Winter Institute for Chief Development Officers

Faculty

Message From the Chair

Make plans to join fellow development leaders at the 2011 CASE Winter Institute for Chief Development Officers. Together, top professionals will explore the current fundraising climate and uncover solutions to create new momentum in your development program. Experienced or new in your position; small or large campus; public, private or independent-you will return home charged with specific initiatives to lead your program to the next level of performance. The Winter Institute will challenge, prepare and inspire you to make your mark.

Conference Chair

Susan H. Peirce
Executive Director of Development
Nova Southeastern University

Susan Peirce is enjoying a career in university advancement that includes annual giving, major and leadership gift fundraising, campaign management, athletic fundraising, and the development and management of comprehensive advancement programs.

Peirce joined Nova Southeastern University in 2009 as the executive director of development to provide leadership to NSU's first comprehensive capital campaign. Her advancement career began as supervisor of the student telemarketing program at West Virginia University. Promoted to director of annual giving at WVU, she later joined the Pennsylvania State University to lead the annual giving component of Penn State's first campaign and was later promoted to associate director of major gifts. She returned to her alma mater Chatham College as the director of institutional advancement, overseeing development and alumnae relations. She then joined Villanova University to direct its first comprehensive campaign. Peirce also helped in restructuring the development program as assistant vice president at Northern Illinois University and led Florida Atlantic University's first campaign as associate vice president. As vice president for university advancement at Saint Leo University, she strengthened alumni relations, public relations and fundraising programs to lead the university's first campaign.

Peirce earned her bachelor's degree in communication from Chatham College and her master's degree in educational leadership and educational policy studies from Northern Illinois University. She served as a member of the CASE Philanthropy Commission and is a recipient of the CASE Crystal Apple Award for Teaching Excellence.

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Faculty

Kelly Kerner
Vice President for College Advancement
Bates College

Kelly Kerner is vice president for college advancement at Bates College. He oversees the college's fundraising and alumni and parent relations programs for 22,500 Bates graduates worldwide.

Kerner came to Bates in August of 2008 from Middlebury College where he worked for 14 years and served as the director of leadership gifts. Prior to that, he spent three years at the University of Portland in Oregon as a development director and athletics marketing director. Kerner started his professional career in 1989 where he served as a sales and marketing executive for a sports apparel firm based in the San Francisco Bay area.

He earned a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and also holds an associate degree in humanities from Foothill College in Los Altos, Calif.

Kerner is a member of the CASE Commission on Philanthropy.

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Rickey McCurry
Vice President for Institutional Advancement and CEO, SIU Foundation
Southern Illinois University

Rickey N. McCurry has served as vice chancellor for institutional advancement and CEO, SIU Foundation at Southern Illinois University (SIU) since July, 2000. He oversees the activities of the SIU Foundation, the SIU Alumni Association, Constituent Relations and Special Events, and Advancement Services. Since arriving at SIU, McCurry has led the university to the successful completion of its first comprehensive campaign. "The Opportunity through Excellence" campaign raised over $106 million exceeding its goal.

McCurry previously served as associate vice chancellor of development and alumni affairs at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he served since 1993. He also served as campaign director for the highly successful, $175-million Knoxville phase of UT's "21st Century Campaign," and as acting vice chancellor from June 1997 to Sept. 1998. McCurry spent another nine years in various development positions at Meharry Medical College; The Pennsylvania State University; Indiana University of Pennsylvania; and Lane College.

He earned his juris doctorate degree at North Carolina Central University School of Law, and he is licensed to practice law in the State of Tennessee. Prior to law school he graduated summa cum laude from Lane College with a bachelor's degree in history.

McCurry is a member of the CASE Commission for Philanthropy and chair-elect of the Board of Directors for CASE V. In 2009, he received the Commonfund Institutionally Related Foundation Award presented by CASE International and Commonfund.

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Laura Toy
Principal Gifts Officer
Cornell University

Laura Toy has over 25 years' experience in advancement, including 20 at Cornell University. Her expertise is in the areas of individual giving, campaign management and board/volunteer engagement.

Toy currently serves as a principal gifts officer, focusing on a small group of families and individuals with capacity to give $10 million or more to the university. She served as associate vice president for four years, with primary responsibility for Cornell's $4 billion campaign, and for 18 months as interim vice president.

She served as campaign director during the planning stages of Cornell's current comprehensive campaign, laying out the early road map and strategic plan for the effort. Prior to that, she served as Cornell's director of college, unit and project development, responsible for alumni affairs and development initiatives in the university's colleges, unit, and professional schools, as well as for priority project fundraising. She led several special project campaigns, including an $18.2 million campaign to renovate and expand one of Cornell's oldest buildings for the department of music, a $200 million "Scholarship Challenge Campaign," and a $100 million campaign for athletics.

Toy's Cornell tenure began in the Department of Athletics, where she led alumni affairs and development efforts before assuming the role of associate athletic director of external affairs, with additional responsibilities for sports information, marketing and sports camps.

