Major(s): Executive Education - Advanced Management Program
· MBA
· Undergraduate
· Executive MBA
· JD/MBA
· PhD
· Other
Skills and Qualifications
Summarize special skills and qualifications you have acquired from employment, previous volunteer work, board, or other activities, including hobbies, sports that could be beneficial to WCNCR. (i.e. financial management and control, board development, communications and social media, event planning, public speaking etc.)
I am writing to nominate myself for a Wharton Club of the National Capital Region (WCNCR) board position and believe that my experiences leading alumni relations programs at Cornell University and Georgetown University provide the background required to help advance the mission of WCNCR. During my tenure at those universities, I partnered with faculty and colleagues in central advancement/alumni affairs to formulate strategic plans for alumni engagement and then led the development and implementation of operational plans to engage alumni as part of those strategic plans. I also have extensive experience building networks to support charitable giving.
One of my key strengths lies in establishing and nurturing strategic alliances. I have a proven ability to identify and propose collaborations that enhance the overall mission of an organization. I cherish the opportunity to apply those skills to reconnect alumni with their alma mater. While at Georgetown, I served as the Assistant Dean & Managing Principal of Strategic Partnerships at the McDonough School of Business. In that role, I was responsible for all aspects of engaging alumni and other external stakeholders through alumni, corporate, foundation, and external relations, including the development of strategic plans for alumni relations and the creation of several alumni boards such as the MBA Alumni Advisory Council, the Global Business Initiative Board of Advisors, the Council for Impactful Relationships among C-Level Executives, and the volunteer-led alumni ambassador program. I also created and managed annual reunion events, which doubled attendance participation under my leadership. While at Georgetown, I also led a team to manage a global network of over 25,000 Georgetown McDonough alumni. To support these initiatives, I led and developed communications, content, and marketing materials for the alumni webpage, the biweekly e-newsletter to alumni, social media posts, LinkedIn groups, Facebook pages, the annual alumni relations report, and quarterly alumni communication articles in the Georgetown Business Magazine.
My work reconnecting alumni and developing engagement opportunities began at Cornell where I served as the Director of the Cornell Entrepreneur Network. In that role, I was responsible for the overall strategic direction, implementation, program selection, marketing, communication, recruitment, and cultivation of a nationally known alumni business network. As the Director, I led a team that delivered programs and networking events to connect Cornell alumni, faculty, students, and industry leaders via 500 events across the globe covering six colleges and units at Cornell. My lifelong career affiliation with the Ivy Plus Consortium provides a unique backdrop for knowing the high level of intellectual engagement that is required to secure involvement with a pedigreed group of alumni.
Diversity
Please share any aspect of your background or experience that you feel might add to the composition or functionality of the WCNCR Board. We value all forms of diversity and examples of diversity include sexual orientation gender identity race ethnicity age industry experience undergraduate/graduate diversity of thought etc.
Prior to transitioning to academia, I began my career in the tech industry where I served in business development roles for the likes of Microsoft, Ziff Davis, and a couple of start-up ventures. I often found myself as the only female voice in the room and am pleased to see more women embrace STEM careers. During the pandemic, I enrolled in the Wharton executive education program where I was one of four women and was one of the more seasoned professionals in the program. All organizations benefit from diverse perspectives, and I believe the depth and breadth of my professional experiences can add to the functionality of the WCNCR board.
Vision
Please share what your vision is for what you would like to accomplish while on the board and any ideas you may have to better engage the Wharton Alumni Community in the Washington DC National Capital region.
My work for the Wharton Club of DC, and more recently for WCNCR, has allowed me to help colleagues create meaningful engagement and identify new prospects within their alumni base. I believe that the Wharton Alumni Community desires meaningful engagement opportunities for business networking and career development. If selected to serve on the WCNCR board, I envision developing a series of themed alumni engagement opportunities, such as the “business of sport” and the “business of AI” to help like-minded alumni connect with each other. I also envision the possibility of serving the WCNCR club members/alumni by actively working and partnering with other pedigreed clubs within the DMV in order to enrich WCNCR membership engagement. My established relationships with other club leaders within the DMV would help to facilitate such collaboration.