Advancement Legends

Part 2 of my conversation with Andy Shaindlin is dedicated to engagement metrics. We discuss how digital communications has impacted the work of alumni relations over the last 20 years and how teams are working to keep up with new technology while collecting data on stakeholder activation. A big thanks to Andy Shaindlin for chatting with me!

On the show this week, an advancement pro that needs little introduction, Andy Shaindlin. Andy is a Senior Consultant with Grenzebach Glier and Associates. A specialist in alumni engagement that includes tenures at Brown, Michigan, Cal Tech, and Carnegie Mellon, along with a recent stint at Switchboard (our presenting sponsor), Andy has been a thought leader in the space for more than a decade. This is part one in a two-part interview with Andy. We talk about an array of topics from network platforms to the future of alumni associations. In Part 2, we’ll dig into engagement metrics.

This week's episode features Joe Baker, Chief Advancement Officer at Calvert Hall College High School. Joe brings to the podcast a great career story working for his high school alma mater, an all-boys, private catholic school in Baltimore. He's worked at Calvert Hall for the for more than 30 years first as a math teacher, then as assistant principal, and now as the advancement team lead. AL listeners will enjoy hearing from Joe. This addition of Advancement Legends has tips and advice for all small advancement shops.

What's it like leading a small advancement team at an overseas independent school? How does it compare to higher ed? This week's guest on the AL podcast is fully equipped to answer these questions and many more. Listeners will enjoy hearing from Emily Robin, the Director of Advancement at the American School in Paris. Prior to realizing a life's dream in moving to France, Emily worked for advancement teams both at Bryn Mawr College and the University of Pennsylvania.

On the AL podcast hot seat this week is Reshunda Mahone, Virginia State University VP of Advancement. Roshunda brings to her role at VSU a great career story with advancement experience that data back to her college days. Hear more about her career journey and how her roles in advancement operations, annual giving, and development, both in centralized and decentralized offices has prepared her for her leadership role at Virginia State. Ryan and Reshunda talk about her passion for advancement and fundraising and her work helping Virginia State and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities develop strategies for the future.

What are the challenges facing engagement pros building programs at graduate professional schools? How do they differ from those facing others in central advancement offices? In this week's episode of Advancement Legends, part of the "small shops" series, host Ryan Catherwood interviews Joe Volin, Director of Alumni Engagement at the Chicago Kent College of Law. Hear more about Joe's career story including his Ed.D. research on alumni engagement metrics.

In this episode of the AL podcast, host Ryan Catherwood and Almabase Co-Founder, Kalyan Varma chat about the future of engagement and the challenges facing small advancement teams. In this second episode in the "small shops" series, we focus on conversations and solutions for teams with around 10 staff members. Kalyan shares his pathway from college in his native India to ed tech in San Fran with a stop on Wall Street in NYC via Goldman Sachs.

What's it like working for an Australian university in the United States? What's the landscape like for advancement pros in the Asia-Pacific region when it comes to engagement and building campaigns? This episode of Advancement Legends features Gina Wheatcroft, Senior Advancement Advisor for the University of Queensland North America Foundation. With over two decades of alumni engagement experience including 16 years leading the team at her alma mater, the University of Alberta, Gina is one of the best in the business.

What's a Global Networks unit? It's a unique and forward-thinking advancement alignment that merges together alumni engagement, annual giving, career services and corporate/industry relations under one senior leader. And it's the future! Or at least that's what Brandon Buzbee and the Advancement team at the University of Denver are thinking. In this week's episode hear Brandon and Ryan's discussion about this alignment and the challenges bringing all the pieces together.

How do we know when our university networks are active and improving? What's the future of alumni network platforms? This week's episode of the AL podcast features Mara Zepeda, Co-Founder of Switchboard. Mara has a great career story and Ryan and Mara continue the conversation that began on Linkedin regarding the value of alumni network platforms and the challenges associated with their integration within engagement programs. Have a listen!

Jenifer Andrasko is the President and CEO of the University of Virginia Alumni Association. In this interview with host Ryan Catherwood, Jenifer shares her unique career story that includes experience flying jets for the United States Navy and leadership development consulting at Bain & CO. Her pathway to this incredibly important engagement role is unusual, and so to are many of the challenges she faces steering the Alumni Association at U.Va. forward in support of a brand new university president.

