Alumni Engagement Staff

Staff Vision and Values

We create space for alumni to experience a sense of belonging by providing ways to be part of the Williams community’s continued growth, evolution, and improvement that are responsive to both institutional priorities and alumni interests. 

We honor the individual alum’s agency to choose their level and mode of engagement, and we celebrate every alum’s decision to deepen their engagement in ways that are meaningful to them. 

Our work is undertaken in deep partnership with alumni volunteers, and we are grateful for the ways in which they lead and inform our work, helping us grow through their leadership, service, and participation.

We continually evaluate, refine, and enhance our approaches, as we believe every alum, and every experience, has a place within the Society of Alumni.

We work to enhance our community’s strengths, acknowledge and seek to address our challenges and shortcomings, and demonstrate the care, compassion, and respect that we have for one another—and all of the Williams family.

Staff Listing

For general inquiries, please contact [email protected].

Photo of Laura Day
Assistant Vice President for Alumni Engagement
Vogt House
413-597-4535

Areas of Expertise

  • Overall strategic leadership of alumni engagement with a central goal of keeping alumni connected with each other and with the college, and cultivating a sense of belonging among all alumni.
Photo of Veronica J. Bosley
Assistant Director of Alumni Events
Vogt House
413-597-4152

Areas of Expertise

  •  Direct the planning, organization, and execution of on-campus events designed to cultivate, sustain, steward, and strengthen alumni ties to Williams and to each other.
  • Create and deploy systems for project management of the many steps and partners involved in producing complex events.
Photo of Caitlin Brown
Digital Engagement Manager
Vogt House
413-597-4676

Areas of Expertise

  • Manage digital communications with alumni body
  • Maintain online presence for alumni-facing websites
Photo of Jordan Cahill
Event Coordinator
Vogt House
413-597-3545

Areas of Expertise

  • Support, coordinate, and provide logistical planning for on-campus Alumni events like Reunion, Homecoming, Bicentennial Medals, and more.
  • Ensure a welcoming, inclusive, and comprehensive in-person event experience for alumni.
Photo of Zorelly C. Cepeda Derieux
Associate Director of Alumni Engagement for Affinity and Identity Connections
Vogt House
413-597-4187

Areas of Expertise

  • Lead alumni identity networks and support of other historically minoritized
    alumni populations including: Williams Asian and Asian American Alumni Network (WAAAAN), Williams Black Alumni Network (WBAN), Williams Firsts Alumni Network (WFAN), Williams Latinx Alumni Network (WLAN), Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Alumni Network (BiGLATA)
  • Create opportunities for connection between and among alumni networks.
Photo of Wendy W. Coakley
Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement for Career Connections
Vogt House
413-597-3058

Areas of Expertise

  • Oversee programs – in-person and virtual – for alumni to connect with one another around professional endeavor.
  • Build online resources to enable alumni to thrive at every stage of their careers.
  • Create opportunities for alumni to serve as professional resources for students and one another.
Photo of Raquel Cuéllar-Parajón
Affinity Programs Manager
Vogt House
413-597-4111

Areas of Expertise

  • Support and sustain communities forged as students on campus, including through athletic teams, student organizations/clubs/activities, majors/departments, and residential life (entries, neighborhoods, specific res halls).
  • Build sustainable systems to support intergenerational connections between student groups and affinity alumni
  • Promote opportunities for lifelong engagement to young alumni
Photo of Leila T. Derstine
Executive Director of Alumni Relations
Vogt House
413-597-4011

Areas of Expertise

  • Lead the Alumni Engagement Programs team, responsible for engagement beyond class-based structures
  • Curate and direct (in-person and virtual) alumni lifelong learning programs
  • Direct the Alumni Travel Study Program and communicate with alumni travelers
  • Build collaborative relationships with faculty and academic units
  • Support DEI initiatives for alumni constituencies
Photo of Jacqueline Fallon
Alumni Engagement Program Coordinator
Vogt House
413-597-4164

