The Staff

A member of the VCU team since 2012, Amy Gray Beck has a B.A. from Virginia Tech, an M.Ed. from Clemson University and currently is in the Educational Leadership Ph.D. program at VCU with a research interest in women and philanthropy.

Her primary focus is on alumni engagement strategy and she works closely with the affiliated academic alumni chapters. Previous responsibilities include young alumni and student engagement. She has experience in student affairs, strategic enrollment management, and advancement.

Patrick Heckel joins us as Associate Director of Alumni Outreach & Engagement - Lifelong Learning. Most recently, Patrick worked at the University of Mary Washington as the Associate Director of Regional Alumni Engagement. His efforts in building out regional volunteer chapters and the Mary Talks program will be beneficial in his new role of managing volunteers and highlighting academic alumni engagement opportunities.Patrick also has extensive volunteer management experience from his work with City Year through AmeriCorps.

Larry Powell joined VCU Alumni in 1996. He manages VCU Alumni's shared interest groups and select regional chapters, coordinates athletics-related alumni engagement, coordinates the African-American Alumni Council’s scholarship and mentoring programs and serves as VCU Alumni’s primary point of contact for diversity-related activities. He holds a bachelor's degree in mass communications/public relations from VCU.

Latisha Taylor is the associate director of alumni outreach and engagement for alumni career programs. Taylor, a graduate of both Old Dominion University and George Mason University, previously worked in VCU’s central career services unit. As a member of the VCU Alumni team, she provides alumni with meaningful opportunities to network, in-person and virtually, as she builds out a programming model that focuses on the industries in which our alumni work and not simply the academic areas in which they received a degree. Taylor will collaborate across the university in her efforts to engage alumni and strengthen their professional network.

Joy Heaton is a CPA who earned a bachelor's degree (double major) in accounting and mathematics. She worked in the banking, insurance, and software development industries for many years before returning to graduate school to earn a master's and doctorate in theology. In 2009 she was diagnosed as being in the final stage of blood cancer and was successfully treated at VCU's Massey Cancer Center, where she recovered fully. In 2012 she and her husband founded a small, nonprofit corporation, Just Compassion, which provides free medical and dental care via mobile units to underserved children in pockets of poverty throughout Virginia and West Virginia. While her husband manages the nonprofit during the week, she does public speaking/fundraising on the weekends. Heaton joined DAR staff in 2017 as a grateful patient/staff accountant. She loves giving back to the university that literally saved her life!

Ashley Burton is director of alumni reunion and recognition programs. Most recently, she worked at VCU's School of the Arts in Doha, Qatar, where she managed full-cycle planning of more than 40 events annually including festivals, commencement, open houses, exhibits, conferences, alumni reunions, award ceremonies, fundraising dinners, VIP visits and diplomatic receptions. Prior to her role in Qatar, she worked at the VCU Massey Cancer Center.

Lauren joined VCU Alumni as a project coordinator for outreach and engagement in February 2017 and became senior coordinator of alumni engagement events in August 2017. In her current role, she coordinates signature events for VCU Alumni, including the MCV Campus Reunion and recognition programs.

Before coming to Richmond, Lauren worked in the event planning field for five years in Rochester, New York. She received her B.A. in Communications Studies and Digital Media Arts from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, and is currently pursuing her Corporate Event Planning Certificate through the VCU Office of Continuing and Professional Education.

Parks Smith is the director of alumni volunteer programs and professional development. He formerly worked for the alumni relations office at his alma mater, Longwood University. He focuses his energies at VCU on enhancing the alumni volunteer experience and directs the alumni volunteer engagement strategy with a focus on how to recruit, train, retain and steward alumni into meaningful volunteer roles.