Alum-Less

Developing a volunteer pipeline strategy with Dan Olds

Hey, Alum-Less fans! This week, we've got a great episode featuring special guest Dan Olds, Vice President for Alumni Relations and Information Systems at Bowdoin College. Our focus this week is on volunteer pipeline development. We'll discuss everything from managing and motivating alumni boards to micro-volunteer strategies. 
Dan and Chris also share how the strategic planning project they’re engaged in, including important focus groups with students, has helped form and inform a new mission and vision for the future. Finally, we hear from Dan on his work leading the Information Systems team at Bowdoin and how he imagines that work intersecting with alumni engagement. 
Hear these topics and more in this new edition of Alum-Less. Subscribe to the podcast edition of Alum-Less for our bonus segment with Dan. 

Rethinking global alumni engagement with Chris Kendrick

A new episode of Alum-Less is here featuring our first overseas guest. Join Chris Marshall and me for a conversation with Chris Kendrick, Deputy Director of Alumni and Supporter Engagement at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). We discuss the changing landscape for engagement and what that means for building strong international alumni networks. We’ll also hear from Chris Kendrick about LSE’s evolving strategy around content co-creation and what that means for scaling engagement worldwide.We'll also discuss how engaging alumni and supporters differs at colleges and universities in the U.K. Join us for this important topic and more!

Winning athletics alumni engagement with Dori Sonntag

This episode of Alum-Less features special guest Dori Sonntag, Associate Vice President for Organizational Effectiveness in University Advancement from Gonzaga University. With the NCAA College Basketball Tournament almost upon us, we explore alumni engagement around athletics. The men's and women's basketball program at Gonzaga are both perennial favorites to make the tournament. We'll discuss with Dori how they've developed a playbook for March Madness that gets refined each year.We've got a packed show with these topics and more.

Strategies for evolving alumni engagement with Todd McCubbin

Our special guest on Alum-Less this week is Todd McCubbin, Executive Director of the Mizzou Alumni Association. Hear our conversation on the evolution of engagement programs. Chris and I discuss with Todd how leaders should be thinking about the digital vs. in-person components of alumni engagement strategies and the challenges that exist when considering pathways for activating more alumni.We discuss these topics and more!

Defining the purpose of alumni engagement with Howard Wolf

This week on Alum-Less Ryan we got into the weeds with a legend in the alumni biz. Checkout our conversation with special guest, Howard Wolf, Vice President for Alumni Affairs at Stanford University, on the purpose of alumni engagement. We discussed with Howard how he thinks about engaging alumni at Stanford, and why their approach might be different or contrasting to the views of leaders at other schools. We also dissected what success looks like at Stanford, and the obstacles that still remain stubbornly in the way of progress.We also explored the changing landscape of alumni engagement and what it means for the talent pipeline we as practitioners, need to develop and maintain. Join us for these topics and more!

Making alumni engagement more accessible with Patrick Auerbach

In this episode of Alum-Less, we chat with special guest Patrick Auerbach, Associate Senior Vice President for Alumni Relations at the University of Southern California. Although our conversation was be wide-ranging, we discussed with Patrick the challenges of developing a more inclusive, accessible approach to engaging alumni, including reimagining regional engagement.We'll also discussed the plans for celebrating the USC Alumni Association's centennial and how the organization is approaching plans to honor this milestone with the university community.

Global themes in alumni engagement with Sue Cunningham

Happy 2023 Alum-Less Listeners! We are back this week with special guest Sue Cunningham, President & CEO of CASE. We're psyched to start the New Year with a bang and a convo with a true global leader in advancement. We explore with Sue many of the themes from her new book, "Global Exchange: Dialogues to Advance Education." In particular, we'll focus our conversation on how alumni engagement is becoming enmeshed with marketing and communications, and how the CASE Alumni Engagement Metrics have been a game-changer for the profession. This week we're making our full, 1-hour conversation with Sue available on both LinkedIn Live and on the podcast.

Integrated Advancement Strategies with Tricia Stumpf

On this edition of Alum-Less, Ryan and Chris connect with Tricia Riveire Stumpf, CEO of the Indiana University Alumni Association. Tricia shares how her team at the IUAA have worked to strengthen their connectivity with the Indiana University Foundation to create a more integrated advancement model over the last year. In particular, the IUAA and IUF have worked to bring together marketing resources in a shared capacity. During the show, Chris, Ryan, and Tricia tackle the question of whether we're fully back to what's essentially a pre-COVID normal and whether any of the pandemic's lessons are or should remain front and center.

Episode 14 - Aligning career services with Matthew Lambert

On this episode of Alum-Less, Chris and Ryan chat with Matthew Lambert, Vice President for University Advancement, about William & Mary's recent decision to realign career services underneath advancement. They discuss with Matthew how this alignment reflects a crucial element to increasing alumni participation in the future.Listen and hear from Matthew on how William & Mary developed their #1 ranked programs for alumni participation and student internships. Join us for a lively discussion on these topics and more.

Episode 13 - Goal setting for alumni engagement with Duane Wiles

This week's Alum-Less - Episode 13 is all about goal setting. Chris and Ryan chat with Duane Wiles, Chief Alumni Officer at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. On the episode, Duane shares his approach to goal setting for across their engagement programs and initiatives. In addition, Duane shares more about the new UT Strategic Vision for the whole UT System and what it means for alumni engagement. Finally, hear more about how the recent success of the University of Tennessee football program has accelerated engagement and provided new opportunities to engage alumni around athletics.