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Message: [QUOTE="FfldCntyFan, post: 1352802, member: 71"] While I am a longtime member (life member) of the alumni association I've never held any position within the UCAA. I have donated (to many different areas) of the school but I also have never held any position within the foundation. I do know that for a little more than three decades I've complained publicly and privately on how the school continually operated under very limited thought processes and viewed the successes we had achieved as being in spite of our school's leadership, not because of it. Yes, prior to very recently (I personally believe we finally have a quality leader in charge of the school) it could easily have been stated that neither the alumni association nor the foundation were run properly and that a tremendous amount of opportunity (success in many sports) to capitalize on had been wasted. Not long ago we hired Josh Newton to run the foundation (I've met him and I am as impressed with him as I am with Susan Herbst, look up his track record and you will realize that this was a tremendous hire). I see this as the school seeing two poorly run departments, with some overlapping functions and deciding that the best solution would be to combine all functions into one department and build that department to run as well as possible. Not only do I not see this as a bad thing, I've seen approach work exceptionally well in many businesses. One thing that is glaring from the very recent posts that are in favor of maintaining the alumni association is a thought process that obviously exists here and often exists in businesses that are run poorly. When people build silos of power, when departments have an [B][I][COLOR=#000066]us[/COLOR][/I][/B] and [B][I][COLOR=#000066]them[/COLOR][/I][/B] attitude when dealing with other departments within the same company, inefficiencies pop up everywhere. Whether anyone wants to accept this or not, the alumni association and the foundation are working towards the same cause. What the school is building towards is what will ultimately do the most to improve the school, increase the school's endowment and offer the most it can to the alumni. I personally believe that under Newton's leadership this can be better accomplished than if one portion of this (alumni relations) were not under his leadership. I encourage everyone who sees combining the alumni association into the foundation to contact Mr Newton (his phone number and email address are available on the foundation's page on the UConn website). He is very approachable and I am confident will find time to address any concerns. I believe that any of you who go into this with an open mind will walk away believing that his leadership will be the best for all alumni. [/QUOTE]

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