Member Spotlight

Q&A with Mark Boeck, Executive Director, Corporate Engagement & Foundation Relations, Iowa State University

November 8, 2021

1. What is your current role at your institution/company? I’m executive director of corporate engagement and foundation relations at Iowa State University Foundation in Ames, IA.
   
   
2. How long have you been a NACRO member? I joined NACRO in 2012 when I came back to Iowa State. My supervisor at the time was an early NACRO member and encouraged me to get involved. I’ve served on a few committees, done webinars and, the past few years, have been a member of the conference planning committee.
   
   
3. What do you enjoy most about your NACRO membership? 

   It has been a lot of fun to develop friendships with people all over the country. I’m grateful for how generous NACRO colleagues are with their expertise and wisdom.

   Iowa State has benefited tremendously from NACRO. It has provided data and resources that have helped us build a case to move toward a more holistic engagement model. Many of the changes we’ve implemented can be directly traced to a conference presentation, an informal conversation, workshop or benchmarking session we’ve done with aspirational programs.

4. So far, what has been your greatest Corporate Relations success? 

   Our team’s greatest success has been our ability to bring more campus colleagues into corporate partnerships. We have positive, trusting relationships with leaders representing the research enterprise, economic development, tech transfer and many academic departments.

   A challenge for our team has been moving from a legacy decentralized model to one that better serves companies through a more holistic approach. 

   I am proud of an undergraduate program I developed with leadership studies faculty. The executive team of an Iowa company was looking for ways to enhance the company’s visibility among students from multiple majors. It was funded for five years and four cohorts of students received scholarships, learned about leadership in multi-national organizations and worked with this company’s employees from regional offices in the Asia Pacific, Latin America and China to collaborate on final projects. It also provided a travel stipend for the cohort to travel internationally over spring break.

5. What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know? Most people already know that my partner and I have two rescue dogs, Alfie and Billy, who run our lives. Alfie’s sister, Lucy, lives with NACRO board member Jill Abele and we plan a birthday party for their siblings every year.