Key Sessions
Key Session
Caring for 1.5 billion lost children: how universities have helped re-imagine a world-wide recovery from the COVID Pandemic
Donald Bundy | Professor of Epidemiology and Development, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
In January 2020, the global education system had used schools world-wide to establish the most extensive social safety net ever achieved. By April 2020, with the arrival of covid, almost every school in 199 countries had closed, and children suddenly lost not only their access to education and the promise of a future, but also all of their social support mechanisms. This talk will explore what happened next, and how universities world-wide are playing a key role in the global recovery.
Donald Bundy
Donald Bundy has worked for more than 30 years on the role of school health and nutrition programmes in the development of school-age children and adolescents, especially in low-income countries. He is the Director of the Global Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition, and advisor to the World Food Programme in Rome, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation in London, the World Bank in Washington DC, and several national governments.
Before joining LSHTM in 2018 he was Senior Advisor to the Global Health Team of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in Seattle and London. Previously he served for 15 years (1999-2014) at the World Bank in Washington DC, and as Lead Health Specialist focused on the interface between the health and education sectors, and coordinated the Bank’s programme for NTDs and the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control. These policy roles built on his earlier academic career (1979-1999) at the University of Oxford, Imperial College London and the University of the West Indies.
Key Session
Advancing Education Across Boundaries
Panel conversation:
Sue Cunningham | President and CEO, Council for Advancement and Support of Education
Susie Balch | Associate Dean for Advancement, London Business School | Chair, CASE District for United Kingdom and Ireland
Liesl Elder | Chief Development Officer, University of Oxford | Chair, CASE Europe Regional Council
Teppo Heiskanen | Director, Advancement and Corporate Engagement, Aalto University | Chair, CASE District for Northern Europe
Leila Ojjeh | Director Alumni Relations, Ecole Polytechnique Federale - Lausanne (EPFL) | Chair, CASE District for Central, Eastern, Western and Southern Europe
In an era of declining trust in big societal institutions, education is no exception. We know the value of our institutions and yet sometimes their contributions get lost in public conversation. This panel of esteemed institutional leaders will provide insights from their perspectives about how to improve the public’s perception of education. They will share their views on how advancement teams (professionals in marketing, communications, alumni relations and fundraising) can help lead conversations with communities about the value of education and how it transforms lives and society. Hear from a panel of European university leaders with experiences in different continents and contexts toward the same goal: influencing the narrative and public perception of our sector.
This session will provide an opportunity to see the profession of advancement from multiple perspectives across Europe. How is the value of education perceived in different regions? What advancement challenges are similar and what are different? What are opportunities for further understanding and collaboration? What do we need to know about students from different parts of Europe as they become our students and evolve into our alumni? How can we, collectively, advance education to transform lives and society across the region? This session will build your understanding of the environment for education across Europe to enable you to better serve your institution and our sector as a whole.
Hear from a panel of European university leaders from diverse regions and institutions in discussion of how we advance our institutions and education as a vital means of improving all our lives.
Sue Cunningham
Sue Cunningham is President and CEO of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), which supports over 3,000 schools, colleges and universities worldwide in developing their integrated advancement work (alumni relations, communications, fundraising and marketing operations). As CASE President and CEO, Ms. Cunningham provides strategic and operational leadership for one of the largest associations of education-related institutions in the world with members in over 80 countries. She started her leadership role at CASE in March 2015.
While at CASE, Ms. Cunningham has engaged CASE in two strategic planning processes. The first, which engaged thousands of CASE volunteers, resulted in Reimagining CASE: 2017-2021, and created an ambitious framework for serving CASE’s members and championing education worldwide, which included a comprehensive restructure of CASE’s volunteer leadership and governance structure. Building on the strengths of this plan, she led a recalibration exercise that resulted in Championing Advancement: CASE 2022-2027. This Plan articulates a clear strategic intent: that CASE will define the competencies and standards for the profession of advancement, and lead and champion their dissemination and application across the world’s educational institutions.
