Alumni identity and journey-based engagement with Jay Dillon

Alumni engagement strategies are evolving beyond events and programs toward something more profound: identity, psychology, and intentional journeys. In this episode of Alumless, Ryan and Chris are joined by Jay Le Roux Dillon, Ed.D., Chief Alumni Officer at the University of California, Berkeley, for a conversation on how institutions can design engagement experiences that reflect how alumni actually see themselves and choose to stay connected.

Jay shares the origins of his Alumni Identity work and explains how social science, data, and human behavior shape his approach to alumni engagement at Cal. The discussion explores what it means to align teams around journeys rather than standalone programs and the role data and metrics play in validating this work.

In the bonus segment, Jay reflects on lessons learned from innovation and the balance between tradition and experimentation. We explore the importance of the data layer in creating meaningful on-ramps to engagement, and where alumni engagement strategies are headed over the next five years.

This episode of Alumless is made possible by our season sponsors Protopia, AlumnIQ, and Givzey.