Jeremiah Stevens, director of alumni relations at Lake Forest Academy in suburban Chicago, contends with a bit of an unusual challenge. He must manage and motivate not one but two alumni boards. While alumni professionals may not share Stevens' particular circumstances, they certainly can relate to a struggle to jumpstart a languishing board and…

There's nothing like a worldwide financial meltdown to kick-start an alumni association's career networking offerings. In 2009, the Northwestern University alumni board provided clear direction to its regional affiliates and to the full-time staff working at the Evanston, Illinois, campus: Develop ways to purposefully connect alumni with each…

University of Illinois President B. Joseph White describes it in glowing terms like "visionary" and "watershed." More cautious alumni professional peers call it "bold" or even "risky." The "it" here is the decision by the University of Illinois Alumni Association (UIAA) to end the 136-year-old dues…