ACUI Welcomes Two Regional Directors

ACUI welcomes two regional directors, Anthony Otero from Rutgers University–New Brunswick, and Stephen McCay, from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Regional directors serve as the chief administrator of their region, representing regional activities to other ACUI leaders and members. Through this role, Otero and McCay will have the opportunity to make a positive impact on campus community through engaging regional programs and to obtain career development as a visible leader in the profession.

McCay will serve as the new director of Region III, which includes seven states in the southeastern U.S. Currently the associate director of operations at the University of Southern Mississippi, McCay has served in different volunteer capacities with ACUI since 2015, including as a Region III business manager and as a Region II conference coordinator since 2019. He served on the I-LEAD curriculum review team from 2019-2020, was part of the Building Manager Virtual Seminar planning team last year, and has been a subject matter expert and faculty for ACUI’s Building Management 101.

Otero will serve as the returning director for Region VII, which includes six states in the mid-Northeast and Quebec. Currently the director of meetings and events at Rutgers, Otero began volunteering with ACUI in 2002 when he served as part of the host regional conference team from Syracuse University. He has also served several years at the regional social media chair, was COMP co-lead for nearly five years, was inclusivity director for four years, before becoming director of Region VII in 2020.

Otero said the most important issue for Region VII was membership engagement and retention. “We are all suffering through staff shortages and ever-growing workloads. Couple that with folks retiring and there have been key knowledge points lost as we try to move forward with regional programming,” he said. “We must figure out ways to engage new professionals and partner with existing volunteers to push the association forward.”

McCay said membership engagement, student involvement, and thinking differently were key issues for Region III. “ACUI is as strong as its members. As we continue to have more in-person events, we must find ways to reengage the membership,” he said.  Students are at the heart of what we do at our campuses and in ACUI. While there are association level opportunities for students to be active, the region can involve students in more ways than just the regional conference.” And on thinking differently, “We must embrace what COVID-19 has taught us about what we value and how we can do our work differently.”