Alumless

On the show, we welcome Steve Rittler, Founder and CEO of AlumnIQ, as our special guest! Steve shares his expertise in producing high-quality alumni events and we discuss technology's role in shaping alumni engagement's future. A big thanks to Steve and the team at AlumnIQ for supporting Alumless as our newest presenting sponsor! Listen to take advantage of this chance to elevate your alumni engag...

Originally published on September 13, 2024. In this episode of Alumless, Ryan and Chris are joined by Lauren Simione, Associate Vice President for Alumni Engagement at the University of Delaware, to discuss strategic planning in alumni engagement. From Lauren's partnership with CMAC to developing alumni surveys and engagement metrics, this episode dives deep into assembling a strategy that works....

In this episode of Alumless, we dive into strategic engagement in university advancement with special guest Heather Junod, Associate VP for Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving at the University of Central Florida. We explore the challenges and opportunities schools face when crafting next-generation engagement strategies. Join us for a great conversation as Heather shares insights from her 16-year...

What should alumni leaders focus on as summer winds down and the new academic year approaches? How do the roles differ between decentralized college positions and central alumni association roles? In this edition of Alumless we dive deep into these critical questions! This week's special guest is Renée Hirschberg, Chief Alumni Relations Officer at Stanford Alumni Association. We discuss with Renée...

We're grateful to be back with a new episode of Alumless this week featuring Matt Brandon, Associate VP for Alumni Engagement and CEO of the W&M Alumni Association. We discuss Matt's work at William & Mary, and his team's efforts to redefine and expand on concepts of alumni involvement, and ask for his insights into W&M's unique qualities, future program visions, and successful alumni...

Thanks to our friends and CASE Summit sponsors Washburn & McGoldrick, LLC , we took the conference stage on Monday, July 22 for a live, hour-long episode of Alumless. Check out our conversation with Bonnie Devlin and Carla Willis our colleagues and co-owners and Managing Principals at W&McG, along with special guests: - Amy Yancey , President and CEO of the University of Connecticut Founda...

Listen to our latest episode of Alumless from Friday, July 19th, 2024, where we dive into annual giving strategies. We're thrilled to feature Howard Heevner, Executive Director of Annual Programs at UC Berkeley. We'll discuss systemic challenges in annual giving, innovative approaches to connecting with rising generations, and the findings from a major alumni giving study. Plus, hear about Howard'...

We've got a great show for our Alumless community this week. Check out our conversation with Charlie Melichar, Principal at Foster Avenue. In this episode, we discuss best practices for campaign communications and how advancement leaders connect mar/com work with engagement. We also ask Charlie about the organizational models for advancement communications, what works, and where friction is often...

We've got a great Alumless this week. Join us and special guest John Feudo, Vice Chancellor for University Advancement at UMass Lowell and author of seven books, including Alumni Relations: A Newcomer's Guide to Success, and I'd Rather Eat Live Spiders: A Definitive Guide to Becoming a Successful Speaker. We chat with John about his career in advancement and discuss his observations on volunteer e...

Join us for a special edition of Alumless, where we delve into the world of alumni and donor engagement metrics. Our esteemed guests, Jenny Cooke Smith, Senior Director, CASE Insights Solutions, and Melissa Schipke, Founder and CEO of Tassl, bring their extensive expertise to the table. On the show, we’ll explore what the CASE Insights survey on Alumni engagement has taught us about the field and...

On this episode of Alumless, we're featuring special guest Sallie Sistare, Executive Director for Alumni and Family Engagement at Denison University. We chat with Sallie about the school's unique value proposition and how they've worked to develop and strengthen approaches to providing students and alumni involvement opportunities in the career space. We also chat with Sallie about her 20-year alu...

This episode of Alumless we're featuring special guest Andrew Gossen, Executive Director for Communications, Marketing, and Participation in the Office of Alumni Affairs & Development at Cornell University. We discuss with Andrew how digital advancement strategies have evolved over the last decade and the essential techniques, tools, and tactics for today's high-performing advancement shop. We...

