In 2005, we are 200 ISG alumni established in the United States. It should be appropriate to add approximately 50 other alumni who are not listed since shyness undoubtedly prevented them from introducing themselves. According to local parlance we account for 1 and 13/16 percent of the total population of ISG alumni worldwide. Our community is widely dispersed throughout America. Nevertheless, it seems that this geographical dispersion follows two trends. The first one, traditional, consists in getting established in the vicinity of the main port of entry, i.e. New York (as it was also the case for New Orleans until 1845 when the train could take the immigrants to the Great Plains from the East Coast). The second path follows the destinations of recent migrations towards the South, particularly Florida (since the mass marketing of air conditioning), Texas and California. Lastly, six alumni are established in Washington DC. which puts on view the ascent of the federal capital as a major center of advanced services (telephone, audio/video stream etc.).

We count almost 10% of entrepreneurs among us (counting the alumnus which became Presidents or Managing director of local or international companies). The areas where the alumni perform their activity are very broad. They extend from those who work for the French Administration or an International Agency to those who run a chain of bakeries. These areas cover all the fields of traditional or digital technology, banking and trade. Without digging into details, one can note the importance of the food industry, in particular of the import of wines and liquors. As a matter of fact, this is, for the most part, representative of the trades carried out by the French residents in the United States. As a surprise, we note the absence of alumni, with the exception of one of us, in the construction industry, while construction has been the engine of growth in this country during the recent years. On the other hand, we may notice that Religion has also become a major growth sector in America. Nevertheless, we could not identify yet any alumni having joined the clergy.

Our membership is made of two distinct populations: the recent graduates and alumni at mid-career level (for those of us who are over fifty five, this term of mid-career seems somewhat optimistic). Of course, the young graduates represent a mobile population and consequently, we lose trace of approximately 25% of them every year. So far, our membership remains stable, but one can fear that with the difficulties recorded recently in the granting of visas and the lack of enthusiasm of local corporations to recruit foreigners, the young people who return to France or elsewhere are not always replaced by others as it was the case until now.

Together with Tokyo, New York has the privilege to be the seat of a campus of the Multinational Cycle of the Institute. A new management of the campuses has been installed recently and we hope to join up with the new team to resume the collaboration that has been put into action since the creation of the campus in New York City. Regarding our activities, I would like to call to mind that the leaders who managed our association during the Nineties, Thierry Daher and then Yves Berliet, were all aviation buffs. They initiated us to skydiving. It was unforgettable. Since then, we devote our quarterly dinners to the search of an exciting activity to share among all the alumni who have decided to join our association.