Alumni Community

Purpose: Ambassador. Asker. Advocate. Members of Cate’s Alumni Leadership Council (ALC) exemplify these characteristics while acting as governing body of Cate’s Alumni Association (currently 3,700+ alumni worldwide). The overall purpose of the Alumni Leadership Council is four-fold:

• To increase support by alumni to the School through the Cate Fund and other specific endowment/capital campaigns
• To serve as the leadership forum for the expression and exchange of alumni ideas
• To assist in guiding the direction and nature of the Alumni Association and its activities
• To increase relationships between alumni and the School

The Alumni Leadership Council (ALC) shall make recommendations to the Alumni Association, or to the Board of Trustees, through the Alumni Leadership Council President; and the Alumni Leadership Council may recommend the formation of additional committees as it deems necessary.

Structure

ALUMNI LEADERSHIP COUNCIL (meets quarterly)

• President: John Kearney ’00 (Ventura, CA)
• Vice President: Lily Riesenfeld ’00 (Larkspur, CA)
• Vice President: Kel Mitchel ’12 (Templeton, CA)
• Chair: Dinah Moore Calderon ’90 (Carpinteria, CA)
• Chair: Micah Carr ’99 (Chicago, IL)
• Chair: Taylor Erling ’12 (Boston, MA)
• Chair: Rodrigo Garza ’99 (Miami, FL)
• Chair: Trey Jackson ’15 (Berkeley, CA)
• Alumni Director: Jake Kim (Santa Barbara, CA)
• International Liaison: Jessie King ’02 (Hong Kong)
• Chair: Ali Farr McCarty ’08 (Ventura, CA)
• Chair: Allie Simpson McGuire ’04 (Bowen Island, B.C.)
• Chair: Cooper McGuire ’04 (Bowen Island, B.C.)
• Chair: Lela Murphy ’12 (Cimarron, NM)
• Chair: Jamie Reilly ’88 (Venice, CA)
• Chair: Jonathan Smith ’03 (Brooklyn, NY)
• Chair: Vivan Som ’09 (San Francisco, CA)

PAST PRESIDENTS

• Lauren Craig Albrecht ’89 (2020-2022)
• Peter Given ’99 (2017-2020)
• Jack Jackson ’95 (2013-2016)
• Casey McCann ’97 (2010-2013)
• Lisa Stanson ’92 (2007-2010)
• Bruce King ’85 (2004-2007)
• Michael Lovell ’87 (1999-2004)
• Mike Jones ’80 (1996-1999)
• Baret Bertea Walker ’84 (1994-1996)

*The Alumni Leadership Council was established in 1947. The first President of the ALC was John Hooker, Class of 1921. For a full list of past Presidents, please contact alumni@cate.org.

ALUMNI VOLUNTEERS

• Cate Fund/Mesa Association Volunteers, Reunion Chairs, & Event Hosts: A group of volunteers who help classmates stay connected by attending events, reunions, and supporting the School through the Cate Fund. If you would like to volunteer for to help with the 2024-2025 Cate Fund, plan an upcoming reunion, or host an Alumni Association event in your area (or virtually), please contact Director of Advancement, Andrew MacDonnell.

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

• 3,700+ members (all those who attended Cate for one full year are recognized as an alumnus of the School, and therefore part of the Alumni Association).

Current Term (Alumni Leadership Council President & Vice Presidents)

Year 1: 2022-2023 (term began July 1, 2022)

Year 2: 2023-2024

Year 3: 2024-2025 (term ends June 30, 2025)

*ALC Chairs serve for one (1) full year.

Board of Trustee Meetings 2024-2025  

The Alumni Leadership Council President serves on the Board of Trustees. They attend the following Board of Trustee meetings at Cate. The Alumni Leadership Council President provides an update to Trustees on recent and upcoming alumni events and activities.

2024-2025 Meeting Dates 

• September 19-21, 2024
• January 16-18, 2025
• April 10-12, 2025

Alumni Leadership Council Meetings 2024-2025  

The Alumni Leadership Council meets quarterly during the school year. In addition, the Alumni Leadership Council hosts an in-person meeting, open to all alumni, on the Saturday of Camp Cate (Saturday, June 7, 2025, 10:30 a.m., Johnson Library).

2024-2025 Meeting Dates 

• September 9, 2024
• November 4, 2024
• February 10, 2025
• May 5, 2025
• June 7, 2025 (Camp Cate)

In 1972, Cate’s Alumni Leadership Council honored its first Distinguished Alumnus/a. Incidentally, he happened to be Cate’s very first graduate, Dohrmann K. Pischel Class of 1914. Since then, the Alumni Leadership Council has honored 38 alumni for distinguished service to the School, a distinguished career in business, or exemplary public service. Recipients of the award include a senator, a noted scientist, several long-time trustees, entrepreneurs, a computer scientist, artists, a national media correspondent, and philanthropists.

Though the award has not been given every year, the Alumni Leadership Council voted to make it an annual award in 2019. The first few awards were displayed in the McBean Library, but soon they became too numerous to fit into one location. The two most recent recipients are now displayed at the entrance to the Johnson Library, with the previous citations contained in a leather-bound book found inside the Johnson Library. In these more prominent locations, it is hoped that current Cate students will develop a better appreciation of the School’s past and, more importantly, an appreciation of how a Cate education can be put to good use.

Nominations for the 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award can be submitted until December 31, 2024. Please email all nominations to Alumni Director, Jake Kim, at jake_kim@cate.org.

Below is a list of the Distinguished Alumni recipients.

Servons.  The motto of the Cate School community, this notion of service is woven into every aspect of life on and off the Mesa. From its founding, Cate has been led by a volunteer Board of Trustees and served in numerous ways by alumni, parents, and friends of the School. Those who volunteer to better the education and experience of our students, faculty and staff do so out of a shared love for the School.

Cate Fund / Mesa Association

Invite others to join you in supporting the School by making friendly phone calls and sending encouraging emails/messages. Help your class reach new heights in participation. Become a Cate Fund or Mesa Association volunteer and raise vital funds for Cate’s annual operating budget.

Reunion Chair

Volunteer as a reunion chair and serve as a peer-to-peer connection to Cate School. Invite your classmates to join you in returning to the Mesa for an upcoming reunion as well as encourage them to support the Cate Fund in honor of your class celebration.

Host a Regional Reception

The Advancement Office is always grateful for opportunities to gather Cate friends together – in the comfort of a home, restaurant or other venue – in locations in and outside of the U.S.

For More Information Contact:

To become a Cate Fund/Mesa Association volunteer, Reunion Chair volunteer, or host a Regional Reception please contact Emily Sosrodjojo ’13