About KITE - The Founder and Team
About the Founder
Dr. Maria Gallo
Dr. Maria Gallo is an internationally-recognized thought leader on alumni potential and an award-winning research scholar with over twenty years of experience in higher education, advancement and leadership roles in Ireland and Canada.
KITE is the social enterprise Maria established in 2017. After 5 years, the public face of KITE is primarily The Alumni Way the namesake for her book. The Alumni Way: Building Lifelong Value from Your University Investment was published by Policy Press in 2021. The Alumni Way concentrates programming, speaking engagements, research and consultancy.
Alongside KITE and The Alumni Way, Maria is a Research Fellow at the Centre of Social Innovation at the Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin.
She obtained her doctorate in education from the University of Sheffield and her research on alumni relationships was awarded the HS Warwick Outstanding Research Publication Award from CASE (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education). (Maria: HS Warwick was an early alumni innovator, establishing the Association of Alumni Secretaries in 1913- I love that I won this award on the centenary of this achievement! )
She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of St Michael’s College at the University of Toronto (UofT). As she highlights in her book, she serendipitously had a career lined up well before graduation — and she didn’t need to leave campus. In her early career she worked at UofT in international student recruitment, alumni relations, annual giving and corporate matching gifts. Her passion for creating social change was fostered during her studies at the University of Victoria, completing her Diploma in Public Sector Management and her MA with the Institute of Public Administration (University College Dublin). A keen lifelong learner, she also completed her Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at the University of Galway.
While maintaining an active academic research portfolio, Maria has several peer-reviewed academic journal publications in alumni relationships, philanthropy and volunteering as active citizenship. With KITE and The Alumni Way, she in the Principal Researcher for several alumni engagement or alumni/diaspora strategy projects, including governments, universities, institutes and agencies worldwide.
Maria is a high energy and passionate speaker on alumni communities and connection. She has conducted keynote speaking, conference and workshop presentations worldwide. Her TEDx talk entitled ‘We are all connected by one word: Alumni’ is one of only a few TED talks on alumni.
Maria is a proud and active member of her multitude of alma maters. Currently she is the President of the Alumni Association at the University of St Michael’s College - a UofT. Maria has maintained an affinity with so many special alma maters as an alum in roles as a mentor, speaker, guest lecturer, event planner, student orientation chair and so many other enjoyable alumni service roles.
From 2020 - 2023 Maria was the Expert Alumni Advisor to CERN in Switzerland and a Steering Group Member for the Alumni Relations Expert Community for the EAIE. She is regular speaker for alumni professionals at CASE, CCAE, EAIE, ICARe events. Maria lives in Ireland and spends extensive time in Canada.
Memberships
my story
I am an alum. My alumni status has pushed the boundaries of who I am, how I identify myself. I have created an enriching, international network that has enhanced all parts of my life over my lifetime to date. I am a proud, active alum with my alma maters, the universities I attended over the years. This boundary stretches to include all my shared experiences—sports teams, conferences, program participation, awards and more.
As I discovered and researched the power of my own alumni connections, I realized that others could benefit from these communities in their own lives.
I am an alumni trailblazer. This is the start of a worldwide alumni movement, to embed alumni connection in policy, in our immediate thoughts and in our communities. When I founded KITE – Keep In Touch Education it was a simple idea to promote the power of alumni connection. Since then, through my own alumni network, KITE is now an international social enterprise dedicated to building the inclusive and transformative power of alumni connection to create active global citizens.
I want everyone to recognize their alumni status offers lifelong value from their educational investment and shared experiences from life for life. To achieve this vision, I designed KITE (and The Alumni Way) as an enterprise with a distinct social purpose. KITE offers thought leadership, strategic research expertise, education and resources for alumni, future alumni, governments, educational institutions and other alma maters. I can often be found shouting to the rooftops about alumni. I find it is more effective to speak at events and engage with organizations to build alumni literacy to explore, share and make our lives better.
Everyone can be an alumni leader.
Alumni leadership drawing on your learning from your shared experience. With over 20 years as a scholar, higher education manager and advancement professional, my own journey of alumni leadership started early.
Most importantly, everywhere I go and everyone I speak to from the airport security queue to a sushi bar to a night out with friends, I ask about alumni connection. I encourage people to leverage the connections they have already to enhance their own life and the lives of others.
Do you have an excellent alumni connection story? I’d love to hear from you! Send me an email or use the hashtag #alumnidecade, or sign up to get The weekly Alumni Friday newsletter!