Foundation Vice President Megan Mazzocchi will retire at the end of this month after four decades of service to the Morehead-Cain Program.
Today, January 7, marks the 40th anniversary of Mazzocchi’s first day of work at the Morehead-Cain Foundation, then known as the John Motley Morehead Foundation. The vice president’s last day at the Foundation will be Friday, January 24.
Mazzocchi has devoted nearly her entire working life to the Foundation, having joined the staff only two and a half years after her own graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Over the past four decades, she has worked on virtually every aspect of the Program and, in tandem with longtime Morehead-Cain Executive Director Chuck Lovelace ’77, led the way in the establishment and development of multiple initiatives, innovations, and expansions.
“Much of Megan’s work over the years was focused on the creation and production of outstanding print and digital communications,” said Morehead-Cain President Chris Bradford, “including annual alumni directories, the Year in Review, informative and inspiring brochures and newsletters, and websites. From her earliest years at the Foundation, she enthusiastically became the Program’s de facto historian and archivist, gathering and disseminating information on all things Morehead-Cain.”
Central to Mazzocchi’s tenure at the Foundation has been her warm and rewarding connection with current and past scholars. During the “Megan era,” approximately 2,500 Morehead-Cain undergraduates have passed through or are presently in the Program. In 1992, she, Lovelace, and colleague Forrest Page ’78 began formally advising scholars, and Lovelace and Mazzocchi continued to serve as advisors until 2008, when they brought full-time advisors on board. Whether in her advising role or not, she was always ready to lend an ear, coach a scholar through an issue or question, or set up an introduction or connection.
“Every member of our alumni community has a ‘Megan story’—a moment where she made a difference, helped them see the possibilities ahead, or shared her characteristic kindness and wisdom,” said Bradford. “The ripple effect of her impact will be felt for generations.”
Through her many years working on the selection process and the Summer Enrichment Program and planning and attending countless Morehead-Cain regional events as alumni director, Mazzocchi has worked with and befriended hundreds of alumni of the Program. She also led the planning and execution of every Morehead-Cain Alumni Forum for the past 20 years. She conceived many fun and enlightening new elements of the Forum—including the name, structure, and format of the SEVEN Talks, which began in 2009 and quickly became a perennial favorite. Her ability to remember the graduation years, hometowns, undergraduate majors, middle names, family members, and other details about so many Morehead-Cain Alumni was remarkable. And during the COVID era, as the staff rapidly pivoted to holding online alumni and scholar events, talks, and panel discussions, Mazzocchi took on the role of host and became the “on-air” face of the Foundation.
Mazzocchi’s fundamental belief that every person deserves to be treated with dignity and courtesy was at the core of her work, according to Lovelace.
“Megan set the standard for how we treat our scholars, our alumni, and our committee people,” said the former executive director, who worked with Mazzocchi for 37 years. “She is solely responsible for so much of the culture that you experience at the Foundation today. And above all, she was the ‘excellence police.’ Everything that we did was at a really high level, and it was her insistence on perfection in that regard that really took us to a wonderful place.”
Of great importance to Mazzocchi was safeguarding the Foundation’s purpose, mission, and values, established by John Motley Morehead III and his cousin John Lindsay Morehead and carried forward by the Foundation’s trustees and staff. With this in mind, the outgoing vice president crafted several documents over the years that outlined and codified the Foundation’s core values and cultural identity, and she attempted to model those values for the Morehead-Cain community every day.
“Megan has played a pivotal role in every evolution of our Program, and her dedication has truly shaped Morehead-Cain into the community it is today,” Bradford said. “Her positive influence has touched so many lives, and we are so grateful for the ways in which she’s modeled a commitment to community and leadership as truly a lifelong journey. Megan will be greatly missed, but her legacy will remain with us always.”
In a farewell message to the Morehead-Cain community, Mazzocchi shared one of the main reasons that she stayed at Morehead-Cain for so many years.
“I immediately felt a real sense of belonging, of what we all want from our jobs: ‘I am meant to be here and can do good work here,’” she said. “As the years went by and my roles changed, I never lost that feeling.”
In retirement, Mazzocchi plans to travel with her husband, Jay, and looks forward to spending as much time as possible with their daughters, sons-in-law, and grandsons.
“I leave this wonderful place and extraordinary family with a full heart,” Mazzocchi said, “and with confidence that the talented and dedicated Morehead-Cain staff—now numbering more than 20—led by Chris and with guidance and leadership from our Foundation trustees and Scholarship Fund Board directors, will take our Program into a very bright future.”
Morehead-Cain staff will honor Mazzocchi at a luncheon on January 24. Morehead-Cain Alumni are invited to celebrate Mazzocchi’s tenure at the 2025 Alumni Forum to be held in Chapel Hill this October.
