In August of 2001, Wharton alumni in Panama were invited to a luncheon at the City Club in Panama City, during which Jeffrey Sheehan, Associate Dean for International Relations at Wharton, announced that Panama had been selected as the site for the Latin American Regional Alumni Meeting to be held in June of 2002 (three regional alumni meetings were to be held that year - one in Paris, one in Tokyo, and the other in Panama!). Co-chairing the Meeting would be Steve Maduro and Joe Harari, and all attending Panamanian Wharton alumni were invited to form the organizing committee.

After several months of meetings, a small core of Wharton graduates brought up the idea of forming a Wharton Alumni Club of Panama. However, after much consideration, it was decided that given the small size of that group a Penn Alumni Club would be a better initiative. The idea was to have a broader support group for the regional meeting.

From the list of Penn graduates received from the University Alumni Office, the first Board of Directors was formed, and our Alumni Club was born.