RAISE Podcast

As Vice Chancellor for Advancement and the Executive Vice President of the UC San Diego Foundation, Ann Spira holds the overall managerial responsibility for all university fundraising campaigns and transformational initiatives. In addition, Ann provides the strategy and facilitation of the top-tier volunteer leadership for the Campaign for UC San Diego, which successfully concluded at $3 billion....

Daniel "Dan" Frezza is chief advancement officer of Institutional Advancement and executive director of the College of Charleston Foundation. He began this position in February 2023. Frezza leads an organization of professionals engaged in a coordinated, campus-wide approach to university development, alumni relations, stewardship and advancement services in efforts to establish and grow a culture...

Brittney Snyder is the Assistant Vice President for Unit Development at the ASU Foundation where she leads a team of fundraising professionals who are embedded within colleges at ASU. Brittney provides vision, strategy, and support to fundraising teams in advancement of the ASU charter. With more than 12 years of industry experience, she has demonstrated expertise in the areas of major gifts, gran...

Eloise Dunn Brice joined the University of Houston System in 2012 as vice chancellor for advancement for the University of Houston System and vice president for advancement for the University of Houston. Eloise is responsible for overseeing UHAA, fundraising, and volunteer engagement. Additionally, she serves as a member of the President’s Cabinet. She leads a system wide organization of over 175...

Tamara Michel Josserand has more than three decades of successful experience working in institutional advancement, strategic leadership and stakeholder management roles. She currently serves as the vice president for development at the University of Washington. In this role, she leads the university’s fundraising efforts by partnering with the development team and University, philanthropic and civ...

With over 30 years of experience in higher education advancement, David Lively has directed successful development strategies across five comprehensive fundraising campaigns. Lively joined Northwestern University in January 2012 and in his current role managed "We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern," a $6.1 billion University-wide fundraising campaign. At Northwestern, he oversees a team of 60 de...

Jenna Goodman is Co-Founder & CEO of Generous Change. As a fundraiser, she managed the largest team at KU Endowment, contributing toward a record total for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences in a $1.6B campaign. Previously, she raised funds for her alma mater, the University of Central Missouri. While still in college, she bought, ran, and sold a drive-thru espresso shop.

Justin Fincher is Vice President for Advancement and Executive Director of the Stony Brook Foundation. Reporting directly to President McInnis and serving as a member of her senior management team, Fincher provides leadership for the university’s development and alumni relations operations. Since 2013, while at Ohio State University (OSU), Fincher has been responsible for strategy, operations, and...

Bill Miller is passionate about working with nonprofit organizations. He has assisted regional, national, and international organizations with major gift initiatives, annual giving programs, planning and feasibility studies, development audits and philanthropic capability assessments, endowment programs, board training and development, corporate and foundation relations, prospect research, and cam...

For more than two decades Becky Fullmer has been designing and driving organizational growth and performance improvement strategies, with much of her career spent in higher education philanthropy. She serves as the Associate Vice President for Advancement Operations at the University of Central Florida, where she leads the IT, Prospect Development, Records and Gifts, Donor Relations, and Operation...

Greg Willems has served as president and chief executive officer of the KSU Foundation since February of 2022. Willems has held executive fundraising positions at the University of Hawai’i, University of British Columbia and Texas A&M. Prior to his development work, he worked in the corporate sector in the construction and insurance industries. Most recently, Willems served as vice president o...

Kristin Sorenson is the Vice President of Development at the West Point Association of Graduates. She joined the WPAOG in November 2009. During her tenure, over $803M has been raised to support West Point’s Margin of Excellence and the Long Gray Line. Her 30 years of development experience includes serving as the Senior Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations at The New School in New Y...

Steve Rosfeld is Vice President for Development at the University of Cincinnati Foundation. In this role, he leads fundraising efforts of 10 main campus colleges and units, and Bearcats athletics. Additionally, Steve leads the central development team that services the University of Cincinnati and UC Health through specialties involving donor relations, national development, gift planning, corpora...

Michael Reza is an established leader that believes higher education can transform the lives of individuals, communities, and society. This belief drives his passion for the work that we do as Advancement professionals. Michael currently serves as the Associate Vice President, Portland Development & Alumni Engagement at the University of Oregon. He leads the Portland, OR regional advancement s...

Bernard “B.J.” Davisson is executive vice president for development and chief development officer at the West Virginia University Foundation where he oversees all facets of private fundraising. This includes having led the closing years of the Foundation’s historic and successful $1.2 billion “State of Minds” comprehensive campaign. A senior executive with over 30 years of experience in both highe...

With more than 25 years of fundraising experience, Cheryl Crounse has a passion for high-impact work in higher education and is driven by the opportunities that philanthropy can provide to advance excellence in support of equitable student success. She was appointed as vice president of advancement of Salem State University and executive director of the University’s in 2019. In her current role, C...

Scott Roberts holds an associate’s degree from Missouri State University–West Plains, a bachelor’s from the College of the Ozarks, and a master’s in public administration from the University of Nevada–Las Vegas. After college he played professional basketball in Germany and Sweden for two years. Roberts first entered the world of fundraising as a district executive for the Boy Scouts of America. H...

A Brooklyn, New York native, Dr. Kirk A. Nooks was appointed to serve as the President of Gordon State College effective June 1, 2018. His career spans both the private and public sector which leverages over 25 years of education and engineering experience. Before transitioning to a career in higher education, Nooks worked as an engineering project manager at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center and...

Brian T. Hervey serves as the vice chancellor for University Advancement and Alumni Relations and the president of the UCI Foundation at the University of California, Irvine. He provides leadership over all aspects of the university’s fundraising programs, alumni relations and development initiatives. Before his appointment as vice chancellor, Brian served as associate vice chancellor for UCI Heal...

About Reshunda Dr. Reshunda Mahone is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving at North Carolina State University. With over twenty years of advancement and development experience, she has supported every aspect of higher education fundraising. Dr. Mahone has previously held fundraising roles at Emory University, Virginia State University, Spelman College, the Universi...

Mo Cotton Kelly was named senior vice president for stakeholder engagement and chief operating officer (SVP-COO) at the UConn Foundation with responsibility for driving operational and capital campaign strategy, overseeing key administrative functions, and guiding a culture of inclusivity. Cotton Kelly manages the departments of alumni relations, marketing and communications, annual giving, stewar...

Kimberly Russell, Ed. D, vice president for University Advancement, Texas Woman's University. Russell has served as chancellor of Louisiana State University’s Eunice campus for the past three years, following more than two decades of leadership in advancement, foundations, corporate relations and grants for public and private higher education institutions. During her leadership at LSU, enrollment...

Jonah Nigh joined The New School in September 2021 as Senior Vice President of Development and Alumni Engagement. In this role, Jonah leads The New School’s strategic fundraising, institutional advancement, alumni engagement, corporate, and foundation relations. He came to The New School from the Jewish Museum, where he served as the Director of Major Gifts, Senior Director of Individual Giving, a...

Shomari White is the Senior Associate Vice President, Resource Advancement, Emory University. Shomari has a strong track record of leading non-profit organizations through successful strategic planning and change management. As a former frontline fundraiser, his focus has been leading teams to deliver technology, analytics, and reporting that creates a donor centric environment while positioning f...

Matthew Hodge joined the University of Maryland as vice president for university relations in July 2022. Reporting directly to President Darryll Pines and serving on the leadership cabinet, he leads a team of 200+ advancement professionals responsible for generating private philanthropic and volunteer support among the university’s alumni and friends, and for best-in-class engagement of donors. Un...