Director of Alumni Relations

The Director of Alumni Relations is a senior member of the Advancement Team. The incumbent must be an experienced, dynamic and creative professional who will plan and implement a comprehensive program of activities that establishes and maintains relationships with approximately 8,000 MMA alumni worldwide through a coordinated mix of high-quality digital outreach, print communications, and personal engagement. The Director of Alumni Relations is charged with strategically engaging alumni and securing commitments from them to provide volunteer service. The Director will ensure that every alumnus has meaningful, accessible options for staying connected to the Academy regardless of location, generation, or preferred communication channel. This position also requires working closely with colleagues across key administrative offices, including but not limited to Admissions, Development, College Relations, and Career Services. The Director will plan and implement a comprehensive program of activities that establishes and maintains relationships with alumni and the Academy. The Director serves as the primary liaison to the Alumni Association Board of Directors, plans individual class and combined multi-class reunions, implements special events to recognize outstanding alumni, supports Homecoming Weekend, develops and implements plans for the Academy’s regional alumni clubs, and leads a coordinated alumni communications program across digital, print, and in-person channels. The Director oversees alumni web and social media content; contributes ideas, story suggestions, writing, and input to Mariner Magazine, the alumni magazine of MMA; and is responsible for at least two editions of Shipmate per year, the Academy’s alumni e-newsletter. Digital communications will extend the reach and quality of alumni engagement and encourage participation in reunions, regional programs, volunteer service, mentoring, and to the and other opportunities for personal connection. In addition, the Director will collaborate with the Annual Fund Manager and other Advancement staff to ensure that alumni participation in the Annual Fund and contributions to student scholarships meet or exceed annual goals. The Director manages the Alumni Relations budget, supervises employees along with numerous volunteers. This position requires high professional and ethical standards for handling confidential information, including personal alumni information, institutional budget and financial information. The position also requires travel and attendance at evening and/or weekend activities, meetings, and events. This is a full-time, confidential position.

DUTIES

• Work closely with the Alumni Board of Directors, arranging meetings, staffing its committees, and ensuring their strategic plan initiatives are met.
• The Director will develop and submit for approval by the Chief of Staff annual strategic and operating plans.
• Plan and supervise all activities and events associated with a reunion weekend, ensuring that all of the Academy’s constituents are recognized and involved, including alumni, students, faculty and staff, and retired faculty.
• Maintain and expand a class agent program to build engagement and the return of alumni back to campus. Ensure that the Alumni Association Awards program reflects positively on the Academy and recognizes outstanding alumni by researching the records of perspective recipients, preparing background materials for consideration by the Alumni Association Board of Directors, president, or the selection committee.
• Educate graduating students about staying connected as a member of the Alumni Association and engage them in programs.
• Establish and build relationships with alumni locally, regionally, and nationally; maintain regular, high-quality communication through face-to-face contact, phone, email, text messaging where authorized, alumni web pages, social media, and print publications. Ensure that alumni can select and update how and how often they receive Academy information, and that digital outreach complements and strengthens physical mail, events, visits, and other personal engagement rather than replacing them.
• Serve as the business owner and steward of the alumni constituent relationship management (CRM) system in collaboration with Advancement Services. Establish standards and workflows to maintain accurate, complete, timely, and secure alumni contact, biographical, career, engagement, communication-preference, and consent information gathered through surveys, events, digital interactions, and other appropriate means.
• Use CRM data to segment audiences, personalize communications, coordinate outreach across Academy offices, track engagement, and assess the effectiveness of alumni communications and programs; use findings to continuously improve content, timing, channels, and calls to action.
• Develop and maintain a consistent alumni content and outreach calendar, with clear editorial standards, Academy brand alignment, accessible and mobile-responsive design, and quality review for alumni-facing digital communications.
• Maintains regular attendance and performs other reasonably related duties, consistent with Academy policy.
• Promotes harmony and cooperation among faculty, staff members, and external constituents.
• Other duties as assigned.

This job description reflects the general duties of the job but is not a detailed description of all duties which may be inherent to the position. The Academy may assign reasonably related additional duties to individual employees consistent with policy and collective bargaining agreements.

SKILLS

• Ability to embrace the school’s mission;
• High professional and ethical standards for handling highly confidential materials;
• Excellent oral and written communications skills are required, with strong public speaking skills preferred. Excellent interpersonal skills are necessary. Strong writing skills are a plus;
• Strong analytical skills;
• Demonstrated ability to manage CRM strategy, data quality, audience segmentation, communication preferences, and engagement reporting, and to translate those capabilities into effective alumni outreach; • Strong digital communications judgment, including the ability to develop audience-centered content and oversee email, web, social media, and other emerging channels while maintaining consistent quality, accessibility, and Academy voice;
• The ability to establish strong and effective personal and professional relationships particularly with volunteers;
• The position requires strong planning and organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to effectively manage multiple projects;
• The successful candidate will demonstrate flexibility and initiative, and the ability to work independently as well as part of a team.

REQUIREMENTS

• A bachelor’s degree in a related field is required; Master’s degree preferred.
• At least five years working in college or university alumni relations, although relevant experience in fields such as development and external relations that involve strong constituency relations will be considered.
• A minimum of two years of supervisory experience and a successful record of supporting and motivating staff as well as recruiting, motivating, and managing volunteers is required.
• The ability to work effectively with a CRM, email marketing and analytics platforms, content management and social media tools, survey systems, and Microsoft Office Suite is required.

PHYSICAL/ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

• Contacts include Board of Trustees, Donors, Alumni, Parents, Students and various external and internal constituencies;
• This job requires the capacity to travel, work evenings and several weekends as necessary;
• The job is generally sedentary, however individual must be able to traverse the campus grounds which include hills, paths and access MMA’s ships and boats. Ascending or descending ladders, stairs, ramps, and the like, using feet and legs and/or hands and arms to maintain balance walk through narrow passages;
• Occasional exposure to extremes in weather, including rain, sleet, snow, rough seas;
• Frequent use of keyboard and computer screen;
• Occasionally lift and move up to 50 pounds.