The Stanford Alumni Association (SAA) appointed Michelle Landrey Cline B.A. ’93 MBA ’98 as president of the association and the university’s vice president for alumni affairs earlier this month. 

Landrey Cline is a longtime alumni volunteer and business executive. On Aug. 31, she will take on the association’s mission of engaging Stanford’s nearly 250,000 alumni to connect them with the university and each other.

“I was beyond grateful and thrilled that I was selected,” she said.

As president of the SAA, Landrey Cline will work closely with the association’s Board of Directors, which provides guidance on alumni programs and connects alumni to the university’s Board of Trustees. She will also report directly to President Jonathan Levin ’94 and serve on his cabinet in her joint position as vice president of alumni affairs.

Landrey Cline succeeds Howard Wolf ’80, who is retiring after 25 years leading the SAA. Wolf said it was time for someone new to have “the best job on campus.”

“I can’t tell you how excited I am about Michelle taking over,” he said. “She is everything we need to take this organization to the next level.”

Landrey Cline said her predecessor leaves “clownishly large” shoes to fill, calling Wolf “iconic.”

“His ability to authentically connect with people is… just inherent,” she said. “I hope to be able to do a version, even a small version, of that.”

Landrey Cline added that her goals included making the association a welcoming place, engaging alumni in new ways and meeting as many graduates as possible. 

She has worked as an alumni volunteer for over 30 years, serving as chair of the Alumni Committee on Trustee Nominations, chair of the Graduate School of Business (GSB) Alumni Association Board and chair of the Stanford Associates Board of Governors, among other leadership roles.

As an undergraduate, Landrey Cline served as president of the Stanford Student Alumni Network and received the James W. Lyons Award for Service. She has since received the Stanford Medal, the Governors’ Award and the Award of Merit in recognition of her volunteer work.

“Some would say I probably have a problem of addiction to Stanford,” she said. “It’s been kind of a wonderful, ongoing surprise that I’m able to continue to connect to the place that I love, but also to the people.”

Landrey Cline brings additional expertise in business management to the position. 

She served for 15 years as a senior executive at Business Talent Group, a marketplace for indepdendent consultants. Before that, she worked as a development officer for a venture capital firm, a consultant and a senior associate at Walt Disney Studios.

Wolf, who has known his successor for over two decades, highlighted three other qualities he believes make her the right person to fill the seat. First, her “unparalleled” love for the university, which both he and Landrey Cline called the most important job requirement. Second, Wolf described his successor as “wicked smart,” not just cognitively, but emotionally.

“In a job where you’re charged with trying to create lifelong, intellectual and emotional connections between the University of its graduates, EQ is every bit as important as IQ,” he said.

Third, Wolf said Landrey Cline cares deeply about the trajectory of the university.

“With the (amazing) staff and Michelle’s vision and new ideas, I think the Alumni Association is set for a wonderful course,” he said.

Vice President for University Affairs & Secretary to the Board of Trustees Megan Pierson, who co-chaired a committee that conducted the search for the next SAA president, echoed this sentiment.

“I’m confident Michelle has the leadership skills and the personal qualities to strengthen the lifelong bonds our alumni have with Stanford and with each other,” Pierson wrote to The Daily.

The search committee looked for someone who could honor Stanford’s alumni tradition and “evolve it to serve a broad global and multigenerational community,” Pierson wrote. The group, she added, considered leadership, volunteer experience, management philosophy, vision for the SAA and a “genuine passion for Stanford.”

Pierson said the committee also received “consistently outstanding feedback” about Landrey Cline’s energy, warmth, optimism and ability to build relationships.

Landrey Cline expressed excitement for the years ahead.

“My interactions with Stanford students, alumni, faculty, staff… really never failed to lift me up, to challenge me,” she said. “I now get to do that as my job on the daily. That’s pretty special.”