Chan Wai Leng

Congratulations on your promotion to Vice President (Advancement & Alumni Relations)! Could you tell us a little bit about what this role entails and what you hope to achieve in this new position?

It is a great honour to take on this newly-created dual role leading advancement and alumni relations at both the Office of Advancement (OA), and the Office of Alumni Relations (OAR) at SMU. I look forward to shaping the strategic direction and fostering deeper coordination within and across these two distinct yet synergistic external-facing functions. Ultimately, we are all here to contribute to SMU’s collective goal of growing the university’s brand and reputation as an engaged city university.

And to this end, I am also grateful for the opportunity to be invited as one of four members of the newly established President’s External Engagement Council (PEEC), chaired by Prof Lily Kong. The PEEC will serve to develop and implement strategies that will enhance SMU’s reputation, relationships, and influence with external stakeholders.

The directives arising from the PEEC will certainly influence how OA and OAR will embark on distinct yet coordinated efforts to engage the donor and alumni communities, which need not be mutually exclusive.

Could you walk us through your previous experiences and how they have prepared you for this new role at SMU?

Prior to joining SMU in September 2010 as a fundraiser, I was in the private sector covering a multitude of roles including marketing communications, sales development, and client management, mainly for the Asia Pacific region. My journey at SMU has given me many opportunities to interface with countless students, faculty, staff, volunteers, and donors (some of whom are our alumni).

Since taking on the responsibility as Director, Office of Advancement in 2015, I have also had the privilege of working directly with Prof Lily Kong, past SMU President Arnoud De Meyer, the Board of Trustee’s Committee of Institutional Advancement, and members of the University’s leadership team to set the fundraising agenda, deploy resources, and oversee SMU’s fundraising operations.

This array of experiences has helped to shape my vision for this new dual role and what I believe OA and OAR can achieve in the short and longer term. I have always taken a collaborative approach to crafting strategies for today and tomorrow. I am here to listen and discuss to build for the better. It is powerful, when the collective effort across the larger SMU community is mobilised, especially for the critical yet meaningful work that we do. 

What are some of the key challenges facing SMU today, including challenges regarding external outreach and engagement, and what are your thoughts on addressing these challenges through your new and expanded portfolio?

As shared by Prof Kong, universities today face the urgency of re-invention and rapid adaptation, or risk becoming less relevant. It is important for SMU to build its long-term financial sustainability to support the growth aspirations that our Board of Trustees and President are aspiring for. A successful endowment is essential for us to provide subsidized education, scholarships, and bursaries to students, support academic appointments, build new facilities, and create new educational and research programmes.

Building this endowment is what I have been doing over the past 13 years at SMU, as we continue to grow this wonderful community of generous donors (individuals, foundations, and corporations) who believe in SMU and what we stand for as an institution. Student recipients of our philanthropic support have experienced the pay-it-forward spirit. When they become our proud alumni and ambassadors, I have met many who have started contributing back in various ways to the community who supported them in school. I had also interacted with many alumni in their different spheres of influence who had joined donor organisations or built their own companies.

In the next phase of my SMU journey, I hope to cultivate and strengthen our alumni networks, and to support OAR, OA, and our Schools and Offices in their efforts to engage alumni to contribute back to their alma mater through time, talent, ties and eventually when they are in a position to, their “treasures”. This community building effort is not just the work for team members at OAR and OA. It is a whole of SMU effort, as the core of the relationship and bond that many of our alumni have with SMU originates from the strong connection they had when they were still in school with their respective school-based degree programmes, with their student life activities, and with various SMU offices, centres, and institutes.

In this uncertain and rapidly changing world we live in, many things call on the time and attention of our growing pool of alumni, and their engagement level with SMU will differ depending on their current situation and the life stage they are in. I look forward to working with my colleagues at the OAR to find better ways of meeting the evolving needs of our various alumni segments. 

How do you plan to foster even collaboration between the Office of Alumni Relations and Office of Advancement to better achieve SMU's goals?

As shared earlier, the two Offices are distinct yet synergistic external-facing functions which contribute to growing SMU’s brand and reputation as an engaged city university. OAR serves as SMU’s “central nervous system” for engaging with and building up our alumni community, and enabling a coordinated effort when it comes to alumni relations by various stakeholders across the university.

This includes finding better and scalable mechanisms for encouraging our alums to be volunteers and mentors (time and talent). As the influence and reach of our alums grow in the sphere of their professional lives, we want to encourage and enable them to serve as bridges to their industry networks (ties). We also want our alums to know that SMU wants them to be their lifelong learning partner, either through our suite of postgraduate programmes, executive education programmes or academy courses.

In time, as our alumni find meaning and satisfaction through engaging with the university, it is also my hope that they will contribute back financially (treasure) as this supports the newer generation of students who come after them, and more broadly supports the overall SMU community and its capacity to continue creating opportunities for students, faculty, and alumni. This is why there is such strong potential for synergy between the work of OAR and OA.

Finally, what are your thoughts on building even better and stronger bridges between your expanded new portfolio and the external community of SMU? And with other parts of the university?

My thoughts are multi-pronged. At an operational level, the search for the next full-time Director of OAR is ongoing, and I will work alongside this new director to build up and execute the strategic alumni engagement plans. Across the university, we understand the need to deploy OAR manpower and budget resources effectively and efficiently to support the external demands of our growing alumni pool and the related growing needs of our internal units - schools, offices, and centres/institutes – to reach out to and work with alumni. 

And on a more strategic level, together with my colleagues on the PEEC, we will build new and better ways to deepen engagement and amplify SMU’s research and thought leadership with key external stakeholders including the donor and alumni communities.

Lots of exciting work ahead, and I look forward to the support and collaboration from our alumni to continue to propel SMU forward.