Message From Chair

With increased integration across advancement operations, focus on the bottom line and expectations from our constituents, alumni leaders simply must be on the top of their game.

Do you have a clear and compelling vision for your portfolio and are you managing the strategy? Are you focusing on the right activities and truly making the most of those investments? How might you make a stronger case for support? Have you leveraged the "social capital" of alumni leaders-past, present and future-to greatest advantage? What leadership capabilities should you cultivate to be successful?

Join us at the Institute for Senior Alumni Relations Professionals to roll up your sleeves with fellow senior leaders and chart a course to take your alumni relations program to the next level. We will take a highly interactive approach to the three-day institute as discussion leaders set the stage, allowing participants the opportunity to wrestle with real issues in the profession and work on specific action plans.

Marie Earl, Conference Chair
Associate Vice President, Alumni Relations
Executive Director
University of British Columbia Alumni Association

Marie Earl has served as associate vice president, alumni, for the University of British Columbia and executive director of the UBC Alumni Association since January of 2005.

Prior to joining UBC, Earl served as director of alumni relations at the Stanford Alumni Association, as executive director of industry initiatives for Science & Math Education (a nonprofit foundation established by leading high-technology corporations and post-secondary institutions in the San Francisco Bay area to benefit K-12 educators), and as manager of education and science policy for the American Electronics Association.

She earned her undergraduate and master's degrees from Stanford University.

Discussion Leaders

Michael Casey
Vice President, Advancement
Skidmore College

Michael Casey is the vice president for advancement at Skidmore College where he is responsible for fundraising, alumni affairs and college events, and communications. Prior to arriving at Skidmore in 2000, he worked at Wesleyan University in Connecticut in a variety of capacities, which included doing both fundraising and alumni activities. Prior to working at Wesleyan he worked in development at both Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and The Baltimore Museum of Art. This followed an earlier career in publishing.

Over the course of his career, Casey has had direct responsibility for the full gamut of activities in the advancement area including regional alumni work, reunions, alumni travel programs, staffing of the alumni board, major college events (commencement, convocation, etc.), career planning, print and electronic communications, marketing, media relations, community relations, planned giving, major gift work, annual fund, staffing of the board of trustees, and database management. That breadth of experience has given him a deep appreciation for the essential interrelatedness of the various elements of the contemporary advancement operation and the need for close communication between and among these units and an integrated planning process.

He is a 1981 graduate of Harvard College.

Drew Collier
Chief Administrative Officer, Development & Alumni Engagement
University of British Columbia

As the chief administrative officer, development and alumni engagement at the University of British Columbia, Drew Collier leads the operations team that includes finance, human resources, information systems and research. Prior to joining the University of British Columbia, he worked with Vancity Credit Union (Canada's largest Credit Union), and its subsidiary Citizens Bank of Canada where he held senior roles in strategy, operations and project management.

As vice president of strategy, he led strategy management for eight lines of business, six subsidiaries, and all head office supporting divisions. Collier was part of the team that launched Citizens Bank of Canada as Canada's first online bank in 1997, and later as senior vice president of operations, he led the retail line of business and a multichannel shared service delivery. As vice president of project management, he established a new organization-wide project management practice for the credit union and its subsidiaries. He also provides consulting services to credit unions, small businesses and social enterprises.

Throughout his career two common themes emerge: leading business transitions and establishing new business units to achieve strategic results. He is a collaborative coach and visionary/entrepreneurial leader who inspires people to makes things happen. Underneath his business acumen, Collier is still a science geek at heart with a passion for innovation and applying science/technology to make difference. His career started out in the pursuit of electronics/robotics, and migrated towards life sciences, but his focus turned from medicine to business management after a first taste of running a small business at the age of 19. Some of his volunteer work has included the Better Business Bureau, New Ventures BC, and the Neil Squire Society, a small nonprofit that uses technology to assist people with disabilities.

Collier holds a bachelor's degree from the University of British Columbia, and an master's degree in business administration from Queens School of Business. He is a member of the Certified Management Accountants (CMA-BC).

Tom Minar
Vice President, Development/Alumni Relations
American University

Tom Minar joined American University as vice president of development and alumni relations in October 2008. He works closely with the university leadership, school and colleges, alumni, and Board of Trustees to support AU's strategic priorities, attract new funding, and build lifelong relationships between AU and its 100,000 alumni. He has more than 20 years of leadership experience in institutional fundraising, alumni relations, external affairs and higher education administration. Prior to coming to AU, he worked at Roosevelt University in Chicago, where he served as vice president and, most recently, as a special assistant to the president. As the chief advancement officer for Roosevelt, he planned, restructured and managed the development and alumni affairs operations.

From 1999 to 2003, he was vice president for development and external affairs at Chicago Theological Seminary, where he also was an adjunct professor of religion, political science and management, and was assistant secretary to the Board of Trustees. Previously, he was director of development for the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, associate dean for external affairs and chief development officer for the University of Illinois College of Commerce and Business Administration, and assistant dean and director of alumni relations at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Minar earned a doctorate in political science from Northwestern University, master's degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, and bachelor's degree from Pomona College, where he is currently president of the alumni association.

Michele Nota
Executive Director, Alumni Relations
University of Rhode Island

Michele Nota began her career in 1988 as an assistant director of the University of Rhode Island Annual Fund Office. She took over as director in 1993 and served in this position until 1998. In this role, she managed the university's annual fund during the first-ever capital campaign, which resulted in annual increases in revenue.

Since September of 1998, Nota has served as the executive director of the Alumni Relations Office at the University of Rhode Island. She is responsible for coordinating, promoting and implementing comprehensive alumni, membership and fundraising programs in conjunction with the university's overall marketing efforts. She has direct management responsibility for the preparation and evaluation of budgets and internal audits, and is responsible for establishing and maintaining effective relationships with volunteers, volunteer leadership, donors, the University Advancement staff and other members of the university community. She works closely with the university president, vice president of university advancement, and the president of the Alumni Association Executive Board.

Nota is a member of the Board of Directors for the Council of Alumni Association Executives (CAAE) and is chair of their Forman Fellow/Tardy Intern Selection Committee. She is also a member of the Board of Directors District 1 of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education District (CASE) and is a 2009 graduate of the Leadership Rhode Island program.

Paul Rucker
Executive Director/AVP Alumni Relations
University of Washington Alumni Association

Paul Rucker has been active in higher education administration for the past 17 years. Prior to joining the senior leadership team at University of Washington Advancement in 2004, he developed and led a broad range of international and global advancement initiatives in the Washington State Community Colleges, including opportunities for underrepresented U.S. students, staff and faculty to travel and study abroad in developing-world countries.

 In 2009, Rucker became executive director of the UW Alumni Association and associate vice president of alumni relations. Over the years, he has served on a variety of professional and community advisory boards in support of advancing educational opportunities, diversity education and public/private partnerships. He serves on the CASE Commission for Alumni Relations.