Among the key initiatives that have developed under her leadership include the redesign and delivery of a new global governance structure. In addition, CASE acquired the Voluntary Support of Education survey and created CASE’s Insights, CASE’s global research and data efforts. CASE published the first global and digital edition of CASE’s Global Reporting Standards and Guidelines, which operate as the industry-leading Standards for the profession, and launched the first global Alumni Engagement survey in addition to annual fundraising surveys. CASE created an ambitious competencies model across all advancement disciplines and a related career journey framework; opened the CASE Opportunities and Inclusion Center which focuses on equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging; and has reinvigorated a global advocacy agenda to communicate the value of education. Ms. Cunningham serves as a Trustee and Secretary for the University of San Diego, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board. She is a member of the Signature Theatre (Arlington, Virginia) Board of Directors, Chairs their Governance Committee, and sits on the Executive Committee. She is a member of the Washington Higher Education Secretariat steering committee, the International Association of University Presidents Executive Committee, and the International Women’s Forum. She has recently been named to the new, US-based Council of Higher Education as a Strategic Asset. She is the author of ‘Global Exchange: Dialogues to Advance Education’.
Prior to her appointment to CASE, Ms. Cunningham served as Vice-Principal for Advancement at the University of Melbourne where she led the Believe campaign resulting in surpassing its original $500 million goal; and the Director of Development for the University of Oxford where she led the development team through the first phase of the largest fundraising campaign outside of the United States (at the time): Oxford Thinking, with a goal of £1.25 billion. She served as Director of Development at Christ Church, Oxford and as Director of External Relations at St. Andrews University.
Before working in education, Ms. Cunningham enjoyed a career in theatre, the arts and the cultural sector. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2012, Ms. Cunningham received the CASE Europe Distinguished Service Award, and has received the coveted CASE Crystal Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. Ms. Cunningham was awarded a master’s degree from the University of Oxford, a bachelor’s degree in performing arts from Middlesex University, and is a graduate of the Columbia University Senior Executive Program.
Susie Balch
Susie is a 33-year Advancement veteran and experienced leader in higher education. Over the course of her career, she led on the development and delivery of organizational strategy, global vision and mission, and the development of institutional ambition to underpin transformation. She has led multiple advancement teams, delivering development and alumni relations programming for academic institutions across multiple countries.
With a proven track record in fundraising, she has been involved in 4 comprehensive campaigns, leading the effort on three, with goals totaling more than $600 million. Susie has extensive experience with cross cultural and global relationship management. Her work has included roles in the US at Harvard, in the UK at London Business School, and currently as the new Associate Vice Chancellor at NYU Abu Dhabi.
Susie is committed to the importance of people and relationships in advancement work and often cites the following quote from G.T. Smith … “Donors don’t give to institutions. They invest in ideas and people in whom they believe.”
Her relationship with CASE started in the early 90’s as an active member of CASE District I. More recently she served as the inaugural Chair of the CASE UK & Ireland Cabinet before moving to Abu Dhabi.
Liesl Elder
Liesl Elder directs the University Development Office, overseeing philanthropic fundraising for the University across the academic divisions, museums and libraries. Her teams work worldwide, including the University’s offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo. She came to Oxford in in 2011 to lead the Oxford Thinking Campaign, managing its relaunch from a £1.25bn to a £3bn campaign, and seeing it though to a successful conclusion last year. The Oxford team won the 2020 CASE Platinum Award for Best Practice in Fundraising.
Liesl has worked in educational fundraising since 1993, beginning her career at the US liberal arts colleges Carleton College and Oberlin College before serving as Campaign Director for Santa Clara University in California. She moved to the UK in 2004 to become Director of Development and Communications at Durham University, followed by a few years in Scotland as Director of Development at the University of Edinburgh.
