Flaspoehler Chosen as Next GAA President
After a nationwide search, the UNC General Alumni Association has announced the appointment of Veronica Mora Flaspoehler ’08 as the GAA’s next president, effective July 17.
Flaspoehler will succeed Douglas S. Dibbert ’70, who has led the association for nearly 41 years. She will oversee the 180-year-old, self-governed association and its award-winning programs, Carolina Alumni Review magazine and website. The GAA maintains detailed records on Carolina alumni, sponsors class and affinity group reunions, and creates programs for more than 356,000 living Carolina alumni.
Flaspoehler has been with Wells Fargo & Co./Wachovia since 2008, holding progressively senior compliance and operational risk roles within corporate risk, commercial banking, and investment banking. In her 15 years with the bank, she has supported and led the build-out of major domestic and international programs.
A selection committee of 12 current and former GAA board members and University administrators chose Flaspoehler from dozens of candidates.
“Veronica’s leadership, track record of excellence, and sustained service to the University and GAA inspired our committee and our entire GAA board,” said Lowry Caudill ’79, chair of the selection committee and incoming chair of the GAA Board of Directors. “We are thrilled to formally welcome Veronica as our next president.”
“The GAA staff are deeply committed, passionate leaders who work endlessly on behalf of our alumni,” said David Keesler ’84, chair of the GAA board. “Veronica is ready to lead that staff — and with them to embrace all that is great about what the GAA has been and also to envision and pursue what it can be in the future. I am personally delighted to have Veronica lead us at this important time for all UNC alumni.”
Flaspoehler grew up in Lincoln County after moving as a young child from Costa Rica to North Carolina. She received a bachelor’s from UNC in economics and public policy, with a minor in entrepreneurship. She has served on the Young Alumni Leadership Council and the UNC Board of Visitors, during which time she chaired the student services committee. Flaspoehler is a member of UNC’s Alumni Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity and chairs its Latino subcommittee. She also is a member of the advisory board for the Carolina Latinx Center.
“I am beyond thrilled to have been entrusted to lead the GAA as its next president,” Flaspoehler said. “As graduates of the nation’s first public university, we are connected not only by a rich history but by a shared belief that we can make a positive impact for future generations. I know firsthand that the GAA staff and board work tirelessly to provide our alumni with connectivity to the past, community for the present and inspiration for the future. I cannot wait to begin working with this team when I officially join later this summer, and I look forward to connecting with our alumni, learning from them, building relationships and charting our next chapter together.”
Flaspoehler will succeed Dibbert, who took over as head of the GAA in July 1982 and will retire May 31. Under his leadership, the association expanded programs, built the George Watts Hill Alumni Center and launched the Tar Heel Network. Dibbert served on the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, as president of the Council of Alumni Association Executives and chair of the board of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.
Flaspoehler, her husband Jon ’08, an ROTC graduate and Army veteran, and their two children, 9-year-old Mateo and 7-year-old Eliana, are looking forward to rejoining the Carolina community in Chapel Hill.
