A Weekend to Remember: Yale SOM Reunion 2026

For one weekend this spring, Evans Hall became something more than a school as more than 1,000 Yale SOM alumni and their guests returned to New Haven for Reunion Weekend. The gathering, which took place May 1–3, spanned four decades of graduating classes, three days of programming, and countless conversations that picked up right where they left off.

Reunion classes included graduates from the classes of 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, 2021, and 2025, alumni from the Yale Global Executive Leadership Program classes of 2016 and 2025, and The Broad Center 2024–25 Fellows, each marking a milestone reunion in the same city where their SOM journeys began.

For many, being back at Evans Hall brought back cherished memories of time spent with peers. “It doesn’t feel like time has passed,” said Jefferson Huang ’25, one of the newest members of the SOM alumni community. “It feels amazing to see everybody and it’s great to see some of the professors that taught me. It’s good energy.”

The weekend opened on Friday evening with a session led by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies and Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management, who drew a full house for a discussion on unconventional leadership. An all-alumni reception and champagne toast for the Class of 2021 followed, setting the tone for the weekend ahead. None of it would have been possible without the more than 130 volunteers who gave their time and talent to bring Reunion Weekend 2026 to life.

Saturday was the heart of the weekend, opening with class breakfasts and meetups before expanding into a full afternoon of programming. In between, alumni took advantage of guided tours of Yale’s historic campus and a newly restored Peabody Museum, and a planetarium show at the Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium offered a moment of wonder amid the busy schedule.

The faculty sessions drew alumni back into the classroom and into some of the most pressing questions of the moment. Among them was Professor Ravi Dhar, who moderated a timely conversation on marketing leadership in the age of agentic AI. He was joined by a panel of SOM alumni serving as chief marketing officers and senior marketing leaders at companies including The Hartford, Charles Schwab, Kraft Heinz, and Gillette, offering a vivid illustration of SOM ideas meeting real-world practice. Professor Song Ma explored how behavioral biases shape investor behavior during technology cycles, from the dot-com era to today’s AI revolution.

Professor Zoe Chance brought her signature energy to a session on executive presence. She discussed research-backed strategies for authentic influence and had alumni take to their feet to shake hands, share stories, and find their natural charisma in a session fun, family-friendly session. “You don’t have to have all the answers,” Chance encouraged. “If you understand people’s value and connect with them at that level, we not only have them feeling our presence, but we can invite them to be part of our great ideas.”

Professor Arthur Swersey, Professor Emeritus of Operations Research, who has taught at Yale for 42 years, walked alumni through the models, cases, and classroom moments that have defined his career—from queuing theory to the legendary Cranberries case. The room responded with a double standing ovation, a tribute to a teacher whose impact has clearly lasted far beyond graduation.

One of the weekend’s most distinctive moments came Saturday afternoon, when members of the 1st, 5th, and 45th reunion classes gathered together for Then, Now, Next: Conversations Across SOM Generations. The session was designed to bridge four decades of experience, inviting alumni to reflect on defining moments, exchange perspectives, and offer guidance across the arc of a career and a life. It was a conversation that only a reunion can produce.

“How incredible it is to be together again,” said Lise Chapman ’81 who spearheaded this unique cross-generational exchange. “You could feel the magic connecting our community here in this classroom. It was amazing to see an idea become a standing-room only event with no one wanting to leave at the scheduled end time. Sharing stories, reminiscing, and connecting with each other as SOM alumni as we are now is a real gift.”

The weekend’s keynote session was Saturday’s address from Dean Kerwin K. Charles, who welcomed reunion classes back to Evans Hall in a session that drew overflow crowds across multiple classrooms. His message was one of gratitude—and of pride.

“There are many things that I enjoy in this role,” Dean Charles told the assembled alumni, “but nothing is as unfailingly pleasant and rejuvenating as interactions with the alumni. Collectively, you are the embodiment of what the school has set out to do and, for the last half century, has done.”

As the afternoon gave way to evening, alumni dispersed into class dinners held across New Haven. These celebrations offered time for more milestones to be toasted, old friendships to deepen, and the stories of the years that have passed to be told to new friends and familiar faces.

Sunday brought the weekend to a close with a farewell breakfast and a final morning of programming through the school’s Professional Alumni Groups’ (PAGs) first in-person gatherings. These five sessions proved the reunion’s energy wasn’t just nostalgic, but also forward-looking.

Alumni gathered by interest and industry. The Sustainability Career Accelerator brought together those driving environmental and social change; SOMers in Supply Chain heard from alumni at Apple, Amazon, Flexport, and Walmart on AI-driven recruiting and the future of the field; the Yale AI & Impact Makers group convened for a conversation about real-world applications of AI. The SOM Entrepreneurs Network, led by Victor Padilla-Taylor ’15, used the occasion of SOM’s approaching 50th anniversary to expand its community of founders and innovators. And the SOM & Society group gathered alumni working across nonprofits, government, and philanthropy to share how business school frameworks translate into meaningful, measurable impact.

Jacob Dreier ’16, attending his 10-year reunion, captured something essential about why these gatherings matter. “Many people have done really cool and impressive things,” he said, “but people are approaching this space with so much humility and authenticity. They’re being very real about life’s ups and downs. There’s something special about SOM that provides the space for us to have that shared connection that allows us to support each other even though we are not the same people we once were.”

It was this sentiment of shared connection that echoed across the entire weekend—in the classrooms, the receptions, the dinners, and the quiet conversations between old friends on the steps of Evans Hall.