Alumless is a bi-weekly talk show produced by Chris Marshall Advancement Consulting. In each episode, host and Vice President Ryan Catherwood and CMAC Founder and CEO Chris Marshall discuss the latest issues facing alumni and donor engagement professionals working in higher education. Listeners of Alumless will hear topics discussed such as strategic planning, engagement metrics, volunteer management, marketing and communications, donor experience design, and the latest and greatest advancement technology.
The Alumless podcast is an extended version of the live broadcast published on LinkedIn and Youtube every other Friday.
Building a culture of philanthropy in Australia with Jen Karlson
For this Alumless World edition, Ryan and Chris go global — and a little personal, since the University of Queensland is one of Ryan’s alma maters. They’re joined from Brisbane by Jennifer Karlson, Vice-President for Advancement and Community Engagement at UQ, for a candid look at building a culture of philanthropy outside the US model. An American who left the University of Wisconsin for Brisbane nearly a decade ago, Jen reflects on the leap — the paperwork, the four-plus years it took to feel settled, and why the chance to run a university’s first-ever comprehensive campaign was impossible to turn down. She and Chris compare US and Australian advancement with real nuance: the maturity curve UQ had to climb, the confidence gap around a first campaign, and why the tired line that “Australians aren’t as philanthropic” doesn’t hold up against a culture built on mateship and deep community service. Along the way: why sport isn’t the engagement engine it is in the Big Ten (and why that’s oddly liberating), and the work of helping deans see fundraising as core to their role. Jen also walks through UQ’s “Not If, When” campaign — a first comprehensive effort that moved from a $250M target to a $500M public goal and closed around $650M in 2020 — and the parallel internal engagement goal that mattered just as much. Plus: keeping touch with 375,000 alumni across 190 countries, mobilizing volunteers on the ground, and how the Queensland Commitment is extending the work into community engagement and educational equity across the state. Presenting sponsors for Season 4: Protopia, AlumniQ, Richmond Associates, and Version2.AI by Givzey.
9 Oct 2026
Engagement during epic growth with Brooks Hull
Most advancement conversations are about doing more with less. This one’s the opposite: what happens when a university is growing this fast? Ryan and Chris talk with Brooks Hull, Vice President for University Advancement at Texas State, about building engagement and fundraising to match a genuine rocket ship — 47,000+ students and climbing, a move into the Pac-12, and R1 status on the horizon. Brooks makes the case that “what got us here won’t get us there,” and gets candid about rebuilding a steady-state shop for the moment: engaging a younger, fast-growing alumni base, using athletics as the front door without letting sports become the whole story, making the research case to alumni who knew the school by a different name, and turning game-day excitement into lasting philanthropy. He closes with hard-won advice — “if you’re just getting started, you’re already behind.” Presenting sponsors for Season 4: Protopia, AlumniQ, Richmond Associates, and Version2.AI by Givzey.
25 Sept 2026
Lost in engagement translation with Annie Bastida Quade
Annie Bastida Quade is back for a second appearance on Alumless this week. After years leading engagement at UTEP, Annie now serves as Assistant Vice President for Development & Organizational Strategy, and she joins Ryan and Chris to talk about what the crossover has taught her about integrated advancement. Join us for a candid conversation about alignment that goes well past the usual talking points. Annie shares why engagement runs on seasons while development is "always on, and then back to zero," why she looks at systems and structure before blaming any individual, and why the value of engagement is obvious, but the actual nuts and bolts of the work are so often misunderstood.
Who has been a guest on Alumless
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Reggie Bustinza
Mario Peraza
Andrew Chang
Mark Longo
Nicole Kempton
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
8 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
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