On the first episode of Season 2, listen to Ryan's conversation with Justin Ware, President and Co-Founder of Groundwork Digital. Justin has made quite a name for himself over the last few years a specialist in giving days. And as a leader in digital fundraising, Justin has worked on best practice strategies for digital ambassadors, philanthropic storytelling, and how to create engaging fundraising experiences from soup to nuts.

On this episode of Advancement Legends, hear Ryan's interview with Charles Hardy, Higher Education Client Partner for Linkedin Learning Solutions. Charles was on the ground level when it came to Linkedin’s efforts to engage the higher education sector. He has a fascinating career story too that begins while attending Durham University in the UK. After graduating, Charles really was able to ride a wave that lead to a great opportunity to reimagine corporate recruiting in the digital space. During the interview, Charles shares how he landed a job at Linkedin, and what it’s been like trying to build tools that empower alumni engagement and career services pros in higher education.

On the show this week, hear Ryan's interview with Chris Vlahos, Senior Consultant in Alumni Relations at Marts and Lundy. Chris is a thought leader in higher education advancement. His work both as a consultant and on behalf of alumni associations at the University of Arizona and The Ohio State University, his alma mater, provide Chris with a great perspective listeners will enjoy.

On the show this week, host Ryan Catherwood chats with Colleen Fitzpatrick, VP of Advancement at Middlebury College in Vermont. Colleen shares her career story going from student affairs to development, first at U.VA. and then Duke. Hear about Middlebury’s recent controversy when students protested during a speaking event featuring a well-known conservative thought leader, and then the resulting challenges Colleen has been working through while communicating with donors. Colleen also shares her thoughts on fundraising campaigns and some of her plans for the next one at Middlebury.

On this episode, host Ryan Catherwood shares his interview with Christine Fairchild, Director of Alumni Relations at the University of Oxford. Christine has a fascinating career story. They discuss Christine's long tenure at Harvard including as Executive Director of External Relations at the Harvard Business School, and what it was like taking over the top advancement position for the school coming from a background in alumni relations. Christine shares some of her vision for engagement at Oxford, one of the world’s great universities.

On the show this week listen to Ryan's interview with Beng Hwee Chua, Executive Director, Global Engagement for CASE Asia-Pacific. Headquartered in Singapore, Beng Hwee spoke about her work bringing together university advancement leaders from countries like Vietnam, China, Australia, New Zealand, and now the Middle East. She shared about the challenges of addressing the vast program needs from such a diverse group of stakeholders.

In this episode of Advancement Legends, host Ryan Catherwood sits down with Jim Langley, President of Langley Innovations. Jim’s career began in university communications and speech writing before moving into fundraising and development. He lead advancement programs through hugely successful campaigns at Georgia Tech, UC San Diego, and Georgetown University. Jim shares his thoughts on advancement strategies and developing communications with donors that get results.

On this episode, host Ryan Catherwood sits down with Tom Gutenberger, Vice President of Advancement at the University of Richmond -- Ryan's beloved alma mater. Go SPIDERS. Tom shares more about his decision to merge the alumni relations and career services units -- a pioneering move in advancement. He shares the changes that happen when a new President comes to town, and the dynamics around donor conversations when something controversial happens. At UR, the decision was made to cut men’s soccer and track and field in order to build a men’s lacrosse program -- an emotional charged decision at the UR.

Tracy Playle is the CEO and Founder of Pickle Jar Communications, Inc. and Utterly Content. She's one of the leading voices on the planet when it comes to content marketing, social media, and storytelling in higher education. A frequent speaker at conferences both in Europe and the U.S., Tracy’s approach to helping universities develop their voice and tone across digital platforms is truly visionary. She’s got a great career story too that includes an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for helping her clients in the U.K.

On this edition of Advancement Legends, host Ryan Catherwood interviews Duane Wiles, Associate Vice President of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving at Florida International University. Duane is also Executive Director of the Alumni Association at FIU. Duane's career story begins on the football field at the University of Nebraska. In the years that followed, Duane helped build world class regional engagement and membership programs.

In this edition of Advancement Live, John Arboleda, Owner of NOYO -- stakeholder engagement consulting joins Ryan on the podcast. John lives in Barcelona, Spain and specializes in international engagement. John has a fascinating background in higher education that begins in California and includes a stop in Germany. John is a CASE volunteer and Board member of the UCLA Alumni Association.

