Anita’s 19-year career in advancement began at the University of Aberdeen as a student caller. Upon graduating, Anita joined the Development team at Aberdeen during their £150 million Capital Campaign, with responsibility for the regular giving programme. 

In 2010 Anita left her role as Head of Annual Giving and joined the University of Salford as Alumni Relations and Regular Giving Manager, where she was responsible for implementing the alumni relations strategy and moving the telephone campaign in-house.  

In January 2014 Anita joined the University of Liverpool as Head of Alumni and Supporter Relations, before being promoted in 2019 to her current role of Associate Director of Alumni Engagement & Regular Giving leading the alumni engagement and regular giving strategy for the University's 222,000 global alumni community. 

With more than 10 years' experience across communications and alumni relations at different UK HE institutions, Marie-Rose then moved into digital fundraising with a tech start-up, before returning to head up the alumni relations function for education/social mobility charity the Sutton Trust.

In her current role Marie-Rose oversees a team managing a programme of alumni bursaries, volunteering, communications and career support for the Sutton trust's alumni community of over 50,000, along with a growing portfolio of alumni high-level donors.

Nena brings over fifteen years of international experience in the higher education sector. At Hertie School, the University of Governance in Berlin, she is responsible for alumni engagement and the strategic growth of the School’s global alumni network in 110 countries. Prior to Hertie, Nena was in charge of alumni relations at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna and Budapest. A number of successful initiatives were developed under her leadership, including the Thesis Buddy Project, which won a CASE Circle of Excellence Award 2022 in volunteer engagement category. Prior to CEU, Nena had managed programmes at leading global organisations, including CASE in London, the Institute of International Education (IIE) and Open Society Foundation (OSF) in Budapest. A firm believer in collaboration and the power of sharing best practice, Nena is active CASE volunteer and has served as speaker, editorial board member, conference co-chair and task force member. A North Macedonia native, Nena has lived and worked internationally for nearly two decades, is fluent in number of languages and considers herself a citizen of the world. 

Ross Munnelly was appointed the first Director of Alumni Relations at Dublin City University in July 2017. Over a 18 year period, Ross has worked in a number of roles at the university including Student Recruitment, the Careers Service and Head of Sports Development. He now manages the domestic and international engagement programme for over 110,000 Alumni worldwide.

He is a four time graduate of DCU, some of his qualifications include an MSc in Education and Training (e-Learning), Graduate Diploma in Guidance and Counseling and most recently the Executive MBA (2020).

Thanks to so many loyal volunteers and strategic collaborations, engagement programmes at DCU have received two awards from the Learning and Development Institute of Ireland in recent years. The awards were for the Graduate to Student Mentorship Programme (2018) and the Emerging Leaders Programme (2024).

In addition to his role leading the Alumni Service at DCU, Ross served the university as Acting Joint Head of Student Recruitment at DCU from 2020-2022 and held the position of National Secretary for the Irish Guidance Counselors Association from 2021-2023.

Ross has been a volunteer with the CASE Alumni Relations Institute since 2021.

Mehrnoosh Rayner is Head of Alumni Relations at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) — an intergovernmental life sciences institute with six sites across Europe and support from more than 30 countries, including the UK.

Over the past 20+ years, she has built EMBL Alumni Relations from a small project into a strategic programme that plays a central role in delivering EMBL’s mission to support life sciences in Europe and beyond. Her work now increasingly focuses on alumni fundraising, both to advance EMBL’s initiatives and to demonstrate the power of alumni engagement as a driver for institutional growth. She has also helped emerging life science institutes establish their own alumni relations programmes and is passionate about developing the advancement sector across Europe through knowledge-sharing and collaboration.

Mehrnoosh has worked in higher education for over 30 years, leading stakeholder engagement, designing and growing programmes, and overseeing conferences, events, publications, and data management.

Prior to joining EMBL, she worked at the University of Edinburgh, where she graduated with an MA Honours degree and was later awarded a PhD.

Mehrnoosh is currently Chair of the CASE Europe Council.

Andrew Shaindlin is a vice president and alumni strategy consultant at Grenzebach Glier & Associates. He brings 35 years of experience in alumni relations and advancement in higher education. His expertise includes engagement best practices, strategic planning, volunteer and board development, and alumni governance. Having previously worked at GG+A from 2015-2018, Andy has consulted for dozens of organizations, including the Rockefeller Foundation, the University of California, Johns Hopkins University, Sidwell Friends School and King’s College London, amongst others.

Before rejoining GG+A, Andy served as the Vice President for Alumni Relations at Brown University, his undergraduate alma mater. He led a team of two dozen alumni relations professionals in delivering customized engagement to 100,000 alumni. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Andy led the adaptation of alumni outreach to provide virtual interaction for all alumni, with the team earning CASE Gold recognition for these efforts.

Andy was the founder and author of Alumni Futures, which he launched in 2007 as the first website specifically for alumni relations professionals. He chaired the Commission on Alumni Relations for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and served on the CASE Board of Trustees. As a recipient of the CASE Crystal Apple Award, Andy has been recognized by his fellow professionals for excellence in training and education. Andy is a former Trustee of the American Councils for International Education in Washington, D.C. He holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Brown University and a master’s degree in education from Claremont Graduate University.