Alumni Association Director, Penn State University

>> My name is Roger Williams. I'm the Executive Director of the Penn State Alumni Association, and as such, I'm the Chief Executive Officer of the world's largest dues-paying alumni association. Well, this is probably the most fascinating job in the world. It's certainly the most fascinating job I've ever had, and it's a very different sort of job than one might expect it to be. Basically, what I'm doing is running, in some respects, a business that is disguised as a non-profit. In other words, we are an alumni association. We're also a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and at the same time, we're a part of the university. We're part of a university division of Development and Alumni Relations, so I actually have two bosses, if you will. I have a volunteer governing board that I report to, and I also have a senior vice-president of the university to whom I report as well. So there is a lot to this job. There is a pretty substantial public role to this job. That is to say, I travel a lot. I represent the alumni association. I'm speaking in front of a lot of our constituent groups and others. There's always a fair volume of emails and letters and calls that require your response in some way, shape, and form. There's a business aspect to the organization. So for tomorrow, at about 11:00, for example, we have a vendor coming in here who will present to us a motorized bicycle for our consideration as something we might offer with customized Penn State paint and so on and so forth to our alumni through our alumni store. This afternoon I'm going to be leaving to go to Penn State Shenango where we're speaking tonight at the annual dinner of the Penn State Shenango Alumni Society. So it's a job that is variegated. It's very different day to day. It's never dull. It's never boring, and it's not a 40-hour a week job. It's a way of life. It's like being a minister or a college president. You're always on call. You're always working, pretty much.