Harford Community College Foundation has announced that Denise Dregier has been appointed the foundation’s first executive director. She previously served as director for college and alumni development for Harford Community College since 2010. In addition, Natalie Shaw has been hired to serve as director for grants.
Establishing the executive director role and adding a director for grants will enable the foundation to grow its assets to help even more students each year. In addition to Dregier and Shaw, the Harford Community College Foundation team includes Jordan Williams, assistant director for development; Megan Pocta, event coordinator and gift officer; and Stacie Stover, administrative assistant.
Harford Community College Foundation, founded in 1989, is comprised of a 32-member board who work to raise funds to make a Harford Community College education affordable and accessible. Each year the foundation awards more than $400,000 in scholarships to students. Its grant portfolio has also helped the College to expand its course offerings into Southern Harford County, assisting with the establishment of Harford’s Leading Edge Training Center Powered by the Ratcliffe Foundation in Edgewood.
“We are so fortunate to have a strong team of fundraising professionals at the Harford Community College Foundation,” said Eric McLauchlin, chair of the board of the foundation. “The new operating structure will allow us to grow the foundation and do even more to provide an excellent education for Harford students.”
Dregier, foundation executive director, is an active member of the Harford County community. She serves on the board of directors of the Harford County Chamber of Commerce and co-chairs the chamber’s Education Committee. She also serves on the boards of the Community Foundation of Harford County and the Miracle League of Harford County.
In addition, she is a member of the Bel Air Rotary, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Maryland Chapter, and the Maryland Association of Community College Fundraising Professionals, where she serves as secretary.
Recently, Dregier was selected to be the College’s representative and co-chair of the North Star Fundraising Committee, an initiative established by Harford County Public Schools and Harford Community College. The North Star Pathway provides high school students with college experience or a career licensure upon graduation.
Dregier presented at a national CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) conference about the importance of creating an alumni engagement plan at a community college and how to promote quality alumni engagement. She shared practical tips for strengthening programs and discussed how to align alumni goals to the CASE alumni engagement metrics.
Shaw, the new director for grants, has been working in the field for five years, focusing on federal, state, local and foundation grants. Before coming to grant writing, she worked in law school admissions.
She holds degrees from the University of Richmond School of Law, University of Baltimore and Harford Community College. Shaw is a member of the Bel Air Lions Club where she has served on the Diabetes Committee. In addition, she was co-chair of the Bel Air Lions Foundation’s Scholarship Committee in 2019.
Harford Community College Foundation receives and administers private gifts, bequests and donations to benefit Harford Community College. Gifts to the foundation support programs, activities and student scholarships. To learn more about the foundation or how to establish a planned gift, contact Denise Dregier by phone at 443-412-2428 or by email at [email protected].
