2017 Conference Speakers

2017 Conference Speakers

Chris Abrescy

Chris Abrescy serves as Executive Director of Alumni Relations for the University of California, Merced. A first-generation college student and native of Merced, Chris was a member of the inaugural incoming class in 2005 and graduated in 2009 with a B.S. in Management. Chris oversees the UC Merced Alumni Association, which has rapidly expanded from 3 alumni in 2006 to nearly 8,000 a decade later. At an institution where 71% of students are first-generation, Chris oversees strategic programs, initiatives and traditions that help educate the campus community on "What it means to be an alumnus". In addition, working alongside colleagues in advancement to create a culture of philanthropy, Chris spearheads the annual day of giving at UC Merced that coincides with the international Giving Tuesday. 

Zachary Bleemer

Zach Bleemer is a PhD student in Economics at UC Berkeley, where his research examines the educational and occupational decisions of young Americans. He has previously held senior research analyst positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Mathematica Policy Research, and has published working papers on student debt, parental co-residence, university attendance, and gender role model effects. He is also currently a Digital Humanities Fellow at UC Berkeley and a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Pamela Brown

Pamela Brown is the Vice President of Institutional Research and Academic Planning (IRAP). She began working in the Office of the Provost at University of California Office of the President (UCOP) in November 2013. IRAP produces evidence-based analysis and reports that inform and shape university management, strategic planning, policy, and decision support, including the Annual Accountability Report that reflects the UC’s activities and operations through data-driven narratives and data visualizations.

Prior to coming to UCOP, Pamela worked sixteen years at UC Berkeley where her last role was Executive Director of the Office of Planning and Analysis (OPA). In OPA, she partnered with stakeholders and led improvements in the campus reporting and planning environment.

Pamela received her Master’s degree from the Graduate School of Public Policy and her B.A. in Applied Mathematics both from the UC Berkeley.

Christopher Harrington

Headquartered in UC’s Washington DC Center, Chris Harrington serves as UCOP Associate Director of Federal Government Relations. As the largest public research institution in the world, the University engages in numerous partnerships with federal education, health care and research agencies. Working with Congress, the administration, federal agencies and national organizations, UC-FGR advocates for the university and its missions in education, research and public service. Chris joined the University of California in 2001,  and has found a career in federal governmental relations and communications experience. Prior to joining UC, Chris worked for the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) which was a bipartisan and intergovernmental body of federal and state officials created in July 1990 to assess and report state and national progress toward achieving the National Education Goals. Before joining the NEGP, Chris was a legislative staff member for United States Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico.  While working for Senator Bingaman, Chris focused on a range of issues including education, housing, labor, transportation, and governmental affairs.  Chris received his B.A. in Political Science from Loyola University in Maryland. After completing his studies at Loyola, Chris joined Mercy Corps and spent a year doing full time volunteer service with Native American students in New Mexico.

Peter Hayashida

Peter Hayashida joined UC Riverside in 2009 as Vice Chancellor for University Advancement, a position responsible for enhancing public awareness of UCR's achievements and generating financial resources for the University. He came from UCLA, where he had served as assistant vice chancellor for external affairs and executive director of The UCLA Foundation since 2000.

After earning his bachelor's degree in communication studies at UCLA, Hayashida spent several years employed in private sector finance and marketing. He returned to his alma mater as a student affairs officer in UCLA's College of Letters & Science. He then spent seven years working at the UCLA Alumni Association, ultimately serving as associate executive director for Finance and Administration and chief financial and operating officer before moving to The UCLA Foundation.

Hayashida earned a master of business administration degree from California State University, Northridge. He has served on non-profit boards and committees both for his professional association and in the community.

Howard Heevner

Howard Heevner joined UC Santa Cruz in 2011 and is the Assistant Vice Chancellor of Alumni Engagement at UC Santa Cruz. In this role, Howard manages the campus’ annual giving, alumni council and engagement, special events and advancement services.

Prior to UCSC, Heevner was the director of annual giving at Penn State University where he oversaw annual giving for the 23 campus system and 42 fundraising units. During his tenure he restructured the annual giving chargeback structure, rolled out a new online giving system, reorganized the Annual Giving Office to meet the needs of the university, created a face-to-face high-end annual giving program and improved donor retention and number of alumni donors across the university. Prior to Penn State, Heevner worked in annual giving roles with DePaul University, the University of Michigan and the University of Iowa Foundation.

