HU professional takes on new position

TIFFIN --- An 18-year professional of alumni engagement, fundraising and career services at Heidelberg University has taken on a new position. Ashley Helmstetter was recently named associate vice president for Advancement, Alumni Engagement, and Community Relations. In her new role, Helmstetter is now overseeing all institutional fundraising, donor stewardship, alumni engagement, community development, and the HYPE Career Ready® program at HU. "Ashley has done an excellent job building strong relationships with our alumni and donors, with colleagues on campus and in the community," said Heidelberg's President, Rob Huntington. "I am confident that she will continue her strong leadership of the Advancement, Alumni Affairs and Community Relations team, and her many and varied contributions to Heidelberg and the community will continue to have a positive impact going forward in this new and expanded role." "I am excited to be leading a strong team committed to making Heidelberg better for our students and all of our constituencies," Helmstetter said in a release provided by the university. "I am also looking forward to developing even deeper connections to our communities of Heidelberg, Tiffin, Seneca County and beyond." Helmstetter began her Heidelberg career as the director of The Heidelberg Fund in January of 2007. Since then, she has demonstrated success in Alumni Affairs, Major Gifts, HYPE Career Ready® and Placement, and Advancement Services, according to information provided by the university. Helmstetter has also helped organize HU's Alumni Weekend and homecoming for over a decade. She is credited with leading the merger of Heidelberg's Fellows Organization and the Alumni Council into one alumni leadership body. In major gifts, Helmstetter is primarily responsible for the largest gift in Heidelberg's history—$7.8 million from the estate of alumna Frann Zverina '74, who passed away in October 2018. "I hope to build a strong and successful team that tackles every opportunity head-on and as a result, will achieve all that we set out to do together to move Heidelberg forward," Helmstetter said. Helmstetter was also one of the original grant writers who secured funding from the National Machinery Foundation to create and launch Heidelberg's HYPE Career Ready® program seven years ago, according to the university. She has worked with her team and Heidelberg's faculty to revamp and streamline HYPE, which is a graduation requirement for 'Berg students. Helmstetter has overseen Advancement Services for the past year while simultaneously collaborating on several significant initiatives on campus. She is also a founding member of The Patricia Adams Lecture Series Logistics Committee and currently also serves on the PALS Speaker Selection Committee. Along with colleague Bob Youngblood, Helmstetter created the Student Alumni Association, which is designed to introduce students to the ideals of philanthropy early in their lives. "The HU community brings me so much more than I could ever put into words," Helmstetter said. "They are my family, they are my home—or Sweet Alma Home, as we like to say—and they make me excited to come to 'work' every day. I put work in quotes because when you really do love what you do, it doesn't feel like work. I genuinely love this thing that I have the privilege to do called 'work' at Heidelberg. My two children have grown up on this campus and have gotten to experience incredible music and theatre performances, spirited athletic competitions, fun and engaging student life activities, and countless meals in the Hoernemann Refectory over the years. They even get to know some of our current students and know many alumni." Locally, Helmstetter currently serves on the Board of the Seneca Regional Chamber of Commerce and is the second vice chair of the Tiffin-Seneca United Way Board of Directors. She also serves as chair of the Hayes Presidential Center Development Committee and is a past member of the Tiffin-Seneca Economic Partnership Downtown Business Enhancement Committee. "My hope is that I bring trust, reliability, dedication, a strong work ethic, and ultimately that I enhance the lives of all those I encounter in some way, the way that they do mine," she said.