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Sept. 8, 2006 • Volume 15 Number 1
Feudo Takes Reins As Associate VP for Alumni Relations
By Reid Oslin
Staff Writer
John Feudo '82, an alumni relations professional for the past 18 years, was named associate vice president for alumni relations at Boston College this summer. Feudo, who has been executive director of the University of Connecticut Alumni Association since 1999, assumed his duties as head of Boston College's 140,000-member alumni organization on Aug. 7.
"We are very pleased to welcome John back to Boston College," said Vice President for University Advancement Jim Husson. "As a leader in the alumni relations profession and a member of the BC family, John brings unique experience and perspective to this important role."
Feudo said, "Boston College is a great institution with passionate alumni and friends and supporters. I see the job of the alumni program to keep all of these people connected to Boston College, to reengage those who somehow haven't been as involved and to communicate with all of them the great things that are happening at the University."
Feudo, who grew up in the Boston suburb of Everett, knew at an early age that he wanted to attend Boston College. "I started coming to BC when I was about 10 years old," he says. "My brother Peter was a student and a member of the BC Band. [Former Band director] Peter Siragusa used to let me sit in the stands with the band at Alumni Stadium and play along. It was at that point that I said to myself, ėThis is where I am going to be eight years from now.'"
Enrolling at Boston College, Feudo studied political science and played in the Boston College Marching and Pep Bands. "One of the fondest memories I have was being in [University Historian] Tom O'Connor's class and using firecrackers to ėblow up' a model of the battleship USS Maine," he recalls. "I sent him an e-mail about it a couple of years ago and he remembered it as well."
A talented trumpet player, Feodo was named head of the BC Pep Band as an undergraduate. "I remember when the BC basketball team was going down to Virginia to play an NIT game in 1980. [Associate Athletic Director] Ed Carroll gave me an envelope with $1,500 cash in it and the keys to a van and said ėFill it with as many band members and cheerleaders as you can and get down there to support the team.' "We did," Feudo laughs.
After graduation, Feudo became manager of membership and public relations for Toastmasters International, a non-profit educational organization based in Santa Ana, Calif. He eventually sought to return to both the East Coast and the higher education environment and was named director of alumni field services at Tufts University in 1988. "The experiences I had as a student at BC made me realize what a great culture and great environment it was to be a part of a college campus," he recalls. "When I moved back east, I knew I wanted to be in the advancement profession."
After five years at Tufts, and having earned a master's degree in communication at Lesley University, Feudo was named associate vice chancellor for university advancement at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, overseeing alumni activities for the state's flagship higher education institution. In 1999, he was named executive director of UConn's 175,000--member alumni association. While at UConn, he reengineered the school's volunteer, reunion and affinity programs, developed and led a $4.5 million campaign for alumni initiatives and coordinated the design and construction of a $3.7 million alumni center project.
In addition to his on-campus work, Feudo was elected president of the national Council of Alumni Association Executives. He has also authored and edited several books on the alumni relations profession. Feudo and his wife Jenn are the parents of three children and live in Belchertown, Mass. •