Vice President of Advancement Wendy Kobler announced today that 2003 Wittenberg graduate Holly C. Gersbacher, associate director of alumni engagement and scholarship initiatives at Wright State University, will serve as Wittenberg’s new director of alumni relations and lifelong engagement. Gersbacher is expected to begin her new responsibilities on May 21.
“After a national search, it is with excitement that I’m pleased to welcome Holly Gersbacher as our new director of alumni relations and lifelong engagement to the advancement team,” Kobler said. “I wish to thank the search committee for identifying Holly as the best person to lead our alumni relations effort. Her extensive experience with affinity and reunion planning and execution will make an immediate impact as we work to engage more alumni with our institution.”
With more than 12 years of nonprofit experience, Gersbacher brings extensive program development, fundraising, volunteer management, event planning and community outreach to her new role. As director of alumni engagement and scholarship initiatives at Wright State, Gersbacher provided vision and direction to alumni societies, and increased alumni engagement and awareness through events, programming, communications and the expansion of affinity groups. She also helped to increase the involvement of volunteers, ambassadors, student recruiters and donors, and she provided strategic input to the executive director and Alumni Association board leadership regarding the development of new alumni societies, networks, and affinity programs.
A collaborator and community partner, Gersbacher will work to develop and implement a comprehensive alumni relations program at Wittenberg to increase alumni engagement and support of the university's strategic plan. She will also work to enhance ties among alumni and the university through a wide variety of programming, volunteer opportunities and communications, as well as provide strategic leadership and direction to Wittenberg’s Alumni Board of Directors, regional alumni chapters, and other volunteer leaders.
Gersbacher, who earned her B.A. in business management with a marketing focus, was an assistant director of alumni relations at Wright State for two years and then an associate director before being named to her current position of director of alumni engagement and scholarship initiatives. Prior to Wright State, she served as development coordinator with the LAM Foundation in Cincinnati, Ohio; as a financial development specialist with the Dayton chapter of the American Red Cross; and as an income development coordinator of the American Cancer Society of Southwest Ohio.
“Having the opportunity to give back professionally to Wittenberg is an incredible privilege,” Gersbacher said. “I’m thrilled to be joining the alumni relations team at a time when Tiger pride is running so high.”