Jay Dillon is the Director of Alumni Engagement at the University of San Francisco. A luminary in higher education advancement, Jay has a great career journey to share in this episode. As a member of the UCLA Alumni Association leadership team, Jay's work included shaping strategic initiatives involving c-suite alumni, partnerships with admissions, and major/annual gift fundraising.

On this episode of Advancement Legends hear the career story of Nuvyn Peters, Vice President of Development at the University of Calgary. Nuvyn has an exciting background in non-profit philanthropy and experience working with some of the brightest minds in business. She also shares some of the challenges, opportunities and key differences in advancement strategies that work in Canada versus the U.S.

Michael Stoner is the President of mStoner, a strategic marketing consultancy that specializes in web design. Over the last several years, Michael has been focused on digital engagement and social media's role in fundraising. In particular, Michael and the mStoner team have helped universities build strategies around Giving Days. Listen to Michael's unique career story and some of the challenges he's faced building mStoner.

Andrew Gossen is one of the world's leading authorities on digital engagement and fundraising. His best practice work creating crowdfunding campaigns and building digital ambassador programs for giving days at Cornell University is paving the way for universities around the world to expand and explore. Hear Ryan's interview with Andrew as he shares his career story and new ideas for the creation of a digital-first advancement organization.

Paul Clifford is the Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations and Chief Executive Officer at the Penn State University Alumni Association. Hear Paul's career story and his take on developing and managing volunteer boards. Paul explores with Ryan the future of regional engagement and developing unique programs to involve young alumni.

Patrick Auerbach leads one of the most prolific alumni associations in the United States, at USC. In this episode of Advancement Legends, host Ryan Catherwood explores with Patrick his somewhat unlikely career path into the advancement profession, and how legendary University of Tennessee women's basketball coach, Pat Summitt was a pivotal mentor.

Mike Goodwin is the President and CEO of the Oregon State University Foundation. Ryan and Mike chat about the future of fundraising campaigns and he gives tips to aspiring Advancement VP's. Hear Mike's amazing career story and his volunteer work with CASE.

Melissa Schipke is the CEO of Tassl and definitely a rising star in the world of higher education advancement. Her company, also a sponsor of the Advancement Legends podcast, has developed a fantastic tool to measure and report on engagement activity. Hear more about Melissa's career story, starting Tassl, and her vision for the future of our business and opportunities for us to improve our reporting capabilities.

Dan Lugo is the VP of College Advancement at Colby College. Listen to Ryan's interview with Dan on this episode of Advancement Legends for thoughts on building mentor programs, challenges around collaboration between alumni and career services, and important considerations when alumni offer to help. Hear more about Dan's exciting career story.

Elise Betz is the Executive Director of Alumni Relations at the University of Pennsylvania. In this episode of Advancement Legends, host Ryan Catherwood explores Elise's career story including building new traditions for students and alumni. In addition, hear how Penn and the Alumni Relations office handled the challenges associated with the candidacy and now Presidency of Donald J. Trump. Several members of President Trump's family are also Penn alumni including Tiffany Trump, who graduated in 2016.

Charles Ries is the Senor Director Development Design and Innovation at Marquette University. His work bringing together and engaging alumni CEO’s with other university stakeholder groups in the CIRCLES program earned Charles and his colleagues a CASE Award. Charles is a poet, novelist, and all-around fascinating guy. Check out my interview with Charles Ries and hear more about his early influences, career journey, passion for mentoring, and the inspiring work he’s doing promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in the city of Milwaukee.

Matthew Lambert is a charismatic leader in university advancement at one of the nation's oldest institutions of higher education - William & Mary. In my conversation with Matthew we explore his career story. Hear how driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile around the country was a great way to start his career as a fundraiser. Matthew shares his sentiments on events as an engagement tool, and how to prevent a "golden birdbath" from being constructed on campus.

Sterly Wilder is the team lead for Alumni Affairs at Duke University. Sterly has been a "Dukie" her whole life, growing up around the university, attending college there, and then jumping right into administration in the advancement office. Hear more about her experience building community and school spirit around one of the world's great higher education brands.

In this episode, Ryan interviews CASE President and CEO, Sue Cunningham. Sue shares her career story including her early years fundraising for the arts in the U.K., to becoming the Vice Principal of Advancement at the University of Melbourne. She outlines her vision for CASE and how the organization is working to adjust after the election of President Donald Trump.