The Rhodes Trust is delighted to announce the arrival of Rodolfo Lara as Director for Programmes and Alumni Relations. This new role brings together responsibility for both programmes aimed at current Scholars, Senior Scholars, friends of Rhodes, as well as external clients, and also for building life-long strong relationships with Senior Scholars throughout the world. Rodolfo joins the Rhodes Trust after 8 years working at the World Economic Forum in various roles, including leading its Technology Pioneers Programme and managing the development and relationship of WEF’s partners in Europe and Latin America.
The new role of Director for Programmes and Alumni Relations will build on the Rhodes Scholarships’ reputation as the oldest and perhaps the most prestigious international graduate scholarship programme in the world, and extend its reach and influence into new areas. There has been an increase in convening Rhodes Scholars together in recent years, and feedback after the 110th Rhodes Anniversary suggested that it was something Rhodes Scholars were keen to see grow even further. In 2015 Rhodes House hosted very successful conferences on the future of Higher Education in Africa and Asia and on innovations within biomedicine. As well as meeting face-to-face, the Rhodes Trust has also facilitated strong links between Scholars in the virtual world, with the launch of the Rhodes Scholar Network.
In his new capacity, Rodolfo’s key focus will be to build partnerships at the highest levels in order to develop transformative learning opportunities for current and former Scholars, as well as those with no formal connection to Rhodes. Rodolfo commented: “The Rhodes Trust has brought together and supported some of the brightest minds in the world for longer than a century. Scholars have pursued not only educational excellence, but also values-driven leadership at the highest level. I feel privileged to be able to contribute to this endeavour through high-impact programmes. I look forward to working closely with the unique Rhodes Scholars Network to ensure it becomes stronger than ever, and also to meeting Rhodes Scholars at events both at Rhodes House and around the world.”