Alzheimer’s nonprofit’s president/CEO to retire

After more than 12 years at the helm, Nancy Udelson has announced she will retire effective June 30.

After more than 12 years at the helm of the Cleveland Area Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, Nancy Udelson has announced she will retire effective June 30.

The president and CEO said every step of her career path prepared her for top chapter leadership at the Alzheimer’s Association. That path ranged from serving in the dean’s office at Cleveland State University’s College of Urban Affairs, then as alumni director at the university, to running all facets of a hospital trustee education program at the Center for Health Affairs, to alumni director and major gifts fundraiser at Case Western Reserve University.

However, Udelson said nothing could prepare her for the connection she forged with chapter staff and volunteers.

“Honestly, volunteers are the lifeblood of this organization,” Udelson said in a news release. “I can’t thank them enough. I’ve come to know so many of the volunteers personally and they are amazing.” Udelson counts the years 2015 and 2016 when the Cleveland Area Chapter was named Alzheimer’s Association “Top Performing Chapter” in the U.S. in strategic goal attainment as a source of great pride and accomplishment achieved by all staff serving in every facet of the organization.

“Under Nancy’s leadership, the Cleveland Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association has built significant local awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, provided exceptional care and support services to those impacted by the disease, and has raised much needed funds for Alzheimer’s research,” said Robert Bazzarelli, chairman of the Cleveland Area Chapter board of directors, in the release.

While Udelson said she will take many wonderful memories with her, one encounter with a group of individuals with mild memory loss and their caregivers has made a lasting impression.

“The first time I went to an early-stage group … I was struck by the joy in the room,” she said in the release.

As part of the program, one by one, each person could say something about what they’d done since the last time the group met.

It was the response of one man that Udelson said she can’t forget.

“He said, ‘The doctor says I have to stop driving. So I gave my car to a college student.’”

Instead of being angry or depressed about the loss of his driving privileges, the man chose to do something kind for someone else.

Udelson and her husband, Dr. Les Rosenberg, reside in Beachwood. She plans to golf and enjoy more time with family in retirement.

Udelson