Robin Holmes-Sullivan

Dr. Robin Holmes-Sullivan recently became the Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of California in the Office of the President. The work of this role is carried out through the following functions: Undergraduate Admissions implements the Regents’ and the Academic Senate’s admission policies and is responsible for the centralized undergraduate application system (ApplyUC) through which over 200,000 students apply for admission annually. Student Financial Support provides critical central support to campus administration of student assistance totaling over $5 billion annually. Student Services and Engagement advises and supports campuses in maintaining positive campus climates that are conducive to student success, diversity, health and wellness, leadership and retention, facilitating student engagement with UC Regents, the UC president and other systemwide administrators.

Prior to starting at UCOP, she worked at the University of Oregon for nearly 25 years — serving for the last 9 years as Vice President for Student Life. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and consults on issues of diversity and multicultural organizational development for higher education institutions and private corporations. She has taught classes and workshops on multiculturalism, multicultural competencies in therapy, multicultural organizational development, cross-cultural dynamics in conflict mediation as well as identity formation and development. Dr. Holmes was the principal investigator of the Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Grant awarded through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. She has research experience and expertise in working with individuals from a variety of backgrounds including race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender. She served as the Special Project Leader overseeing the Cultural Competency Project, an effort to enhance awareness, knowledge and skills for cultural competency in higher education at the professional, academic and organizational levels. She completed an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellowship at UC Berkeley through the Office of the Chancellor in 2007–2008. Dr. Holmes holds a Ph.D. and master’s degree from the California School of Professional Psychology and received her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from California State University, Fullerton.

Kate Klimow

In her role as Associate Vice Chancellor, Public Affairs, Kate provides leadership in developing and implementing programs and strategies to engage community and government leaders in support of campus priorities at the local, state and federal levels for UC Irvine’s teaching, research and public service missions. In addition, she provides oversight to the Special Events and Protocol division in efforts that support the university’s mission and priorities through significant university-wide and community events. In addition to managing the Office of Community & Government Relations and administering the advocacy and community engagement programs for UCI, she works collaboratively with senior administrators at UCI and the University of California Office of the President to maintain UCI’s position as one of the most dynamic campuses in the University of California system. Kate has a broad-based business perspective gained from working within both the public and private sectors throughout her career in public affairs. She began working for an Arizona governor and the Arizona Department of Commerce before moving to California in 1997 to handle community relations for Parsons Corporation, an international engineering and design firm.

Samantha "Sam" Lang

Samantha is the Director of Development for Campus-Initiatives at UC Riverside

Sam Lang joined UC Riverside in March of 2016 as the director of development for campus-wide initiatives overseeing fundraising for student affairs, undergraduate education, the UCR Library, the graduate division, and University Honors. Prior to joining UCR, Sam was a frontline fundraiser at UC San Diego in the Division of Social Sciences. Her non-profit career was sparked by working as a donor relations and marketing associate at Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County, which fast forward seven years, she now serves as a member of the Orange County and Inland Empire BBBS Board. Before discovering the glorious world of university advancement, Sam conducted research in immunology and infectious disease where she helped manage a university research lab and served as a pre-doctoral scholar at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 

Janet Napolitano

Janet Napolitano was named the 20th president of the University of California on July 18,2013, and took office on Sept. 30, 2013. She leads a university system with 10 campuses, five medical centers, three affiliated national laboratories, and a statewide agriculture and natural resources program. The UC system has more than 234,000 students, about 208,000 faculty and staff, more than 1.6 million living alumni and an annual operating budget of more than $24 billion. Napolitano is a distinguished public servant with a record of leading large, complex organizations at the federal and state levels. She served as Secretary of Homeland Security from 2009–13, as Governor of Arizona from 2003–09, as Attorney General of Arizona from 1998–2003, and as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona from 1993–97. Before that, she maintained a private law practice. As the nation’s third Secretary of Homeland Security, Napolitano headed a department comprised of 22 agencies and directorates, and whose missions included counterterrorism, border security, immigration, cybersecurity and disaster response and recovery. The Department supports 12 Centers of Excellence through a consortium of hundreds of universities generating ideas for new security technologies. As Governor of Arizona, Napolitano focused on education, from pre-kindergarten through public higher education. She was the first woman to chair the National Governors Association, and was named one of the nation’s top five governors by Time magazine. Forbes magazine recently named her as one of the 10 most powerful women in the world. A New York City native, Napolitano grew up in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Albuquerque, N.M., where her father was dean of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. She earned a B.A. degree (summa cum laude in Political Science) from Santa Clara University, where she was Phi Beta Kappa, a Truman Scholar and the university’s first female valedictorian. She received her J.D. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Marcela Ramirez

Marcela Ramirez is the 2016-2017 Student Regent. She is a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Riverside in the Higher Education Administration and Policy program through the Graduate School of Education. Ms. Ramirez is currently serving as the graduate student representative on the UC Office of the President LGBT Advisory Committee and was previously a member of the Undocumented Student Task Force at UC Riverside. She also served as the founding director of the Middle Eastern Student Center and as the diversity initiatives coordinator in the Dean of Students Office at UC Riverside. Ms. Ramirez received an M.S. in counseling with an emphasis on Student Development and Higher Education from California State University, Long Beach, and she received her B.A in Economics and French from California State University, Fullerton.

