2008: Spring Profiles in Philanthropy

Chris Noyer Seaver ’81 was an economics major at Amherst, but she took courses in everything from art history to genetics. She spent four years on the squash team. She also played field hockey, lacrosse and tennis; worked at Valentine and at athletic events; and dabbled in student government and writing for the Amherst Student.

Early in her career, she worked in the foreign exchange markets and earned an M.B.A. at Stanford, where she met her husband, Alex Seaver. She became associate director of the San Francisco Ballet. She later did marketing and strategic planning for a Silicon Valley start-up before she segued into the executive-search field.

Chris had four children in four and a half years. After her third was born, she opted to stay home with her kids. At that point, she became active in philanthropic causes in her Palo Alto, Calif., community. Even­tually, she volunteered to write a six-day-a-week newspaper column about the goings on in the local public schools.

Chris and her family now live in New Canaan, Conn., where she is on the boards of St. Luke’s School and a local chapter of the National Charity League. Her oldest, Jack ’11, is at Amherst. Brendan and Maggie are in high school, and Kelly will join them next year.

Chris has volunteered for the Annual Fund and the Office of Alumni and Parent Programs. She was vice president of her class for five years and is currently class president. She was lead-gifts chair for her 25th reunion. Now co-chair of the Annual Fund, she says that serving Amherst is “genuinely one of the most rewarding things that I do.”

Thoughts on giving to Amherst: “I think you give back to places that have been good to you. I feel very strongly that Amherst provides the best undergraduate education in the country. Students discover themselves at Amherst and then go out and do great things. I want as many people as possible to have that opportunity.”

To learn more about how you might support Amherst, contact: Timothy A. Neale ’70, Director of Gift Planning, Amherst College, Amherst, MA 01002-5000; (413) 542-8256; taneale@amherst.edu; www.amherst.edu/alumni/giving.

Photo by Samuel Masinter '04