Pam Russell
Director of Communications
CASE
+1-202-478-5680
russell@case.org

Feb. 12, 2007

CASE Launches Asia-Pacific Operations With Appointment of Executive Director

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) announced today the appointment of Krista Slade to the newly created position of executive director of CASE Asia-Pacific, effective May 1, 2007.

CASE is an international association that provides training and professional development, research, information, and standards for fundraising, communications, marketing, and alumni relations professionals who work at colleges, universities and schools.

Slade currently serves as senior strategic adviser for advancement at the University of Melbourne in Australia and has spent more than a decade working in the Asia-Pacific region as an alumni relations and fundraising professional.

CASE President John Lippincott said Slade’s appointment represents a historic development in the association’s commitment to support educational institutions and advancement professionals around the world.

“Like educational institutions in many other parts of the world, those in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly turning to philanthropic support and seeking broad public understanding to help them accomplish their ambitious goals,” Lippincott said. “Based upon the conferences we’ve already held in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and elsewhere, we believe there is a great interest in and need for CASE in the region, and we believe we can best meet that need by having a base there.

“Krista Slade is the ideal person to lead the way,” he added. “She brings advancement expertise, experience working across the region, knowledge of CASE, and a deep understanding of the needs of our members. She also comes to this role with energy, optimism, and passion for education and the advancement profession.”

As executive director of CASE Asia-Pacific, Slade will develop a range of services and professional development programs to serve the evolving needs of the growing advancement profession throughout Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Among other services, CASE will offer conferences at multiple sites throughout the region, Lippincott said, and is currently exploring the location of its office.

The organization’s first comprehensive conference in the region, held in Singapore in February 2006, attracted more than 440 professionals from 30 countries. The next comprehensive conference is slated for Hong Kong in 2008.

Slade said that as someone who has benefited from CASE during her career, she is “honored and delighted” to lead its growth in the Asia-Pacific.

“CASE is making a strategic and visionary investment in education in the Asia-Pacific with the establishment of a permanent presence,” she said. “We are on the cusp of a powerful culture shift in the region which holds great promise for its educational institutions.”

A Canadian citizen, Slade moved to Hong Kong in 1994 to establish the University of Toronto (Canada) Foundation there and to serve as its executive director. She facilitated the university’s alumni, fundraising, and student recruitment activities in Japan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and elsewhere in the region.

In 2003, she returned to Canada to serve as the University of Toronto’s associate director of international advancement. In that role, she supported the institution’s capital campaign and organized international alumni events, including the university’s first Asia Alumni Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In 2005, she joined the vice-chancellor’s staff at University of Melbourne in Australia, where she conducted a review and audit of the institution’s advancement activities and developed an advancement strategic plan.

Slade holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Toronto and has studied international Asian studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

“As the recipient of an endowed scholarship that first brought me to Hong Kong in 1992, I know first-hand the transformative power of institutional advancement and the crucial role of our profession in enabling positive change,” Slade said. “I look forward to serving my colleagues in the region as we build this exciting new enterprise together.”

Lippincott said that in addition to serving members in the region, CASE’s Asia-Pacific initiative will benefit advancement professionals worldwide.

“As educational institutions are becoming more global in their operations and their aspirations, they are looking for best practices in serving alumni, securing support, and communicating with potential students in other parts of the world,” he said. “CASE members in North America, for example, can learn a great deal from their advancement colleagues in Asia about the social, cultural, and political issues that impact their work.”

About CASE

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education is a professional association serving educational institutions and the advancement professionals who work on their behalf in alumni relations, communications, development, marketing and allied areas.

CASE was founded in 1974 and maintains headquarters in Washington, D.C., with offices in London (CASE Europe, 1994), Singapore (CASE Asia-Pacific, 2007) and Mexico City (CASE América Latina, 2011).

Today, CASE’s membership includes more than 3,600 colleges and universities, primary and secondary independent and international schools, and nonprofit organizations in 76 countries around the globe. This makes CASE one of the world’s largest nonprofit educational associations in terms of institutional membership. CASE serves more than 70,000 advancement professionals on the staffs of its member institutions and has more than 17,000 professional members on its roster.

To fulfill their missions and to meet both individual and societal needs, colleges, universities and independent schools rely on—and therefore must foster—the good will, active involvement, informed advocacy and enduring support of alumni, donors, prospective students, parents, government officials, community leaders, corporate executives, foundation officers and other external constituencies.

CASE helps its members build stronger relationships with all of these constituencies by providing relevant research, supporting growth in the profession and fostering support of education. CASE also offers a variety of advancement products and services, provides standards and an ethical framework for the profession and works with other organizations to respond to public issues of concern while promoting the importance of education worldwide.

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