Eric Kuckhoff named Alumni Association president

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Eric Kuckhoff

Eric Kuckhoff ’84 (chemistry) is the new president of the Alumni Association.

Kuckhoff assumed this position on Jan. 1. As president of the Alumni Association, he leads the Alumni Association Board of Directors and serves a two-year term as the board representative to the Board of Trustees.

The function of the Alumni Association Board of Directors is to act as the advisory body to the Office of Alumni Relations and represent the alumni population by contributing ideas and opportunities that will enhance the relationship between alumni and the university.

Kuckhoff, vice president and general manager for North America at Cargill in the industrial specialties group, has been a member of the board since 2007 and served as its vice president for the last two years. The industrial specialties group uses bio-based materials to make industrial products. He was the founder and operating partner of Polystar LLC and previously worked at Cytec Industries and The Dow Chemical Company.

He attributes his success to his education and experiences at RIT and views his role as an opportunity to give back to the institute through increasing the board’s visibility and elevating the voice of alumni to the institute.

As president of the association, Kuckhoff worked to develop a new committee structure to strengthen the board’s relationship with the Office of Alumni Relations and align more closely with RIT’s strategic plan. He hopes the four new committees— pride and recognition, institutional support, regional volunteer engagement and RIT for Life—will increase the board’s visibility as a problem solving resource to the Office of Alumni Relations and encourage greater alumni connections with RIT.

“Our goal is twofold. One is to be the advisory board to Alumni Relations by providing the voice of the alumni to the institute,” Kuckhoff said. “The second part is to demonstrate leadership in what alumni are capable of doing at RIT.”

The Alumni Association Board of Directors is composed of approximately 30 members who represent more than 118,000 alumni.

“Our vision for the board is to build upon our successes thus far and use this momentum in the committees to drive our programs and content resulting in greater alumni engagement with the institute,” Kuckhoff said. “We are looking for ways to help people come back to RIT whether it’s through financial support, volunteer work, charity events, speaking to students or mentoring, it’s vital that alumni recognize there are many ways to contribute—they just need to be willing to participate.”

Related story: Meet College of Science Distinguished Alumnus Eric Kuckhoff