It was refreshing to spend time with alumni in person and to use my passport again!
We have enjoyed welcoming you to Alumni House and campus for our signature events. At Homecoming, the Cal Alumni Association (CAA) sponsored a first-generation tailgate where students and alumni could share the Cal football experience with their families. Back by popular demand, we cheered on our Golden Bears at our Young Alumni and Big Game tailgates.
During our annual celebration of The Achievement Award Program (TAAP), we honored our scholars, donors, and the life of former UC Regent and CAA Board President Alan Mendelson ’69. Alan made significant contributions to the legal and life sciences fields, and invested heavily in Cal students, athletics, and research.
On a bittersweet note, this is my last Director’s Chair. I will be returning to public service as the Commissioner of the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation for the State of California. I look forward to working with Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration to balance financial regulation for consumer protection while enabling innovation.
We alumni are the heart and soul of this university. It has been an honor to serve my alma mater as CAA’s Executive Director. With support from dedicated alumni, the Board and my senior management team, I am proud of our accomplishments over the past six years. With dynamic programming, a data-driven mindset, and transparent key performance indicators, we have significantly increased the number of engaged alumni.
Our core focus has been to support the next generation of Berkeley Changemakers: students and young alumni leaders. We doubled the number of TAAP Scholars in the Alumni Scholars Program. We now provide meaningful programming for each scholar, including transfer students. We increased our investment in The Berkeley Network, providing alumni access to prominent speakers through webinars and stimulating in-person events, as well as to the online alumni professional network via a new platform.
We have provided new tools and increased CAA staff access to our volunteer Alumni Chapter leaders, partnering with our Alumni Chapters to increase the number of incoming students of color. We revitalized our digital communications, including modernizing our website, adding online content and a podcast to California magazine, and expanding our virtual programming.
Together we have risen and CAA’s light is shining bright!
Fiat Lux,
Clothilde Hewlett ’76, J.D. ’79
Executive Director
#berkeleyforlife
