TACOMA, Wash. – Deanna Oppenheimer, recognized in both London and New York as one of the most powerful women in banking, commutes more than 9,500 miles round trip to lend a hand to two rather different institutions: one a giant European bank with offices around the globe; the other a small liberal arts college on the edge of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash. The flight across an ocean and a continent takes place several times a year, delivering Oppenheimer on one day to the London boardroom of Barclays U.K. Retail Banking where she is chief executive, and on another to the steps of Jones Hall at University of Puget Sound, where she attends trustee meetings, alumni homecomings, and student graduations.
This week the London banker’s judicious leadership, generosity with her time, and loyalty to her alma mater, University of Puget Sound, were recognized by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). The international association, representing more than 3,400 educational institutions from 63 countries, named Deanna Oppenheimer ’80 P’11, P’14 as the 2010 recipient of the Ernest T. Stewart Award for Alumni Volunteer Involvement, the highest honor given to alumni volunteers.
“Deanna’s leadership on campus, like her global reputation in business, has been both revolutionary and transformative, and has energized our alumni into an army of enthusiastic and engaged volunteers,” said Puget Sound President Ronald R. Thomas. “Her focus on strategy, transparency, and best business practices ensures that Puget Sound remains among the best managed and most exciting colleges in the country. She is an inspiration, and someone to whom I and all on campus who know her are grateful beyond words.”
Oppenheimer and four other recipients of CASE 2010 Distinguished Service Awards will be recognized at a luncheon on Monday, July 19, at the New York Marriott Marquis in conjunction with the CASE Summit for Advancement Leaders in New York City.
Chair of the board of trustees from 2003 until May this year, Oppenheimer was the first woman and the first Puget Sound graduate to lead the board at the 122-year-old college. She has volunteered in multiple capacities for more than 30 years, strengthening the academic and cocurricular experience of Puget Sound students, and encouraging campus members in the pursuit of ever higher achievements.
As board chair Oppenheimer played a guiding role in creating a strategic plan and 20-year campus master plan for Puget Sound. During her chairmanship the college developed a blueprint for an ambitious capital campaign to support these advances and senior class participation in the annual fund increased substantially to more than 50 percent. Oppenheimer’s passionate support of an alumni engagement plan also helped nurture a network of 400 volunteers in cities across the United States. Over the years she has held 12 distinct volunteer offices at the university, including membership of trustee and fundraising committees, the Legacy Society, and the Puget Sound National Alumni Board. She also contributed as a reunion organizer and public speaker.
With her husband, John Oppenheimer ’80, the former magna cum laude graduate has established endowed funds for scholarships and student activities, and has inspired trustee engagement with the annual fund and capital giving. As the parent of a rising senior and a new freshman at Puget Sound, Oppenheimer has understood the perspective of parents, and helped the university envision and execute its current student recruitment plan.
Oppenheimer also extends her time and talents to help the communities around her. In London she serves as a mentor with “The Women of the Year” awards, and as a board member of the International Women’s Forum. In Washington state she supports Seattle’s Children’s Theatre and the Seattle Foundation, and is a charter member of the Advisory Council for Amara, an organization supporting families with vulnerable children.
Four years ago when Oppenheimer arrived on the British banking scene, U.S. Banker magazine ran a cover feature with the headline “She Came, But Can She Conquer? (maybe).” A year later the same magazine listed Deanna Oppenheimer as one of the most powerful women in banking and concluded, “As the only female member of the Global Retail and Commercial Banking business leadership team at Barclays, Deanna Oppenheimer … has transformed that division from an underperforming business to one of the top assets under the Barclays umbrella.”
In a similar vein she has overseen ongoing growth and transformation at Puget Sound, wrote President Thomas in his letter of recommendation to CASE. Her volunteer leadership has “been critical to Puget Sound’s continued development as a selective liberal arts college of the first rank,” he wrote.
The business accolades that have marked Oppenheimer’s career are many. U.S. Banker named her one of the most powerful women in banking on five occasions. The London-based publication, The Business, rated her as the seventh most powerful woman in the City of London in 2006. And in 2007 she was awarded the Business Communicator of the Year Award by the British Association of Communicators in Business.
CASE is a professional association serving educational institutions and the professionals who work on their behalf in alumni relations, communications, development, marketing, and allied areas. For more details on the CASE 2010 Distinguished Service Awards view: http://bit.ly/aMDmNz
Press-quality photos of Deanna Oppenheimer can be downloaded from: Press Photos - University of Puget Sound.
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