Thursday, July 07, 2011

Club Amex soiree/presentation

Yann Emilian and Courtney Pulitzer
There are certain large corporations that create a real community among their workers.  And sometimes these corporations even have networks for former employees. Such is the case for American Express. Here in Paris, an enterprising Yann Emilian (now General Director France & Benelux for Affinion International) helped found the Club Amex, which brings together former Amex employees for monthly cocktails.  Sometimes they have a presentation by a company or individual.

This month, on July 7th, they asked lil' ol' me to present. It was quite an honor and quite an impressive turnout.  Over 60 people came to catch up with former colleagues and friends and to savor good wine and hearty hors d'oeuvres. I met Dominic Jerome, who works in travel and insurance; InterContinental Hotels Group's Director of Development (France & North Africa) Brice Marguet who said he might have some nice hotels for my next soiree (great!); and Oasys Consultant's Elodie Warnod. La Banque Postal's Director of Marketing, Card Offers and Daily Money (hmmm, interesting division) Béatrice Delanau brought several colleagues, including the friendly Rémi Desert.

Starting around 7:30 PM, there was plenty of time for networking before Carrefour's Strategy Director Corinne Moulin introduced me and I gave my brief presentation (in French!) to these friendly and welcoming folks.  There were a few questions and many smiles as I invited them all to the next Cocktails with Courtney.