NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A retired Dallas marketing executive who has provided strategic leadership for the Vanderbilt University Alumni Association and a graduating senior in the School of Engineering are the newest members of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust.
During its spring meeting April 27-28, the board elected Sharon Munger, the outgoing Alumni Association president, and Alice Ji, who will serve as a young alumni trustee, to four-year terms.
Munger, who earned her bachelor’s degree in 1968 from the College of Arts and Science, worked in a number of leadership roles with the M/A/R/C Group. She became president and chief executive officer of the marketing research and consulting firm, helping a select number of young businesses grow dramatically. In 1999 she oversaw the acquisition of the company by Omicron, a global advertising-communications holding company, while staying as M/A/R/C’s CEO for five more years.
As president of the Alumni Association the past two years, Munger has played an important role in restructuring the alumni relations program. Under her leadership, the alumni club network is being transformed into the alumni chapter network, which will provide more leadership opportunities for alumni to give back to their alma mater.
Munger has served as a member of the Corporate Council for Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management and is a member of two Vanderbilt donor societies, the College Cabinet and Owen Associates. She also serves on the boards of several private information-based marketing services firms.
Ji, of Terre Haute, Ind., will graduate with a major in engineering science and minors in management of technology and economics. She has made a strong commitment to helping the student body and the community during her four years at Vanderbilt, serving as a summer academic orientation leader as well as VUcept president and board member. She oversaw the selection, training and organization of orientation leaders during new student orientation in August and beyond with Community Day, a day of service for incoming students.
Ji was a participant and site leader for Alternative Spring Break. She has given back to the Nashville community through Vanderbilt Students Volunteer for Science and Vanderbuddies. Through her many volunteer activities, she has worked on issues about AIDS/HIV, sexual orientation, environment and homelessness.
Ji was president of the Asian-American Student Association and served on the Common Grounds Executive Board and the Orientation to Norms and Values Committee. She was awarded the Nora C. Chaffin Scholarship, which recognizes one junior who has displayed service to the university in areas of student government, religious, literary and scholastic activities.
Each year students in the junior and senior classes as well as those from the most recent graduating class select their candidate for young alumni trustee. The candidate is recommended to the board by the Alumni Association.