Conference Chair

Debra Metcalfe
Director of Alumni Relations
Harvard Medical School

Nearly half of Debra Metcalfe's more than twenty-year career in advancement has been at Harvard University. Prior to her appointment as director of alumni relations at the Harvard Medical School, she spent a year and a half at the Harvard Kennedy School as director of alumni programs. She started her tenure at Harvard in1998 as director of alumni/ae relations and annual giving for the Harvard Divinity School.

Before Harvard, Metcalfe worked in alumni affairs at higher education institutions in the Boston area including Lesley University, Pine Manor College and Tufts University. While at Tufts, she was the director of education and field services managing all off-campus activity. For five years, the majority of her work was building regional alliances around the world.

In addition to alumni relations being her profession, she has been a long-time alumni volunteer for her undergraduate alma mater, the University of New Hampshire. She served as president of the Boston Alumni Chapter for four years, recruited for UNH at college fairs, and was elected to the board of directors and as a class officer. Her ongoing service to UNH earned her the Alumni Meritorious Service Award in 1991.

Metcalfe graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a bachelor's degree in 1983.

Faculty

Kathy Bickel
Vice President, Outreach and Engagement
The Ohio State University Alumni Association, Inc.

Kathy Bickel is vice president of outreach and engagement at the Ohio State Alumni Association Inc. She joined the Ohio State University in 1987 as assistant registrar and came to the alumni association 16 years ago.

Bickel is responsible for the operation, budgeting and strategic planning of the student recruitment, club, society, association program, reunion, tour and student programs areas. Each year her office oversees over 600 events with attendance exceeding 34,000. She coordinates the activities of nearly 35 international tours, over 150 worldwide alumni clubs, 60 societies and a network of 2,500 volunteer leaders. She sees alumni volunteers as a vital part of Ohio State's family and enthusiastically embraces the opportunity to improve alumni relations.

Bickel has presented workshops to a variety of groups on creativity, career management, leadership, humor, networking and team building. She has also been a presenter at many CASE District meetings and presented a CASE webinar. She is actively involved in the Big Ten Summer Institute.

She has authored four articles in CURRENTS magazine, and a chapter in an alumni relations training handbook.

Bickel has won the CASE "Heavy Hitters" award for her presentation in an all-day training conference, and the Alumni Forman Fellowship for her work in alumni relations. She has also been the CASE FIVE Conference alumni track co-chair and a National CASE trustee representing the CASE District V .

She earned two degrees from The Ohio State University, a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in labor and human resource management.

John Feudo
Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations
Boston College

John Feudo, a 1982 Boston College graduate, is his alma mater's associate vice president for alumni relations. Feudo, an alumni relations professional for more than 20 years, was the executive director of the University of Connecticut Alumni Association from 1999 until his move to Boston College in 2006.

Feudo studied political science at Boston College. After graduation, he became manager of membership and public relations for Toastmasters International, a nonprofit educational organization based in Santa Ana, Calif. He eventually sought to return to both the East Coast and the higher education environment and was named director of alumni field services at Tufts University in 1988. After five years at Tufts and having earned a master's degree in communication at Lesley University, Feudo was named associate vice chancellor for university advancement at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, overseeing alumni activities for the state's flagship institution.

In 1999, he was named executive director of UConn's 175,000-member alumni association. While there, he not only reengineered the school's volunteer, reunion and affinity programs, he developed and led a $4.5 million campaign for alumni initiatives and coordinated the design and construction of a $3.7 million alumni center project.

In addition to his on-campus work, Feudo was elected president of the national Council of Alumni Association Executives. He has also authored and edited several books on the alumni relations profession.