On the next Alumless, we're going to tackle organizational effectiveness, employee engagement, and talent management with special guest Sue Ballard from Rensselaer Polytechnic University (RPI). We've got a great conversation planned for listeners, where we'll discuss the nuances of ensuring our advancement organizations are high-performing.  We'll discuss with Sue where things are situated in...

This week, our special guest on Alumless is our colleague Nicole Kempton. Nicole joined CMAC in November as Vice President and Senior Consultant. We chat with Nicole about her experiences working for her alma mater, Duke University, as the Chief of Staff to the Vice President of Alumni Affairs and development. During the show, we focus on the idea of becoming more constituent-centered, what it mea...

On this edition of Alumless, we're featuring special guest Cheryl Harrelson, Associate Vice Chancellor for Alumni, Annual Giving, & Pipeline Development. We asked Cheryl about her remarkable tenure at UCSD, leading a unique combined engagement model that includes career services. We also chat with Cheryl about what she thinks about the transition to Vice President of University Advancement at...

This week we're chatting with engagement strategist extraordinaire Sarah Schutt, Chief Alumni Officer at the Wisconsin Alumni Association and Foundation. We'll ask Sarah about the challenges of merging two independent organizations that become one. Chris and Ryan will also explore with Sarah what makes leading constituent engagement at the University of Wisconsin unique and how she works to keep p...

Join us for our conversation with special guest Laurence Bolotin, Assistant Vice President for Constituent Engagement at Loyola University Chicago. We discuss with Laurence the opportunities to intertwine faith-based narratives into engagement strategies. Chris and Ryan will explore with Laurence how his prior experiences working with different types of association organizations have informed his...

This week on Alumless, we're excited to feature a conversation with special guest JT Forbes, President and CEO of the Indiana University Foundation. Before taking over the reins at the IUF, JT led the Indiana University Alumni Association as the CEO for almost 12 years. During that time, JT established himself as one of the top leaders in the field. We'll discuss his work at the IUF with JT, wheth...

We're psyched to bring you a great Alumless as we kick off 2024. We chat with special guest Scott Mory, Vice President for University Advancement at Carnegie Mellon University and discuss how Scott's background leading alumni engagement teams informs his approach at Carnegie Mellon. We also chat about the field's progress in measuring alumni engagement and assessing ROI. Thanks to Protopia for bei...

Happy holidays, Alumless community. We've got a great episode to kick off the winter break. Join us for our conversation with special guest Monica Keith, Vice President for Advancement at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Monica brings over 20 years of experience leading advancement operations teams to the VP role. We chat with Monica about how her experience leading "back of the house" teams h...

Hey, Alumless listeners! We've got a great show for you with special guest Rod Grabowski, Senior Vice President for Advancement & Partnerships at the University of Central Florida. We chat with Rod about the nuances of building successful engagement and fundraising strategies at huge, complex universities. We spent some time with Rod chatting about his leadership style and how to develop the p...

We've got a BONUS episode this week! Join us for a conversation with the incomparable Kim Infanti, Executive Director for Digital Engagement in the Office of Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving at Syracuse University. On the show, we get into the weeds on all things digital and make predictions for the future.  During our conversation, we dive into how digital plays a crucial role in bringing...

In this week's episode of Alumless, we sat down with Carla Willis, Principal at Washburn & McGoldrick LLC. We discussed with Carla what it takes to be successful at consulting in educational advancement. Carla also shared her thoughts on campaigns and why it feels like colleges and universities are always in campaign mode. Carla detailed her perspective on HBCUs and how their history has shape...

Hey, Alumless community, we have a great show for you this week. Join us for our conversation with Kris Davitt, Senior Vice President for Philanthropic & Alumni Engagement at the University of Pittsburgh. Kris is also the Chief Development Officer for Pitt's academic medical partner, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.  We chat with Kris about her prior experiences leading develo...

Hey, Alumless community, this week's special guest is Mark Davis, Vice Chancellor for University Relations and President of the UC Santa Cruz Foundation. Mark's advancement origin story begins on the alumni side of the shop. We'll ask him what that meant to approach advancement with his set of experiences that includes a lens on engagement. We'll have a wide-ranging conversation with Mark about th...