Guest Speakers
Amanda Baker
Amanda Baker (she/her) is the Deputy Director for Young Alumni & Students at Yale University’s Alumni Fund. In this role, she leads her team to cultivate an appreciation among students for alumni philanthropy and build dedicated future donors. She also strengthens the pipeline of recent alumni donors through programming and communications. She works with leadership volunteers and develops solicitation strategies to retain loyal donors, bring in new donors and move donors up the pipeline through leadership level solicitations. Amanda is committed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging serving on various committees and taskforces that promote DEIB internally and among the alumni population. She has presented on various topics at Ivy+ conferences as well as AGDC.
Prior to joining Yale in 2018, Amanda was involved in management and development in the arts where she spent 20 years with organizations ranging from the United States Coast Guard Band to her own arts non-profit organization. Amanda is a veteran of the United States Coast Guard which she served for 7 years. She is on faculty at Eastern Connecticut State University where she teaches courses in arts management and is a member of the Imani Winds Foundation Board of Directors. She received her Bachelor’s and Master's in Music from Northwestern University and Yale University, respectively and an MBA from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business. Amanda lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut with her partner, daughter and dachshund Waffles. An avid nature-lover, she spends her free-time birding, kayaking and hiking.
Jemika Ferguson
Jemika Ferguson is the Assistant Director of Talent Pipeline Programs at the University of Michigan’s Office of University Development. She is a proud University of Michigan alumni. Jemika currently serves as the program director for the Development Summer Internship Program (D-SIP) and her responsibilities include leading all summer programming, marketing and recruiting interns and host sites, spearheading D-SIP alumni cultivation, and stewardship efforts. She led the efforts for reimagining the program into a virtual program during the pandemic. With D-SIP now celebrating its 16th year, there are over 358 alumni.
Before returning to the University as a member of the Development community, Jemika served as Business manager for World Community Impact, a non-profit organization, where she gained valuable project management and program coordinator experience.
Jemika holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Educational Sociology from UM’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts and holds a certification in Project Management.
Felicity Meu
Felicity spent 9 years with Stanford’s Office of Development. As Stanford’s inaugural Director of Next Generation Giving she worked closely with individual donors and volunteers but also helped craft the University’s vision for engaging its next great generation of philanthropists. Leaning into the needs of young donors, Felicity spent time consulting for Stanford’s Effective Philanthropy Lab, working on a project dedicated to taking a deep dive into better understanding the needs of millennial donors. Currently she serves as Director of Partner Success for GiveCampus where she continues to work against her goal of helping more people be more generous more strategically.
Raeanna Mowl
Raeanna has been with Vanderbilt University for 7 years, with previous experience in the entertainment industry. She serves as the Assistant Director for Student Alumni Engagement where she oversees the Life After Vanderbilt Series, the Student Alumni Board and young alumni programs. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in Mass Communications and an MBA from Lipscomb University. In her free time, she enjoys HIIT training 6 days a week, cooking, and spending as much time with her dog nephews, Murray and Mr. Bojangles, as she can.
Alex Rodríguez
Alex Rodríguez is University Development and Alumni Relations' (UDAR) current Assistant Director, Digital Student Giving, overseeing strategy related to all student giving, co-leading the Crowdfunding program, and managing a dedicated group of 25+ student volunteers. After completing his CASE Advancement Internship in Summer 2018 and his subsequent graduation from Cal in 2019, Alex joined UDAR as Student Philanthropy Manager. Since then, Alex has worked closely with students, student philanthropy efforts, and digital giving programming. Utilizing the quarantine era as a time for overhauling and revitalizing student philanthropy, Alex has manifested a number of new projects and changes to student giving at Berkeley. Now promoted as Assistant Director, Digital Student Giving, Alex is currently championing a new student giving model that focuses on all students vs. Seniors, emphasizes inclusivity and alternatives to giving, and promotes social media as a solicitation, engagement, and stewardship tool. Creating a culture of giving that is based in DEIBJ and supporting students in-need is what drives Alex to do his work!
While at Cal, Alex majored in Psychology and minored in Ethnic Studies, and received recognition as Highest Honors for his year-long thesis project studying stigma of mental illness. Outside of his professional life, Alex loves to express himself creatively through fashion, dance, and social media, and can likely be found listening to K-Pop at any given moment. Alex lives in Berkeley with his very photogenic cat, Chromeo Kiwi Lunario (@chromeo.kiwi)!
Alexa Schwartz
Alexa Schwartz (she/her/hers) serves as the Assistant Director, Alumni Programs at Rice University’s Office of Alumni Relations. Alexa Schwartz connects Rice University students to alumni mentors and campus resources through management of the Sallyportal virtual mentoring platform with 12,500+ users, development of the "Life After Rice" alumni panel series, and implementation of family and student programming during Rice's annual Owl Together event series (Homecoming and Reunion & Families Weekend). Alexa is a Ph.D. student in Higher Education Leadership & Policy Studies at the University of Houston. She graduated from Tulane University with a BA in Latin American Studies, Anthropology, and Spanish and a MA in Spanish.