
- 2018
- 2019
- 2020
- 2021
- 2022
- 2023
- 2024
2024 – Challenge Winners and Nominees
2023 – Challenge Winners and Nominees
2022 – Challenge Winners and Nominees
2021 – Challenge Winners and Nominees
2020 – Challenge Winners and Nominees
2019 – Challenge Winners and Nominees
2018 – Challenge Winners and Nominees
2017 – Challenge Winners and Nominees
The Crandall Challenge Citation Award Honor Roll:
This honor roll is in recognition of the large number of Wharton Graduate Emeritus Society members who draw upon the skills, knowledge and talents they acquired at Wharton Graduate to make significant contributions to the improvement of their communities and to the quality of life of our nation through continuous volunteer endeavors.
- Challenge Honorees
- 2017
- 2018
- 2019
- 2020
- 2021
- 2022
- 2023
- 2024
Connect With Us
The Wharton Graduate Emeritus Society has group pages on both LinkedIn and Facebook. The purpose of these groups is to bring you current information about the School, and its students, faculty and curriculum as well as to bring you information on what the world is saying about Wharton, and other information of interest to WGES members.
If you are a member of LinkedIn or Facebook you can search for “Wharton Graduate Emeritus Society” and ask to become a member of one of these groups. You could also email Rick Perkins at raperk1@gmail.com and he will invite you to become a member of one of the groups.
Sign up now, for the below social media pages that have special content just for WGES members.
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