Achievement & Recognition Award Winners

2010 Award Winner Biographies

Rising Star Award: The Rising Star Award recognizes the accomplishments of new advancement professionals (3-5 years) whose early success promises future leadership and achievement.

Presented To: Stephen Muzrall, Special Gifts Officer at Stonehill College, and Rose Wangechi, Alumni Officer, Student Programs, Concordia University

Stephen Muzrall

Stephen Muzrall has served as Special Gifts Officer at Stonehill College since the fall of 2006. While at Stonehill, Muzrall has coordinated the College’s first Community Campaign, which has seen a tremendous participation rate and has raised nearly $400,000 for the school’s $55 million capital campaign, Attaining the Summit. He has also overseen naming opportunities within the school’s new Shields Science Center and has managed a large portfolio of prospects.

Prior to his arrival at Stonehill, Muzrall served as an associate at the nonprofit consulting firm Development Guild/DDI in Brookline from 2004-2006 working on numerous executive search and strategic planning projects. Muzrall also worked for the Massachusetts Committee on Energy at the State House and the New Hampshire Democratic Party after graduating from Providence College.

Rose Wangechi

Rose arrived in Canada in January 2002 from her native Nairobi, Kenya, to study at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business, where she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance. Prior to this, she received an Advanced Diploma in Economics from Islamia Karimia College, Bhopal, India.

Throughout her studies, Rose worked part-time as a student Fundraiser in Concordia’s Advancement and Alumni Relations Office while volunteering as Orientation Leader at Concordia’s International Students Office. In September 2006 she was hired as an Alumni Officer in charge of Student Programs. Rose has since launched and maintained innovative career development and networking programs aimed at promoting alumni awareness to current students such as Backpack-to-Briefcase workshops, Concordia’s Dinner for Eight Program, Coffee Study Breaks, Mentor Program Speed Networking Event, and the popular International Students Holiday Party for Concordia students who can’t go home during the holiday season. These events attract thousands of participants annually and forge long-lasting relationships with students, alumni and faculties at Concordia.

Rose has also spearheaded fundraising efforts having collaborated with friends and the Advancement and Alumni Relations Office to establish a $12,000 endowment fund in 2009 to benefit international students at Concordia. She also serves as Treasurer of the Kenyan Association in Quebec (KAQ) Her passions include travelling and reading motivational books. She plans to pursue MA in Organizational Development next year.

The Quarter Century Circle Award: Honors those who have completed 25 years of service for non-profit organizations in the professions encompassed by CASE.

Presented to: Robert M. Beagle, Vice President, Advancement, University of Rhode Island, Michael T. MacNeil, Director of Institutional Advancement, St. Mary’s High School, Kevin M.R. Mayne, Senior Vice President, Mitchell College, Ronald D. Vanden Dorpel, Sr. Vice President of Advancement, Brown University, Linda Welter, Vice President for Advancement, Wheelock College, and Nick Zaharias, Director of Development, Cushing Academy.

Robert Beagle began his Advancement career in 1979 as an Executive Assistant to the President responsible for legislative affairs and public relations. He has served as Vice President at Edinboro University (PA) and Vice Chancellor for the Minnesota State University System, having established the Advancement program in both organizations. Since 1991, he has been Advancement Vice President at the University of Rhode Island. Currently, he is also serving as URI’s Presidential Transition Officer.

During his career, Bob has led six fundraising campaigns (endowment and building) plus three marketing campaigns. The University of Rhode Island is presently in the midst of a five year “Think Big. We Do.” branding initiative, being carried out through the Advancement Division’s Communications and Marketing Department. He also focuses on alumni communications and alumni programming, believing that connected alumni are at the heart of everything else we do in institutional advancement.

Bob has been a contributor to numerous CASE books and articles. He has spoken at CASE district and national conferences, served as a CASE faculty member, and chaired a national conference on the relationships between athletic fundraising and overall advancement. His chief professional interest is building integrated advancement models.

Bob is an Adjunct faculty member in Communication Studies at URI, where he enjoys teaching Organizational Communication. He is a contributing author to several textbooks in debate and in communication. In 1976, he received the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Distinguished Teaching Chair.

Mike is Director of Institutional Advancement at St. Mary’s High School. A native of Somerville, Massachusetts, Mike MacNeil is a graduate of St. Clement High School in Somerville, and Boston College, Carroll School of Business with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

He also attended the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where he earned M.Ed. degrees in Urban Studies and Counseling. After beginning his career as a high school guidance counselor, for the past twenty-five years Mike has a demonstrated record of success in leading both collegiate and secondary school advancement programs. Prior to arriving at to St. Mary's, Lynn, in September, 2006, Mike had led the advancement programs at Trinity High School in Manchester, NH, and Austin Preparatory School in Reading, MA. Subsequently, he served as Director of Annual Giving at Merrimack College, North Andover, MA, and Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. He later served as Associate Director of Development and Director of Leadership Gifts at St. A's. He has also served as Director of Development for Major Gifts at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. He also directed the advancement programs at Southern New Hampshire University as Vice President for Institutional Advancement.

