“Mo,” as she is called by family, friends, and colleagues is the senior vice president for stakeholder engagement and chief of organizational operations (SVP-COO), with responsibility for driving operational and capital campaign strategy, overseeing key administrative functions, and guiding a culture of inclusivity for the UConn Foundation. Mo oversees the departments of alumni relations, marketing and communications, annual giving, stewardship, and board engagement.

Mo was recruited to join the UConn Alumni Association as the Executive Director and Assistant Vice President for alumni relations in 2014. Mo brought with her a national reputation for strong leadership built over two decades in higher education advancement. Mo is known for her ability to lead across departments while building collaborative relationships to enhance the experiences of staff, students, alumni, and friends.

Mo believes that mentorship and sponsorship of not only her staff and colleagues but also those from other institutions is incredibly important. She gives of her time and talent as much as she can and is currently an active member of the Case Board of Trustees. She has been on the faculty for the Case Minority Institute (MAI), Senior Alumni Relations Institute and was a member of the 2018 Case Summit planning committee.

Previously she was executive director of Bowling Green State University’s Alumni Association. Mo received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from BGSU.

Mo has more than 26 years of experience with higher education institutions in the university advancement field where she has developed exemplary leadership, created strategic plans, cultivated organizational change, and is known nationally as a leader in the industry.

Edgar Gonzalez is an experienced and proven leader, team-builder, and collaborator with almost 20 years of experience in higher education advancement and program development.  He currently serves as Vice President of University Advancement at Seattle University.  Prior to joining Seattle University, Edgar held leadership roles at Oregon Health and Science University, the University of Washington, and the Alliance for Education.

A native of Argentina, Edgar and his family emigrated to the US when he was 9 years old in pursuit of the American dream.  After earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington, he has dedicated his entire career to working in higher education and ensuring that everyone has access.  Edgar is passionate about the positive impact philanthropy can have on the institutions, communities, and individuals he is fortunate to serve. His career has always been focused on building institutional capacity through cultivating deep relationships, transformative philanthropy, leadership development and impactful storytelling.

Benjamin R. Fiore-Walker, Ph.D. (He/Him) is originally from Southampton, PA in suburban Philadelphia. Ben received a Ph.D. in neuroscience (psychobiology) from the University of Virginia, and has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA. His research area of focus was in the development of brain circuitry as they relate to epilepsy and autism.

Ben comes to his position as the senior director for the Opportunity and Inclusion Center (OIC) after close to 25 years working in the diversity space. Before coming to CASE, Ben was the manager of the Office of Diversity Programs at the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Washington, DC, where he had a broad mandate to develop strategies to build out relationships and initiatives from across the society in order to help ACS live into its core value of diversity, equity, inclusion and respect.   Before ACS, he served as a senior managing director for diversity and inclusion at Teach for America (TFA), where he was responsible for devising and quantifying diversity metrics for TFA for the development of initiatives to diversity staff and corps member populations. Prior to TFA, he spent 19 years at the Georgetown University School of Medicine where he was the Associate Dean for Diversity & Inclusion. This work has taken Ben into many elementary and middle schools in underserved areas of the D.C. metro region, where he uses neuroscience to get kids excited about STEM fields and higher education.

Ben has written on and studied diversity climate in higher education and the workplace and is a firm believer that diversity & inclusion matters.  Ben believes that even though heterogeneity is the key ingredient to success—with diverse teams being more productive and creative than non-diverse teams, it’s all for not if the members of those diverse teams don’t feel their differences are celebrated or valued.  We need both, diversity and inclusion to reach our full potential.

Michael Reza is an established leader that believes higher education can transform the lives of individuals, communities, and society. This belief drives his passion for the work that we do as Advancement professionals. Michael currently serves as the Associate Vice President, Portland Development & Alumni Engagement at the University of Oregon. He leads the Portland, OR regional advancement strategy and serves on the UO Advancement senior leadership team. Portland is home to the largest concentration of UO donors and alumni, as well as a regional UO Portland campus. He works closely with academic leadership, maintains a portfolio of donor prospects, and takes a prominent role in representing the university in the Portland community.

Michael has more than 19 years of experience in higher education advancement at large public and small private institutions. Prior to the UO, he served as Vice President for Advancement at George Fox University where he led a team that included development, alumni relations and grants. While there, GFU doubled their fundraising in three years and launched a campaign. Michael has experience in advancement from his time in progressive roles at the University of Arizona, UC Irvine and Oregon State University. He is an active volunteer with CASE and completed his term as Chair of CASE District VIII in June 2022.

Morrel Wax is dedicated to non-profit fundraising and entrepreneurship, believing private donor generosity and business development can transform individual lives and benefit the community and country.

Morrel serves as the Vice President of Philanthropy and Stakeholder Relations at the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation (RAHF) (the province's most prominent hospital) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  There, he leads the team that helped the organization reach historical achievement three years in a row ($22 million per year) during the organization's most challenging time, the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, he oversees the fund development strategy with internal and external stakeholders, is responsible for case development for the various centers of excellence, and manages a team of 13 and counting.  On top of that, he has a thriving client appreciation business called Moments By Morrel. Moments by Morrel helps his clients say "thank you" to their clients through personalized, curated experiences. Examples could be anything from gifts to retention strategies to events.

In recognition of his leadership and successful partnerships with donors and business development, Morrel has received several prestigious awards, including Edify Magazine 40 Under 40 (Class of 2022), the 2018 CASE Diversity and Inclusion Scholar, and the Association of Hospital Philanthropy 2022 40 Under 40 winner. He uses these recognitions to advocate for resilient populations and invest in the local community, yelling loudly for Edmonton any chance he gets. 

Before moving to Canada seven years ago, Morrel held a few corporate/foundation relations positions and academic advising positions at Miami University in Ohio. There, he began his journey as an official entrepreneur managing the busiest bar/lounge in the city. 

Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, he has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska and was an active student leader in various organizations; Morrel also earned a Master's degree in College Student Personnel Administration from the University of Central Missouri in 2011.

Morrel loves traveling, karaoke, and trying local restaurants in between going to comedy shows and concerts. He gives countless hours to volunteering and mentoring youth and young professionals interested in non-profit work.