The field keeps saying dues models are dead — so why does Penn State run the largest successful dues-paying alumni membership in the world? Join Ryan and Chris live with Reggie Bustinza, the new AVP for Alumni Relations and CEO of the Penn State Alumni Association, as he reflects on his first weeks leading an 820,000-strong alumni community. We'll get into why the membership model still works at Penn State, what it takes to keep it relevant for a new generation, and how an entrepreneurial mindset from smaller shops scales to one of the biggest programs in higher ed. Bring your questions for the chat. Presenting sponsors for Season 4: Protopia, AlumniQ, Richmond Associates, and Version2.AI by Givzey.

Ryan hosts a panel with three members of the Caltech advancement team — Mario Peraza (AVP, Alumni Relations & executive sponsor), Andrew Chang (Director of Advancement Analytics & the data scientist behind the model), and Mark Longo (Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives & project SME) — on how they built Caltech's next-level alumni engagement scoring model and dashboard, and how the team actually uses it every day.

Ryan and Chris sit down with Nicole Kempton, Director of Alumni Engagement at Imperial College London, to reflect on her first year in the role. Nicole shares how she's turning sky-high alumni pride into real connection across a community of 270,000 in 200+ countries, what's genuinely different about advancement in the UK versus the US, and how a "science for humanity" mission and a design-thinking mindset are reshaping her team's work.

Presenting sponsors for Season 4: Protopia, AlumniQ, Richmond Associates, and Version2.AI by Givzey.