Volunteer Committees

NACRO thrives from the participation of its members, principally through its Board of Directors and five standing committees, all of which benefit from a broad and diverse set of participants. If you are interested in joining a committee contact the co-chairs (listed below). Watch our Volunteering with NACRO video below!

For more information on the structure of our organization, please see the following policies and procedures document, which was approved by the NACRO Board of Directors in July 2012.

Benchmarking Committee:

The Benchmarking Committee works to collect data and publish documents that provide NACRO members with fundamental knowledge to help us do our jobs better. The seminal “Five Essential Elements...” whitepaper published in 2011, and most recently, the “Industry Perspectives…” research report released in July 2019 are just two of our publications that have helped to shape the profession.

The committee also executes two surveys annually. The Annual Member Survey, with data available back to 2010, provides longitudinal perspective on everything from salaries to corporate portfolio workloads. The Gold Standards Financial Metrics Survey aims to collect data on the “all-in” (gifts and contracts) financial impact corporations have on our universities, providing a comprehensive source for benchmarking success and best practices.

Tim Hausman, The University of Texas at El Paso, Chair
Ashley Chan, Penn State University, Chair-elect

[email protected]

Conference Programming Committee:

The Conference Programming Committee organizes the program content for the NACRO Annual Conference and coordinates the individual conference sessions, including selecting panel topics and coordinating speakers and moderators for each session.

Priya Baboo, Penn State University, Chair
Thomas Manshack, North Carolina State University, Chair-elect

[email protected]

Marketing and Communications Committee:

The Marketing and Communications Committee is responsible for maintaining the NACRO brand. Members of the committee work together to develop and distribute information that is vital to NACRO members and the corporate relations profession. We support all NACRO committees in achieving their communication goals through content on the website, in the monthly newsletter, emails to members, and on social media platforms.

Susan Lee, Washington University in St. Louis, Chair
Rashmi Tenneti, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Chair-elect

[email protected]

Membership and Alliances Committee:

The Membership and Alliances Committee has as its primary mission the growth of NACRO's membership. The committee will also assess the need for and potential direction of alliances with academic and industry organizations aligned with NACRO interests; provide recommendations for alliances to the Board of Directors; and manage on behalf of the Board of Directors those alliances that have been approved.

Jason King, University of California, Irvine, Chair
Ahsan Choudary, The University of Texas at Austin, Chair-elect

[email protected]

Professional Development Committee:

The Professional Development Committee designs and delivers educational and professional development content for NACRO members with all levels of experience. The committee is charged with providing valuable content on long standing corporate relations best practices and new or developing corporate relations strategies, partnerships, and technologies.