Leah DeCosta was appointed associate vice president for alumni relations at Boston College in the summer of 2018. She spent the previous year as director of alumni relations at the New York University Stern School of Business, serving an alumni population of 110,000 members.  Only eight months into her tenure, DeCosta was nominated for NYU’s annual Give-a-Violet Award, which identifies a staff member or administrator who “has gone above and beyond the scope of their position and demonstrated specific values and competencies at an exceptional level in the performance of their everyday responsibilities.”

From 2004 to 2017—with the exception of a two-year gap, when she was director of programs for the Special Olympics of New York Capital & North Country Region—DeCosta worked in various capacities at Boston College, most recently as director of alumni affinity and chapter programs in University Advancement from 2016-17.

DeCosta’s other positions in University Advancement were senior associate director for alumni affinity programs and associate director for alumni classes. From 2012-13, she served as associate director for event operations in BC Athletics. In her earlier stint at BC, she was Athletics’ assistant director for sports marketing from 2007-10 and event administrator in Athletics’ Event Operations from 2004-07.

While at BC, DeCosta has been involved in the Benjamin E. Mays Mentoring Program and the Affiliates Leadership Development Program. She also has participated in the NCAA Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Females, CASE Summer Institute ACC Alumni Association Directors Conference, and the Association of Business School Alumni Professionals.