Meet the Leadership Team

Monica Parker-James serves as Associate Dean for the Feld Center for Career & Alumni Engagement, where she provides strategic vision and leadership across industry engagement, career services, career operations, and alumni engagement at Questrom. A seasoned leader with over thirty years of experience spanning formal and informal education, Monica’s expertise includes transforming learner experiences, driving strategic planning and quality improvement, and developing high-impact programs and initiatives for complex, mission-driven organizations. Her career includes senior leadership roles at Boston University, Harvard University, and the Museum of Science, Boston.

Monica holds a Doctor of Education with a concentration in Organizational Leadership from Northeastern University. A proud triple-Terrier, she earned her BS and MS in Mass Communication and a Graduate Certificate in Fundraising Management from BU. Outside of work, Monica is a mom of four — Maggie (BU COM 2018), Libby (BU CAS and KHC 2020), Caroline (BU CAS 2029), and Rhys, who has his sights set on playing hockey for BU in 2030. Her love for BU runs so deep that she adopted her dogs Ella and Mabel after they were advertised as Boston Terriers. (They are, in fact, black-and-white super-mutts.)

Lucy van Beever is the Senior Director of Career Operations at the Feld Center for Career & Alumni Engagement, where she leads the strategy and operations behind employer engagement, career initiatives, recruiting systems, and office administration, partnering across Questrom and Boston University to deliver programs and services that support student and alumni career success.

With more than 15 years at BU and a background spanning higher education, hospitality, retail, health and wellness, and entrepreneurship, Lucy brings a broad perspective on organizational growth, talent development, and employer engagement. In her current role, she leads the operational infrastructure behind the Feld Center’s programs and services, working alongside her team to plan, implement, and continuously improve the School’s career ecosystem. She also onboards and trains new team members, ensuring staff have the systems, resources, and knowledge needed to serve students, alumni, and employer partners effectively.

Previously at the Feld Center, Lucy served concurrently as Industry Relations Manager (IRM) for the Social Impact MBA program and Director of Employer Engagement. In her IRM role, she coached MBA students and cultivated employer relationships that expanded mission-driven internship and career opportunities. As Director of Employer Engagement, she helped strengthen the Feld Center’s career operations, overseeing employer events, recruiting systems, technology implementation, and operational processes. Prior to joining Questrom, Lucy served as Associate Director of Employer Engagement at BU’s Center for Career Development, where she led employer engagement strategy across the university, supported students and alumni in their job and internship searches, and developed new approaches to strengthen recruiting relationships, including the university’s first nonprofit career fair and recruiter-led mock interviews. She also directed the university-wide implementation of Handshake. Earlier, as Assistant to the Dean at the School of Hospitality Administration, she supported two consecutive deans and stepped in to advise students and manage employer relations during a leadership transition.

Before joining BU, Lucy founded and operated a consulting practice working directly with founders and early-stage companies on strategy, market entry, commercialization, and operational growth — helping organizations move from idea to execution across retail, health and wellness, and consumer sectors.

Lucy holds an M.S. in Administrative Studies from Boston University and a B.S. in Hotel Management from Cornell University.

Martha Day Sanford joined the Feld Center for Career & Alumni Engagement in September 2023. Prior to joining the Feld Center, Martha Day was with McKinsey & Company for 25+ years in Talent Attraction. Most recently, Martha Day was leading McKinsey’s relationship-building with top business schools to secure talent for McKinsey’s North American Offices and was splitting time between the Boston and New York offices. Martha Day has had a broad career with McKinsey which also included leading Recruiting for the Asia Pacific offices while based in Shanghai, China, and leading Recruiting for the UK while based in London, England. Martha Day has deep expertise in Assessment and helped launch McKinsey’s global use of a digital gaming exercise to assess capabilities.

At the Feld Center, Martha Day will lead our team of Industry Relationship Managers who are building connections with companies that are excited to hire Questrom students.

Martha Day has a Master of Education from Tufts University. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Trinity College (Hartford, CT) in Religious Studies.

Dee Polat joined the Feld Center for Career & Alumni Engagement in January 2024 as the Director of Alumni Engagement, bringing with her over a decade of experience in the realm of alumni engagement. Her diverse background encompasses a range of skills, including strategic planning, alumni initiatives, fundraising, industry relations, career services, program and events management, CRM expertise, and marketing.

In her most recent position as a Career Counselor and GEL Instructor at California State University, Dee was dedicated to guiding students and alumni in their career exploration and development. She also served as the career liaison to the College of Business Administration and taught the mandatory career readiness course for freshmen students.

During her tenure as the Assistant Director of Alumni Career Engagement at the University of San Diego, Dee played a pivotal role in launching several innovative initiatives aimed at supporting a community of over 65K alumni including a campuswide mentorship program, an alumni job board, and an engaging webcast series. Additionally, she co-led the university’s annual hiring campaign, contributing to its success. In her earlier role as the Associate Director of Alumni Engagement for St. Joseph’s University, Dee managed recent alumni programming, and re-branded and expanded the university’s mentorship and webinar programs for the Brooklyn campus. As a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation, Dee also served as an outplacement coach at the global job search assistance firm IMPACT Group, providing personalized guidance to employees in their job search efforts.

Dee’s educational background includes a BA in international relations from Bilkent University in Turkey, a master’s in public affairs from Indiana University, a Master’s degree in leadership studies from the University of San Diego, and a Diploma in Advanced Coaching from New York University. She is a certified CliftonStrengths, Strong Interest Inventory, and MBTI practitioner. Outside of her professional pursuits, Dee is a mom of three girls who loves baking and ice skating.

Trish has been with the Feld Center for Career & Alumni Engagement on the Undergraduate Career Advising team since November 2015. She currently serves as the Director of Undergraduate Career Services & Strategy where she manages an incredible team of Undergraduate Career Advisors who help students to construct and tailor professional documents, increase interview preparedness, discuss job and internship search modalities, strategize networking efforts, and provide support in career exploration, negotiation of salaries, and navigation of opportunities. Trish also co-leads all curriculum content and design for the Executive Skills Career courses required for all Questrom Undergraduates.

Prior to joining the Feld Center, she worked at The Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst and the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University of Chicago. Before joining Higher Education, she worked for several years in Human Resources doing recruiting, talent management, and succession planning. Trish completed her B.B.A. in Management at Stetson University in Deland, FL and her M.A. in Organizational and Counseling Psychology at Adler University in Chicago, IL. Trish enjoys bringing a business and psychology background to working with students and is often described as disarmingly approachable. Whether teaching or in appointments, she aims to be honest, thorough, and direct, but will also regularly inject a pop culture reference, funny analogy, or terrible pun in as well.

Outside of work Trish is an avid sports fan who will cheer on EVERY Chicago sports team! She spent several years playing semiprofessional women’s tackle football but sticks to less contact sports now. On the weekends, you can find her with her wife and son trying every type of cuisine in the city, sampling New England craft breweries, complaining about winter, and trying to pretend she isn’t crying about the latest seasons had by the Chicago Bears, Bulls, Sky, Cubs, Stars, or Blackhawks. (PS – BEAR DOWN!)