Associate Vice President for Alumni Engagement and Executive Director of the UK Alumni Association

The University of Kentucky Alumni Association seeks an Associate Vice President for Alumni Engagement and Executive Director of the UK Alumni Association (AVP/ED) to expand upon the association’s considerable accomplishments to date and succeed a long-serving and successful incumbent.

The University of Kentucky (UK) is one of the nation’s foremost public research universities, and its alumni are passionate about, and supportive of, their alma mater. That passion is harnessed and channeled in largest part by the UK Alumni Association, which is charged with engaging with the university’s graduates and other external constituencies in mutually-beneficial relationships that lead to support for the university, its faculty, and its students.

This is an exciting time to join the University of Kentucky as it continues its aggressive efforts to position itself among the top public research universities in the country. Founded in 1865 as a land-grant institution adjacent to downtown Lexington, UK is nestled in the scenic heart of the beautiful Bluegrass Region of Kentucky. From its early beginnings, with only 190 students and 10 professors, UK’s campus now covers more than 918 acres and is home to 30,000 students and approximately 14,500 employees, including more than 2,300 full-time faculty, and operates an annual budget of nearly $3.5 billion.

The state’s flagship university consists of 18 academic and professional colleges where students can choose from more than 200 majors and degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The student body is diverse, representing more than 100 countries, every state in the nation, and all 120 Kentucky counties. UK students compete successfully for prestigious scholarships and awards, including Fulbright, Astronaut, Truman, Goldwater, Marshall, Udall and Gates.

The UK Alumni Association was founded 128 years ago in 1889. The organization is a self-governed, nonprofit membership organization that serves the University of Kentucky and its many alumni, students, parents and friends. There are 240,000 alumni worldwide which are served by 25 staff members and a 128 member Alumni Association Board. The organization currently deploys a dues model which has a roster of nearly 36,000 members.

The successful candidate will be an exceptional communicator with outstanding relationship-building skills, along with the experience and talent necessary to lead the association through an era of unprecedented change. The incumbent candidate will use his or her talents to create a concerted transformation of the alumni program. He or she will oversee the adoption of a new alumni engagement model to refocus alumni activity around regional and national work, young alumni engagement, attention to affinity and diversity networks, the student continuum from recruitment to career development, and the development of closer ties to alumni efforts in individual UK colleges. The incumbent will be a face of the university and therefore a public figure in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Professional experience in higher education, alumni relations, philanthropy, marketing/communications, or advancement generally would be invaluable. A bachelor's degree (a graduate degree is desirable) is required.

A full position description can be found here: wittkieffer.com. Confidential inquiries, nominations, and applications are invited. Review of applications will continue until the position is filled. Candidates should provide a resume or CV, letter of application that addresses the responsibilities and requirements described in the leadership profile, and the names and contact information of five references. References will not be contacted without prior knowledge and approval of candidates. These materials should be sent electronically via email to University of Kentucky’s consultants Mercedes C. Vance and Robert W. Luke at UKentuckyEDAA@wittkieffer.com.

The University of Kentucky values diversity and is committed to equal opportunity for all persons regardless of age, color, disability, ethnicity, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status or any other status protected by law.