Mike is a member of the board of directors, and one of the founding members of the Association of Admissions and Advancement Catholic Professionals (ACAAP), formerly known as NEACDO. He and his wife, Patricia, have five children and reside in Londonderry, New Hampshire.

Kevin is Senior Vice President at Mitchell College in New London, CT. He has been at Mitchell for 14 years and oversees the areas of Admissions, Financial Aid, Public Relations and Advancement. Under his leadership, enrollment at Mitchell has increased by 70%. As a result of his commitment to working with at-risk students, he created Mitchell’s innovative PG Year program, Thames Academy.

Kevin has been in the field of higher education for 28 years, having previously served as Dean of Admissions/Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Green Mountain College. He earned both his B.A. and M.B.A. from Anna Maria College. In addition he has completed advanced graduate studies in management, leadership & curriculum design.

The winner of numerous national awards for his work in publications design and advertising, Kevin is also a frequent guest lecturer in the areas of institutional branding, learning disabilities and developmental education.

Ron assumed the senior vice presidency at Brown University in August 2002 after 15 years as vice president for university development and alumni relations at Northwestern University.

During his tenure at Northwestern, he planned and implemented the institution's highly successful $1.56 billion comprehensive campaign (1997–2002), which raised over $700 million in gifts for the endowment and over $390 million in gifts for new construction and renovations. In 1987, Ron established a principal gifts program for donors of $5 million and above that raised more than $800 million from 66 gifts. He also developed a planned giving program that placed Northwestern among the top three universities in the country in life income assets. Prior to his appointment at Northwestern, Ron served in senior development positions at Yale (from 1983 to 1987) and at Brown (1979 to 1983).

He holds degrees from Ohio State University and Brown University. He served as a regular officer in the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1971 to 1976, and continued in the USAF Reserve until his retirement as colonel in 1993.

Linda Allaire Welter

Linda serves as Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Wheelock College. She joined Wheelock’s advancement team in 2004 because she was drawn to the mission of the College, which is to improve the lives of children and families, and to the opportunity to work with the College’s newly-appointed President Jackie Jenkins-Scott. During her tenure at Wheelock, Linda’s leadership and collaborative work with the College’s president, trustees, alumni and staff have resulted in a doubling of the annual fund, completion of a new Campus Center and Student Residence building, and creation of the Passion for Action Leadership Dinner, a major fundraising event for Wheelock scholarships. Currently, Linda is developing the planning phase of a capital campaign that will coincide with the 125th anniversary of Wheelock College in 2013.

Linda’s commitment to children and families has always been a part of her volunteer work. While serving on the Women in Development Board in Boston, she started the City Service Project and Young Philanthropist Award. Working with the late Sister Jeanette Normandin and colleagues from Wellesley College, she helped to raise the “seed money” for the RUAH House in Somerville, a home for homeless women living with HIV Aids. While living in Philadelphia, she joined the board of the Linda Creed Breast Cancer Foundation and developed an outreach program to help underserved populations in the city receive diagnostics and treatment for breast cancer.

Linda received a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from Drew University and an M.B.A. from Boston College. Her career began at Harvard University in 1979 during the FAS Campaign for $350 million. She has led successful campaigns at Wellesley College, U.C. Berkeley, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Nicholas S. Zaharias

Nick is the Director of Development at Cushing Academy. His advancement career began in 1983 while an undergraduate at the University of Connecticut. Under the mentorship of then CASE District 1 leaders Roger Thalacker and Donald “Dee” Rowe, Nick (and his future wife Patty) initiated the UConn Student Alumni Association, where he served as Vice President and President. After seven additional professional years at UConn, Nick took a number of other advancement programs to new levels.

Nick has lead campaigns and teams at UConn, University of Hartford, Choate Rosemary Hall, Eastern Connecticut State University, Tilton School and Cushing Academy. Nick credits his success to the network of colleagues and friends throughout District I. Nick resides with his wife Patty in Washington, New Hampshire where he enjoys bass fishing, snowmobiling, kayaking and coaching soccer. Their son Stephen is a junior at Colby College, and is a double major and a member of the varsity soccer team.

The Eleanor Collier Award: This award recognizes a current member of CASE District I whose contribution to his/her organization and/or to the professions encompassed by the membership reflect honor on CASE, education, and those fields of professional expertise.