Areas of Expertise

  • Execute production of appeals, invitations, and other class-based collateral and communications.
  • Ensure volunteers and donors are stewarded appropriately and in a timely manner.
Photo of Kimberly A. Hogue
Alumni Engagement Operations Manager
Vogt House
413-597-4356

Areas of Expertise

  • Coordinate administrative tasks for the Alumni Engagement office and lead AE Operations Working Group.
  • Collaborate with the Director of Class Engagement and the Alumni Fund on fund-wide appeals, solicitations, and stewardship.
  • Organize and coordinate end-of-year and end-of-fund solicitations to all non-donors.
Photo of Landon A. Marchant
Temporary Assistant Director for Alumni Engagement
Vogt House
413-597-4576
Photo of Sheila Mason
Director of Class Engagement and the Alumni Fund
Vogt House
413-597-3737

Areas of Expertise

  • Lead staff responsible for class-based engagement and peer-to-peer fundraising.
  • Lead volunteers and class managers in developing and implementing strategies to reach class-based dollar, donor, and participation goals, along with goals for class notes submissions and reunion attendance and other class-based events.
  • Identify, recruit, onboard, retain, motivate, and manage the work of the volunteer leadership team for classes of 2013-2018.
  • Manage class-based communications and solicitations for 2013-2018.
Photo of Sean T. McGrath
Post-50th Program Director, Associate Director of Alumni Engagement, Classes of 1970-1984
Vogt House
413-597-4681

Areas of Expertise

  • Lead post-50th program including events + creation of new milestone: 60th reunion.
  • Identify, recruit, onboard, retain, motivate, and manage the work of the volunteer leadership team for classes of 1969-1983
  • As class manager facilitate class reunion planning and execution for 1969-1983
  • Manage class-based communications and solicitations for 1969-1983
Photo of Devin McGrath-Conwell
Asst Dir-Digital Engagement
Vogt House
413-597-4613
Photo of Julia S. Melnick
Alumni Engagement Programs Coordinator
Vogt House
413-597-4128
Photo of Heather L. O'Brien
Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement, Classes of 1943-1969
Vogt House
413-597-4040

Areas of Expertise

  • Identify, recruit, onboard, retain, motivate, and manage the work of the volunteer leadership team for classes of 1940-1968.
  • As class manager facilitate class reunion planning and execution for 1940-1968.
  • Manage class-based communications and solicitations for 1940-1968.
Photo of Hayden N. Rebelo
Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement, Classes of 2000-2014
Vogt House
413-597-4132
Photo of Natalia Rey de Castro
Director of Alumni Fund Leadership Giving
Vogt House
413-597-4006
Photo of Wendy Skavlem
Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement, Classes of 1985-1999
Vogt House
413-597-4685

Areas of Expertise

  • Identify, recruit, onboard, retain, motivate, and manage the work of the volunteer leadership team for classes of 1984-1998.
  • As class manager facilitate class reunion planning and execution for 1984-1998.
  • Manage class-based communications and solicitations for 1984-1998.
Photo of Rob Swann
Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement for Regional Programs
Vogt House
413-597-4056

Areas of Expertise

  • Regional Associations
  • Regional Off-Campus Events and Activities
  • Send-Off Parties
Photo of Patti Thompson
Program Coordinator
Vogt House
413-597-4305

Areas of Expertise

Provide administrative support to leadership giving division including

  • External communications and correspondence
  • Event planning both in-person and virtual
  • Meeting management both in-person and virtual

 

 

Photo of Lenora Volkmer
Alumni Engagement Programs Coordinator
Vogt House
413-597-4116

Areas of Expertise

  • Provide administrative support and coordination for alumni identity-based networks, alumni DEIA and alumni regional associations.
  • Support and steward alumni volunteers interested in engaging with Williams through Alumni Identity-Based Networks and Alumni Regional Associations.
Photo of Rosie Wallent
Program Coordinator
Vogt House
413-597-2649