Meet the University’s Alumni Board

Since early 2020, the University of Rochester’s Alumni Board has been deeply committed to identifying ways to support students and the alumni community during the pandemic. Representing all of the University’s schools and the College, this diverse group of 22 alumni is keenly interested in issues such as career placement and professional development and identifying opportunities to create a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive University community.

Formed in 2017, the Alumni Board provides insights, guidance, and expert counsel to the University’s Office of Alumni Relations and Constituent Engagement. The group helps develop programs and offer services that demonstrate the benefits of maintaining a relationship with the University after graduation. During the University’s Together for Rochester one-year engagement and fundraising campaign, the Alumni Board formed several workgroups dedicated to equity and access, career programs and placement, and overall alumni engagement.

The voice of all alumni

Lizette Pérez-Deisboeck ’87

Lizette Pérez-Deisboeck ’87—a University trustee; volunteer and donor; and general counsel for Battery Ventures, a venture capital and private equity firm—is the Alumni Board’s chair. She leads the group with recently appointed vice chairs, Mark Goldstein ’78, retired CEO of Actuant Corporation, and Adam Konowe ’90, senior vice president at Edelman and an adjunct communications professor at American University.

“The board’s goal is to be the voice for all of our alumni,” says Pérez-Deisboeck. “We want to amplify alumni concerns and respond to their interests. We are well-positioned to do this as our members come from all of the University’s schools and represent a span of ages, races, and affinity-groups, as well as a cross-section of geographic regions.”

Pérez-Deisboeck adds, “We may hold different types of degrees and have very different lives and career paths, but we share a commitment the University’s mission—to make the world better. That’s what connects us all.” She acknowledges that everyone’s experience at the University is unique.

“We have more than 120,000 alumni around the world, and many have had very positive experiences as students. But we also recognize that not everyone did,” she says. “We want alumni today to help us come up with strategies and ideas that will help the University best serve future generations.”

Helping students and alumni thrive

Mark Goldstein ’78

Each Alumni Board member says the University played a key role in their growth and development. “The University provided me with a great education, lifelong friendships, and a solid network,” says Goldstein, who benefited from a scholarship as an undergraduate student. “I get great personal satisfaction paying it forward and helping current and recent graduates and other alumni make the most of what the University can still offer them, including access to a large network of people who share the common experience of having earned a degree from this institution.”

Goldstein elaborates on ways alumni can get involved throughout their lifetime. “We want alumni everywhere to look to the University to further their education and learning, to mentor and network, to get or give career advice, and to share their skills and experience. As a working board, we are diligent about rolling up our sleeves and finding ways that students and alumni—now and in the future—can thrive.”

Goldstein’s hired more than a dozen College and Simon graduates over the years. He’s also been an active mentor and participant in The Meliora Collective and serves on the Boston Network Leadership Council. A few years ago, he and his wife, Jill Goldstein ’79N, established a scholarship through the David T. Kearns Center.

We can be a force-multiplier

Adam Konowe ’90

Konowe is similarly passionate about the University. Being a vice chair of the Alumni Board is a natural progression for him, as he’s also the co-chair for the Washington, D.C. Network Leadership Council and he’s been volunteering with the University since he was a first-year student host for prospective students. Staying engaged with the University runs in the family, too. His daughter, Celia, is a 2021 graduate pursuing a Take Five program this year.

Konowe notes that alumni tend to stay connected with the University right after they graduate, then life sweeps them away until they are at late career or retirement age, when they often re-engage. He says, “It’s important for us to think about people in various life stages to identify where they see value in terms of University programming and services.” For instance, people in their 80s will have different interests than someone who just graduated and is launching their career. The Alumni Board and its engagement, communications, career, and equity, diversity and inclusivity working groups are delving into this.

“We can be a force multiplier,” Konowe adds. The Alumni Board did just this in partnership with the Greene Center. They helped a group of 2020 graduates who were struggling to find jobs a year after commencement. Alumni Board members mentored them, connected them to their personal and professional networks, and helped them find positions in careers where they are now flourishing.

Get involved, stay connected

Pérez-Deisboeck, Goldstein, and Konowe encourage alumni at all stages of life to get involved and stay connected to the University. “This doesn’t always mean coming back to campus and taking a nostalgic walk through the Eastman Quad, as enjoyable as that might be,” says Konowe. “It’s really about doing the right thing for our alumni. As we’ve seen during the pandemic, we know how to do this, and we engage with each other via Zoom. When the time is right, we can connect in person.”

Pérez-Deisboeck, a native of Puerto Rico, is especially interested in connecting with alumni who don’t reside in the big cities where the greatest concentration of alumni now lives and work. “I want to find them—be they in Wichita or New Orleans or overseas—wherever they are to hear what they want from their alma mater,” she says. “I want to know when their kids are looking at colleges will they consider Rochester. I would also like to know if they are interested in being mentors or whether they need mentors for themselves. And I want to better understand how we can add value to their lives. There is so much we can do together, no matter where we are.”

Read about the Alumni Board in the winter 2022 issue of Rochester Review.