Mibs Mara (photo: Denise Applewhite)
People
Spotlight
Name: Mibs Mara.
Position: Assistant director for Reunions in the Office of the Alumni Association. Guiding alumni volunteers through the process of planning and implementing a major reunion with resources such as handbooks, checklists and meetings. Working with various offices throughout the University to coordinate and manage the logistics of Reunions.
Quote: “I work with volunteers from the first reunion all the way through the 65th, and it’s so gratifying to be part of this long and proud tradition at Princeton. It is especially a joy to work with the many loyal alumni volunteers, students and campus colleagues involved with Reunions.”
Other interests: Boating and playing tennis with her husband, Phil, and their children, 16-year-old P.J. and 14-year-old Charlotte. Gardening. Traveling internationally. Vacationing in Maine.
Appointment
William Layton, who has been serving as acting director of corporate and foundation relations, has been named to the permanent post following a national search. The appointment was made effective immediately.
William Layton
Layton joined the Princeton staff as associate director of corporate and foundation relations in July 2005 and was appointed acting director in September 2006 after Norman McNatt retired.
“We carried out a full search and Bill prevailed,” said A.J. Stewart Smith, dean for research, to whom Layton reports. “We feel that he is the best person for the job.
“I have come to know and highly respect Bill and feel we are fortunate to have him at Princeton,” Smith continued. “He’s becoming very well known for his efforts to foster not only philanthropic relationships with corporations and foundations, but genuine research partnerships that will be of great benefit to the faculty and the University.”
Smith noted that Layton already has spearheaded a number of interdisciplinary fundraising projects and has taken a lead role in establishing corporate research affiliate programs and collaborative research ventures.
As director of corporate and foundation relations, Layton will lead and manage a centralized operation responsible for building partnerships with corporations and foundations resulting in grants, gifts and research collaborations to support a wide range of University-wide, departmental and program needs. The position has a “dotted-line” reporting relationship to the director of development.
Before coming to Princeton, Layton served as director of corporate and foundation relations at the University of Texas-Austin for a year and as associate director of corporate and foundation relations at Stanford University’s School of Engineering for two years. He also worked in marketing at Hewlett-Packard for seven years.
Layton earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Drew University, and a master of business administration degree from the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain.