Presented To: Honora Shaughnessy, Senior Executive Director, Alumni Relations, McGill University

Honora Shaughnessy

Honora Shaughnessy, who has worked at McGill University since 1978, assumed her current role in alumni relations in 1996 when she accepted a daunting task – to blend the fundraising and alumni relations functions into a harmonious whole. She has succeeded brilliantly, creating one of the most integrated and efficient alumni/development offices in Canada. Honora serves on the University Senate and a number of McGill committees dealing with issues ranging from athletics to admissions, pay equity and race relations.

She has been active in national and international professional organizations, including the Council of Alumni Association Executives, the Executive of Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada, CASE District I, and the CASE Commission on Alumni Relations. She was also Chair of the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE) Meloche Monnex Fellowships Selection Committee. In 2004, Honora was presented with the CCAE Outstanding Achievement Award.

The Carol and Stephen Hebert Award: This award recognizes distinguished service to CASE District I and is presented to a member who has exhibited an extraordinary devotion of time and energy to District I affairs.

Presented To: Kristina Lentz, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, Massachusetts School for Professional Psychology

Kristina Lentz

Kristina Lentz is a development professional with 15 years of major gifts fundraising experience in higher education. She has held positions of increasing responsibility at Colby College, The University of Maine, The University of Connecticut School of Law, Harvard Medical School and presently at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology. Kristina began her development career at UMass Amherst in the Annual Fund and helped to launch “Campaign UMass: To Dream, To Lead, To Act” the first-ever comprehensive campaign in the University’s history.

The main focus of Kristina’s career has been major gifts work. Her experience has included annual fund and major gift fundraising, campaign planning and kick-offs, campaign celebrations and post-campaign planning, focused mini-campaigns, and board organization and leadership. Kristina lectures widely on major gift relationship-building and major gift performance metrics at organizations such as the Association for Fundraising Professionals, Women in Development of Western Massachusetts, and CASE, The Council for Advancement and Support of Education where she also serves on the board. It is with pride that Kristina received two degrees from UMass, both in History. She currently resides in Jamaica Plain in the company of her two cats, Zeus and Lucy.

Distinguished Friend of Education Award: Presented to a volunteer who has made outstanding contributions to education in District I. The award honors an individual whose extraordinary leadership has influenced an institution’s cause or the cause of education in general.

Presented To: Brit d’Arbeloff, Chair, Council for the Arts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Brit J. d'Arbeloff

Brit J. d'Arbeloff was the first woman to graduate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University in 1957. She was first in her engineering class, with great distinction; elected to Phi Beta Kappa; and awarded a Women's Bent from Tau Beta Pi. Returning to Chicago, she worked at Cook Research on the Redstone Missile nose-cone-recovery package. She received a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 1961 while working full time for Northern Research and Engineering in Cambridge, MA. During this period, she analyzed heating and cooling requirements for high speed air craft, moon launches, and space travel. Witty, provocative, and uncompromising in her presentations, she has often talked to student and alumni groups about the challenges she faced as a woman studying engineering and trying to find employment in her field.

From 1964 to 1974, she raised four children and was active in volunteer activities. Returning to engineering, she was a programmer and systems analyst, specializing in manufacturing software. She worked for a year for Minico, nine years for Teradyne, and a year for Digital Equipment. In 1985, Brit and her late husband, Alexander d’Arbeloff, became part-owners of a fashionable women's clothing store, Charles Sumner. She served as Vice President and Treasurer of the store for five years. She retired in 1990 and wrote several unpublished novels and plays.

From 1996 to 2003, her late husband Alex became Chairman of the Corporation for MIT. Since then, most of her time has been involved with MIT, although she is connected to several other organizations. She is a member of the MIT Corporation, an enthusiastic leader of MIT’s Council for the Arts, a member of two corporation visiting committees – Social Sciences and Linguistics and Philosophy, a member of the Corporation Development Committee, and as a Bronze Beaver Winner (the highest award bestowed by MIT) she is a member of the Awards Committee. She has six grandchildren and a large extended family.

The Chief Executive Leadership Award: Honors institutional leaders for outstanding contributions to their campus communities, for efforts promoting public understanding of education, and for support of advancement at their campuses.

Presented To: Bruce Shaw, Director, Shady Hill School

Bruce Shaw

Bruce Shaw has devoted a forty-three year career to teaching and administering in independent schools.

More than half of that has been at Shady Hill School in Cambridge, MA, where he taught English and history and then headed its upper division for a number of years. He left to become the Head of Marin Academy, near San Francisco, for ten years, but returned to Shady Hill in 1994 to be the school’s Director.

He has published essays about issues facing schools in Education Week and Independent School magazine, and has served on numerous school and association boards. Most recently, he chaired the board of the National Association of Independent Schools, which serves independent schools in the U.S. and abroad. His wife, Sandy, and their son, Chris, are both artists, and their daughter, Lindsey, is an independent school teacher.

View a list of past winners