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Message from the Chair
 This year's CEL Alumni Association is focused on the value proposition: We want our alumni to recognize that the educational, networking and social activities that CELAA provides are worth the yearly cost of membership, and then some.
In particular, serious improvement to the educational offerings has been undertaken for a year now, and has culminated in the addition and expansion of:
The Continuing Learning Series - 6 sessions dedicated to various aspects of business development: Finances, Operations, Human Resources, Marketing, Exit Strategies, and so on.
- CELAAbrations that include round-table discussions of regional interest: Economics, political issues, regionalism, Upstate/Downstate struggles, Federal policy, and others.
- An invitation by the UB School of Management to participate in the Smart Business Practices seminars.
- Access to the UB Library system. Their collection of online business and marketing databases alone is worth the membership fee. If you market your products or services, you should be taking advantage of this deep repository.
- Entrepalooza, the day-long speaker event that pulls in nationally-recognized business gurus.
CELAA has added functions as part of a de facto alliance with other local small-business professional organizations, including Buffalo-Niagara Sales and Marketing Executives, the Buffalo-Niagara Partnership, Leadership Buffalo and others.
CELAA members are now full-fledged members of the UB Alumni Association and as such are entitled to member discounts at local retailers and UB events, access to UB Career Services, and other perks.
And we're trying to give back to the community as well. This past spring the CELAA inaugurated its Day of Caring by supporting a rehab effort in cooperation with Buffalo's Belle Center.
CELAA has become much more than the annual Holiday party and social networking events. It's worth taking a look at.
Paul Buckley, CEL 2000
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