Teppo Heiskanen
Teppo is the director for advancement and corporate engagement at Aalto University in Finland. The integrated advancement office at Aalto includes corporate relations, donor engagement, alumni engagement, career and recruitment services, as well as CRM development and analytics.
Before joining Aalto in 2016, Teppo was an independent consultant in fundraising and international cooperation for five years, supporting Finnish universities in the governmental matching funding campaign of 2015-2017. From 2003 to 2011, he worked for the Nordic Council of Ministers in Lithuania and Denmark in governmental relations and organizing the international support for the European Humanities University, the Belarusian university-in-exile in Lithuania.
He started his career in higher education management at the University of Helsinki in the 1990s in International Relations. He also has experience in Media and Communications, and he has written 6 travel guidebooks.
Leila Ojjeh
Leila is the Director of Alumni Relations at EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland, coming back to her Alma Mater in 2017 to manage a thriving global community of over 40’000 engineers and architects.
After graduating in chemical engineering from EPFL in 1994, she started her career in marketing with L’Oréal, successfully launching the L’Oréal Make up brand then taking on the Marketing Director role for Lancôme in Switzerland.
After her MBA at INSEAD in 2001, she joined Firmenich, a leading flavor & fragrance company. There, she took on different regional and global roles in innovation and business development, leading cross-functional teams, global categories and innovation portfolios in food and natural ingredients.
During her MBA at INSEAD, she realized the importance and the power of networks and engaged as a volunteer in the Swiss Alumni Association where she became Regional President. This experience inspired her to transition to the Higher Education sector to bring impact and contribute to making Alumni Relations and Advancement a priority within her Alma Mater.
CASE has been an incredible source of support and encounters in this chapter of her life and the reason to engage as a volunteer. She is now the Chair of the Continental Europe District on a mission to support CASE grow its impact in this high-growth region.
Key Session
Opportunities and challenges in reputation management: Where does Higher Education go from here?
Paul Andrew | Vice President for Public Affairs and Communications, Harvard University
As universities and colleges emerge from a global pandemic to resume more normal operations, they do so in a context of challenges and opportunities. What is the role of public affairs, communications, and engagement with external audiences in shaping this next vital chapter for institutions? What do we hold onto from the pandemic era, and what do we look to build upon? Where do we go from here to renew and reinvigorate our relationships with the public and key stakeholders?
Paul Andrew
Paul Andrew is Vice President for Public Affairs and Communications at Harvard University, overseeing the University’s core external communications functions and The Harvard Gazette, as well as regulatory and community engagement efforts in Boston and Cambridge, and Harvard’s relationships with federal, state, and local policy makers and stakeholders.
As Vice President, Andrew has developed and implemented coordinated communications and advocacy strategies for key University priorities and initiatives, including campaigns on the arts and humanities, public service, voting and citizenship, COVID and public health, and race and inequality. He has developed communications strategies for Harvard initiatives around the world, including in Europe, Asia and Americas. He also serves as an adviser to the President, Provost, and other University leaders.
Prior to joining Harvard, Andrew was Executive Vice President and chief growth officer at Weber Shandwick in Boston, a leading global strategic communications consultancy, where he advised governments, non-profits, trade organizations, and companies around the world.
A native of the United Kingdom, Andrew served as an adviser to Gordon Brown, then Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, and as director of communications for the European Parliamentary Labour Party in Brussels. He has extensive experience in international affairs, having led communications strategies for the National Democratic Institute; the Caribbean Community; and the UN-supported International Trade Center in Geneva. He has also advised governments and leaders in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa on communications and message development.
Andrew began his career as a reporter and has been a frequent commentator for the BBC, CNN, and Fox on politics and international affairs. He has presented on communications, reputation management, message development, and crisis strategy for a wide range of organizations including CASE Europe, Times Higher Education, and the Building Universities Reputation International Conference at the Universidad de Navarra in Spain. He serves on the board of Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries of Massachusetts and previously served as a member of the Executive Committee of HUBWeek.