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IU Alumni Association Elects Volunteer Leadership

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Deanna Crispen, chairperson of the Indiana University Alumni Association's Board of Managers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Deanna Crispen, of Logansport, Ind., assumed the office of chair of the Indiana University Alumni Association Board of Managers on July 1.

Crispen is president of the Cass County (Ind.) Community Foundation where she has worked since 2005. She earned a bachelor’s degree in 1998 from IU Kokomo and served on the IU Kokomo Alumni Association board from 2000 to 2009, leading the group as president from 2006 to 2008. She earned the IU Kokomo Outstanding Service Award in 2010, and the IUAA President’s Award in 2004.

As chair of the Board of Managers, she will head the 14-member governing board that provides general management and supervision of the affairs of the IUAA. Other members of the Board of Managers are chair-elect Vi Simpson, of Bloomington, Ind.; vice chair Larry Alt, of Valparaiso, Ind.; treasurer Larry Lentych, of South Bend, Ind.; secretary Jeannie Sager, of Carmel, Ind.; immediate past chair Robert N. Johnson, of Dublin, Calif.; and CEO J Thomas Forbes, of Bloomington, Ind.

Two new at-large members of the board also joined in July: Martin Vargas, of Knoxville, Tenn., and Dawn Whitehead, of Washington, D.C.

Vargas served as senior international business analyst at Walmart Stores Inc., and became an entrepreneur in 2004 in the field of health care innovation, strategic planning, and technology. For IU, he was board member and president of the Latino Alumni Association and earned the IUAA President’s Award in 2016.

Whitehead is vice president of the Office of Global Citizenship for Campus, Community, and Careers at the Association of American Colleges and Universities. An active participant in Washington, D.C., IUAA programs, she has served on the Neal Marshall Alumni Club Board since 2011 and has been a member of the IUAA Executive Council.

The Board of Managers’ student representative is Blaire Viehweg, an IUPUI student majoring in criminal justice with a minor in Spanish. She anticipates completing a bachelor’s degree in May 2020, followed by a master’s degree in criminal justice and public safety in May 2021.

Returning at-large members of the IUAA Board of Managers are Shontrai Irving, of Gary, Ind.; Josh Kornberg, of Jeffersonville, Ind.; Phyllis Lewis, of Indianapolis; and Lori Pearson-Perry, of Indianapolis.

Board of Managers officers serve one-year terms, and the secretary and treasurer may serve up to three consecutive terms. A 39-member Executive Council advises the Board of Managers.

The IU Alumni Association is a global alumni organization that brings more than 690,000 IU graduates together to support one another and Indiana University throughout their lives. The IUAA activates IU’s powerful network through live events, webcasts, scholarship programs, and meaningful traditions.

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Media Contact

Rebecca Keith
IUAA executive director of governance
Phone: 812-855-1713 | Email: rekeith@iu.edu

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