Andy Shaindlin

Andy Shaindlin, Vice President of GG+A, has nearly 28 years of experience in Advancement, Alumni Relations, and Annual Giving in higher education, with expertise in strategic planning, volunteer management, and organizational design for professionals in educational administration.

His extensive experience includes Alumni Relations best practices, strategy, staffing, and trends; Boards and nonprofit governance models; Alumni Relations alignment with fundraising; and digital engagement strategy for alumni.

Most recently, Andy served as Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations & Annual Giving at Carnegie Mellon University. Andy managed Carnegie Mellon’s alumni relations and annual giving programs and guided the growth of its Loyal Scot student and alumni engagement recognition program. Previously, Andy served for more than ten years as Executive Director of the Caltech Alumni Association. He was also Senior Director, Alumni Programs for the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan and its Director of Alumni Education and Travel. He began his advancement career with seven and a half years in Alumni Relations for his alma mater, Brown University.

Andy is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Councils for International Education in Washington, DC. He also serves on the Alumni Advisory Group of Future First Global, based in London, England. Andy holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Brown University and a master’s degree in education from Claremont Graduate University.

Debby Stegura

Stegura, President of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association, has been a longtime active supporter of CAAA, having been a life member of the nonprofit organization since she graduated. The Southern California resident also serves on UC Davis’ University Library Task Force. A first-generation student, she earned bachelor’s degrees with honors in mass communication and political science from UC Davis, then went on to earn a law degree from the University of Southern California. Previously a business litigator in private practice in Los Angeles, she now spends most of her time pursuing her passions — such as issues affecting education and the environment — through impactful volunteer work. She is a publicly elected official on the board of library trustees at the Palos Verdes Library District. She also volunteers on the environmental advisory committee of the City of Rolling Hills Estates and as part of the College Bound program of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Los Angeles Harbor, among others. 

Meredith Turner

Meredith Turner is the Associate Director of Legislative Advocacy and Institutional Relations for the University of California Office of the President, State Government Relations (SGR). Meredith has been with the UC since 2016, working to develop strong advocates among the UC community, parents, alumni, and community leaders, as well as spearheading strategic advocacy campaigns for the state budget, legislation, and university initiatives. In addition, she oversees the advocacy social media channels for SGR. Prior to her role with UC, Meredith served as the chief advocate for the California State Student Association (CSSA) where she worked closely with the CSU Office of Advocacy and State Relations to create and implement the #StandwithCSU campaign, a dynamic, social media driven advocacy campaign that resulted in the CSU receiving its first fully funded budget request in nearly ten years. Leading up to CSSA, Meredith was the Communications Manager for Senator Lou Correa, overseeing media relations and serving as the higher education liaison for his district office in Orange County. Meredith was a CORO Fellow in Los Angeles in 2010. She received her Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her Master of Arts in Public Policy from the University of Southern California.

Kim Wilcox

Kim A. Wilcox was appointed as UC Riverside’s ninth chancellor in August 2013. Since then, he has spurred a new era of growth of the campus, embarking on the expansion of the faculty by 300; development of new facilities for research, teaching, and public service; and a new emphasis on institutional globalization.

Wilcox is a long-time national advocate for increased access to quality higher education, and for the particular role public universities play in the United States. Under his leadership, UC Riverside became a charter member of the University Innovation Alliance, a collaboration of major public research universities in America seeking to improve student graduation rates and outcomes across all socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. Wilcox participated in the 2014 White House College Opportunity Day of Action, at which President Barack Obama recognized the Riverside County Education Collaborative and the participation of UCR and regional school districts in improving the pipeline from K-12 to two- and four-year colleges.

UC Riverside, with nearly 23,000 students, hosts the most diverse student population of any major research university in the nation, and has received acclaim for student outcomes. Wilcox, himself, was a first-generation college-going student, matriculating at Michigan State University, where he earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in Audiology and Speech Sciences. He also holds MS and PhD degrees in Speech and Hearing Sciences from Purdue University.

Prior to UC Riverside, Wilcox served in senior positions at Michigan State University and the University of Kansas, and began his academic career at the University of Missouri.