Alumni Association Director to Retire After 24 Years

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Mike Macechko, executive director of the Arkansas Alumni Association

The longtime executive director of the Arkansas Alumni Association has announced he will retire from his position in June. On Friday, Myron D. “Mike” Macechko informed his organization’s board of directors and his staff of his intention to retire at the end of the current fiscal year following a 24-year career as the association’s chief executive officer.

In making the announcement, Macechko compared the decision to the time his oldest son left home for college.

“We had nurtured him, helped him grow and established his basic values,” he said. “We understood that the time had come when someone other than us had to take over in order for our baby to develop further and reach his potential.

“I have reached a similar point with my other ‘baby’, the Arkansas Alumni Association.”

Macechko’s leadership received wide praise from several of his closest associates.

“Mike has provided unmatched leadership to the Arkansas Alumni Association and his retirement in June will be a great loss to the university,” said G. David Gearhart, the university’s chancellor. “He certainly deserves and has earned a special place in both the history of the alumni association and in the history of the university itself. There is no question in my mind that he will be remembered as the absolute best alumni director in our storied history.”

“Mike’s dedication to his adopted alma mater is legendary,” said Brad Choate, vice chancellor for university advancement. He shared that Macechko, who also serves under Choate as an associate vice chancellor, “has taken the alumni association to incredible heights of achievement during his tenure. He has dedicated most of his working life to the University of Arkansas and its alumni, and we are all much better as a result of his efforts.”

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Macechko received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he later served as an alumni affairs officer for the first 15 years in the profession. His total of 39 years in alumni work makes him the nation’s second longest-serving alumni executive. Macechko also spent five years in the U.S. Navy, finishing his service with the rank of lieutenant.

Macechko joined the Arkansas Alumni Association in April 1988 as the leader of the not-for-profit membership organization, which at the time had approximately 10,500 dues-paying members. Under his leadership, the organization’s membership has grown to more than 27,000 members. The organization’s endowment also grew impressively during Macechko’s tenure, from $350,000 when he first joined the association to more than $7 million today.

His association’s membership consistently ranks in the top 10 nationally for percentage of alumni who are members and for its retention of members. The Arkansas Alumni Association is one of the top two in both categories among the universities of the Southeastern Conference.

• An alumni-funded merit scholarship program that awarded 265 scholarships valued at $650,000 this year.
• An award-winning student alumni program, including a student alumni association.
• The creation of eight alumni societies within the association, including a Black Alumni and Latino Alumni Society, the only SEC university with both organizations.
• A $3.4 million campaign to expand and renovate the Alumni House in 1998.
• Exceeding a $5 million alumni campaign goal within the university’s “Campaign for the Twenty-First Century.”

“We have come a long way under Mike’s leadership,” remarked Steve Nipper, the current president of the board of directors of the Arkansas Alumni Association. “Mike is known and well respected by all his peers. He will be missed by my fellow board members and the alumni staff. We only wish the best for him as he moves on to another stage in his life.”

“I’ve had the privilege and honor of working with Mike Macechko since 1997,” said Debbie Blume, the association’s director of administrative services. “Through his leadership, he has guided this organization for over 20 years with enthusiasm, encouragement, and inspiration.  The growth in the organization’s programming during his tenure has been incredible.  He truly embodies the pride and spirit of this association from which he has received an honorary alumni award in 1993.”

“Mike has been a mentor to many staff members who have gone on to provide leadership in alumni relations for other universities, myself included,” said Anthony McAdoo, senior associate executive director of the University of Oregon Alumni Association.  “I am grateful to Mike, personally and professionally, for his leadership, mentoring and service on behalf of the Arkansas Alumni Association.  He taught me that regardless of the tools utilized, that alumni relations programs are fundamentally about the relationships between alumni and with their alma mater.”

Throughout his career, Macechko has been active in several professional organizations including as a presenter at national, district and special conferences organized by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, the worldwide organization of education advancement professionals. He also served as president of the Southeastern Conference Alumni Directors professional organization and as a member of the Council of Alumni Association Executives, an organization of the top 90 alumni associations in the country.

Macechko has been recognized with four Grand Awards from CASE Districts III (Southeast) and IV (Southwest) for outstanding alumni projects, membership recruitment, publication improvement, the REAL Razorbacks program and the 125th Anniversary Celebration of the association; most recently, the Student Alumni Association received top awards for outstanding adviser, student leader and program from peer organizations in District IV and a national award for its community service project.

In addition to his work in alumni affairs, Macechko served for one year as assistant dean of men at West Liberty State College in West Virginia.

Macechko’s wife, Kris, also works in the university’s advancement division as the director of constituent relations. They live in Fayetteville and have three adult children: Matt, Michael and Mark, an associate director of alumni affairs at Miami University of Ohio — the same position his father once held early in his professional career.