Wilton Fontenette Named Executive Director of New Legacy Center

Wilton Fontenette

Fontenette joined the College in 2020. As a member of MMC’s Institutional Advancement leadership team, she has overseen signature alumni events, including the annual Alumni Reunion, while helping to steer the College’s major-gift and development efforts.

In announcing her appointment at the 2026 Alumni Reunion in May, Interim President Peter Naccarato said that Fontenette had proven to be an accomplished leader and loyal friend to MMC. “This position will require Wilton to make good use of all the skills—alumni relations, fundraising, event management, and team building—that she has excelled in since she joined us,” he said. “We are thrilled that she will be leading the center.”

A Louisiana native and classically trained singer, Fontenette earned a Bachelor of Music from Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge and a Master of Arts in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans. After a decade in the nonprofit arts sector, she moved into institutional advancement in 2008, holding positions at Saint Peter’s University, NYU, and NYU Langone Medical Center.

While her experience in non-profit management, fundraising, and alumni relations prepared her well for her role at MMC, it was her background in the arts that immediately helped her feel at home. “Coming to MMC felt like a full-circle moment for me as a classically trained vocalist and musician,” she said. “On my first visit to the College, I stepped inside Carson Hall and was greeted by incredible student artwork in the Hewitt Gallery, and in the Black and White, and saw a dance class happening in the Great Hall. Being in a space that amplified the arts, which are such an integral part of who I am, resonated strongly with me.”

Having spent the past six years building relationships with alumni and faculty, Fontenette said she is “honored to have the opportunity to steward the history and legacy of Marymount Manhattan College and create new opportunities to serve our alumni for decades to come.”

“In my time at the College, I’ve seen firsthand that our alumni have a genuine affection for the institution and a deep appreciation for the education they received. The bonds they’ve formed with classmates and professors remain strong, whether they graduated five years ago, 25 years ago, or 50 years ago,” she said.

Fontenette will work with Northeastern to select a physical home for the center. “I am entrepreneurial in spirit and having the opportunity to build something that will endure and that the community will identify with genuinely excites me,” she said.

In the meantime, she is focused on building the center’s infrastructure to ensure its success and growth, while operationalizing its key pillars—the preservation of MMC’s history and traditions, alumni and community engagement, and philanthropic activations.

Another priority is to give alumni meaningful opportunities to share their thoughts and ideas about the center and its development. This fall, Fontenette plans to survey alums and convene a series of roundtable discussions to gather feedback. “We want to give alumni a voice and get a sense of how they think the center can best serve them and reflect the spirit of the College,” she said.

For alums who would like to play a role in shaping the center, Fontenette emphasized the importance of staying connected by responding to communications, opting into mailings, and contacting the alumni relations team to ensure their contact information is up to date. “Those are all steps our alums can take right now,” she said.

Fontenette will also invite alumni to help preserve MMC’s history through the Marymount Manhattan College Memories Project, a visual storytelling initiative that will collect photos and videos documenting their experiences at the College. It’s another area in which she said interested alumni should watch for correspondence from the center.

More immediately, under the auspices of the center, a series of alumni events will be held in the coming months, including a happy hour with former MMC faculty members and a tour of the Morgan Library. During Homecoming Weekend, the center will host a conversation with alumna Laverne Cox ’96, an Emmy Award-winning actress, producer, and trans activist best known for her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. The calendar will also include a winter holiday celebration and the annual Alumni Reunion in the spring.

In addition, Fontenette said she looks forward to collaborating with Northeastern’s alumni relations team to engage the MMC alumni community nationwide. And since MMC alums will become part of the Northeastern alumni community post-merger, they will have opportunities to participate in events across the university’s global alumni network.

The work of connecting MMC alums to the larger Northeastern universe is already underway, she noted. For example, five alums submitted applications to Northeastern’s Women Who Empower Innovator Awards this spring, and one has advanced to the final round.

All told, Fontenette said she hopes that, within just a few years, the Marymount Manhattan Center will be known for its outstanding programs and as a vibrant living space that continues to amplify the Marymount Manhattan College spirit within the broader global network of Northeastern University. “I have always said where Marymount Manhattan College alumni are together, Marymount Manhattan College lives on.”

Published: June 26, 2026