James Allan has been named assistant vice president for Alumni Relations and executive director of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association. He'll begin his new role Nov. 18.
"Allan served most recently as the vice president of advancement at the University of Calgary, where he led an integrated approach to university communications, fundraising, alumni relations, and community partnerships," said Fritz Schroeder, JHU's senior vice president for development and alumni relations.
Image caption: James Allan
"With nearly two decades of experience in alumni relations and development, James is a champion of creating meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships between universities and their communities," Schroeder wrote in an email to Alumni Relations staff announcing Allan's appointment.
Mary Ann Dickson, A&S '97, president of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association, said Allan's extensive international experience will bring an invaluable global perspective to enrich the alumni experience.
"The Alumni Association is thrilled to welcome James Allan as the assistant vice president of Alumni Relations," Dickson said. "His leadership, vision, and deep commitment to fostering meaningful connections will undoubtedly enhance our alumni community and strengthen the ties that bind us to Johns Hopkins. We look forward to working together to create exciting opportunities for our alumni and to advancing the legacy of our institution in new and innovative ways."
Allan led a significant renewal of alumni relations activities at York University in Toronto, including the creation of the York Circle outreach program to provide community members with access to the ideas and research generated by the university, while working with leadership volunteers and building up the university's international alumni engagement activities.
At the University of Melbourne, Allan managed the alumni engagement aspects of Believe, the first university campaign in Australia to set an alumni engagement goal alongside its philanthropic goal, successfully engaging more than 100,000 alumni. He also oversaw the expansion of the university's student-alumni mentoring programs to create the largest mentoring system at any university in Australia, with more than 15,000 students and alumni participating.
During his time at the University of Calgary, Allan oversaw the creation and implementation of the university's major brand and reputational activities, events, and programming that engaged more than 35,000 alumni and community members each year, as well as the university's philanthropic endeavours, which annually raised more than $150 million to support the university's mission.
"When thinking about transformation, I am fascinated by the power of big ideas and diverse groups of people to create change, by the ability of teams to come together around a meaningful goal to make something truly remarkable happen," Allan says in his professional biography. "I am a passionate believer in the importance of collaboration, creativity, and diversity: If you're going to do something important and do it well, you need to think about it from as many different angles as possible."
Allan holds a PhD in communications from the University of Massachusetts, an MA in communications from McGill University, and a BA in English and history from the University of Toronto.
Posted in University News, Alumni
