Meet the Faculty
Chair
Molly Southwood
Molly Southwood has over fifteen years' experience in the sector. Since 2009 she has headed the engagement team at the University of Bath, with a remit which currently includes communications, events, volunteering, regular giving, and development services.
In 2015 she oversaw the successful re-launch of the ‘Bath Connection' e-networking platform and also leads on the University's Gold Scholarship Alumni Mentor Programme. Her team delivers around 90 events each year and manages a network of around 4,000 volunteers, in the UK and around the world.
Molly received a BA from Skidmore College in the USA and an MA from the University of Warwick. She is a member of the British Council's Alumni Advisory Group.
Faculty
Anita Irving
Anita’s 19-year career in advancement began at the University of Aberdeen as a student caller. Upon graduating, Anita joined the Development team at Aberdeen during their £150 million Capital Campaign, with responsibility for the regular giving programme.
In 2010 Anita left her role as Head of Annual Giving and joined the University of Salford as Alumni Relations and Regular Giving Manager, where she was responsible for implementing the alumni relations strategy and moving the telephone campaign in-house.
In January 2014 Anita joined the University of Liverpool as Head of Alumni and Supporter Relations, before being promoted in 2019 to her current role of Associate Director of Alumni Engagement & Regular Giving leading the alumni engagement and regular giving strategy for the University's 222,000 global alumni community.
Ross Munnelly
Ross Munnelly was appointed the first Director of Alumni Relations at Dublin City University in July 2017. Over a 18 year period, Ross has worked in a number of roles at the university including Student Recruitment, the Careers Service and Head of Sports Development. He now manages the domestic and international engagement programme for over 110,000 Alumni worldwide.
He is a four time graduate of DCU, some of his qualifications include an MSc in Education and Training (e-Learning), Graduate Diploma in Guidance and Counseling and most recently the Executive MBA (2020).
Thanks to so many loyal volunteers and strategic collaborations, engagement programmes at DCU have received two awards from the Learning and Development Institute of Ireland in recent years. The awards were for the Graduate to Student Mentorship Programme (2018) and the Emerging Leaders Programme (2024).
In addition to his role leading the Alumni Service at DCU, Ross served the university as Acting Joint Head of Student Recruitment at DCU from 2020-2022 and held the position of National Secretary for the Irish Guidance Counselors Association from 2021-2023.
Ross has been a volunteer with the CASE Alumni Relations Institute since 2021.
Mehrnoosh Rayner
Mehrnoosh Rayner is Head of Alumni Relations at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) - an intergovernmental life science institute located across six sites in Europe and supported by more than 27 countries including the UK.
She has developed and grown EMBL Alumni Relations in the last 19 years from a project to a programme that plays a central, strategic role in the delivery of EMBL’s mission to support life sciences in Europe and beyond. She has also helped newer life science institutes establish their own Alumni Relations programmes - an area she is eager to grow.
Mehrnoosh has worked in higher education for over 25 years, managing stakeholder relations, building programmes and overseeing conferences, events, publications and data.
Prior to joining EMBL, Mehrnoosh worked at the University of Edinburgh, where she graduated with an MA Honours degree and was later awarded a PhD.
Mehrnoosh is a member of CASE Europe Council.