She spent seven years at the University of Missouri-Columbia and taught for four years in the Montpelier, Vt., public school system. She earned her undergraduate degree in education from the State University of New York at Cortland, and holds a master's degree in sport administration from Penn State.

Toy is a member of the CASE Commission on Philanthropy.

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Guest Speakers

Arthur Kirk, Jr.
President
Saint Leo University

In the years since Arthur Kirk arrived at Saint Leo University, his vision for Saint Leo to become a leading Catholic teaching university has guided the efforts of its faculty and staff. Enrollments have doubled and graduation rates have improved significantly. Seven new buildings have been constructed, seven others purchased, and several more extensively renovated and refurbished. Today the university's curriculum is more academically rigorous than at any time in the school's history. Student satisfaction, graduation rates, learning outcomes, and student engagement are constantly and consistently improving, as measured by national comparative studies. During Kirk's tenure, eight intercollegiate athletic teams have been added, all campus residential students are issued laptop computers, and new technologies are employed online and at all teaching locations to enhance the teaching and learning environment.

Kirk places a high priority on community service, so the university sponsors a community service day each semester with hundreds of students, faculty and staff volunteering their time at local charities. In addition, every athletic team engages in multiple service projects each year.

At Rutgers University, Kirk wrote his dissertation on small college survival strategies. He began his administrative career at Kean University where he served as assistant director of the Division of College Development and director of alumni affairs. He also served as director of development and planning for Raritan Valley Community College and directed the college's off-campus, non-credit and curriculum development programs.

Kirk has received honors and awards from Rutgers University, Kean University of New Jersey and Keuka College. He serves as a member of the board of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL), the Association of Governing Boards (AGB) Council of Presidents, and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities' (NAICU) Committee on Accountability. He is past chair of the president's council of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF), past vice president of the Florida Association of Colleges and Universities Board of Directors, and he currently serves on several corporate and community boards. Kirk served two terms as vice chair of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II President's Council and the NCAA Executive Committee.

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Julie Iacobelli
Senior Consultant
The Phoenix Philanthropy Group

Julie Iacobelli has been dedicated to the nonprofit field for 17 years, working with underserved youth, child victims of sexual abuse and persons with mental illness. She excels at leading, directing and transforming organizations through sound business practices and by developing staff and volunteers. She is former CEO for Communities In Schools of Arizona, where she accelerated program delivery from 8 to 110 schools. Her consulting expertise includes organization assessment, board and organizational development, writing fundraising plans, annual giving and capital campaigns. In 2002, she was named Executive Director of the Year by the Organization for Nonprofit Executives (ONE) and is a graduate of Valley Leadership (Class XXVI).

Her volunteer highlights includesthe City of Phoenix Early Childhood Task Force, Valley of the Sun United Way Agency Campaign Cabinet, ASU College of Community Programs' Dean's Resource Council, Mesa Historical Museum Board of Directors and Association of Fundraising Professionals.

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Craig Smith
Associate Vice President for Development
Rochester Institute of Technology

Craig Smith iis best known for his leadership, personal solicitation skills and gift planning know-how.

In Rochester, he first served the Center for Governmental Research as director of development, followed by more than a decade in planned giving, major gifts and management positions with the University of Rochester. He finished his career there as associate vice president for Medical Center Development, having helped lead a comprehensive campaign that raised $140 million for the Medical Center—topping out at 136 percent of goal.

He worked as a senior consultant with John Brown Limited from 1998 to 2007. He was responsible for directing client relations in higher education, the arts, healthcare and cultural organizations nationwide, including the National Geographic Society, the University of Michigan, all of the campuses of the University of North Carolina, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He worked on campaigns from as small at $6 million to $2.5 billion.

In 2007, Smith joined the Division of Development and Alumni Relations at Rochester Institute of Technology as associate vice president for development. He leads a group of 24 professionals in major gifts, corporate and foundation relations, and development communications that together helped raise $309 million for RIT in its recently-completed campaign.

Smith serves on a number of nonprofit boards; educating fellow board members on their role in successful fundraising; and presiding over nominating committees to help develop promising fundraising boards. His charitable giving is focused on children's causes, the environment and higher education.

He received his bachelor's degree from Saint Lawrence University.

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Donald Tapia
CEO
Essco Wholesale Electric

Donald Tapia grew up in Detroit and joined the Air Force, where he studied flight control, which later led him to a job as an air traffic controller. Tapia's entrepreneurial spirit would lead him to start his own business, Essco Wholesale Electric Inc., outside Phoenix. He began by selling supplies to contractors and eventually built a multimillion-dollar wholesale company—the largest Hispanic-owned company in Arizona, according to the Hispanic Business 500 list for 2008.

Tapia earned his bachelor's degree in business administration through Saint Leo University's Center for Online Learning. It took him three 1/2 years to earn a bachelor's degree. During that time neither his family nor friends knew he was taking classes online. In fact, just before boarding a plane for commencement at Saint Leo in 2005, Tapia mailed his family letters announcing his achievement.

He would go on to earn his master of business administration degree in 2007 through the graduate online offering at Saint Leo's School of Business. Tapia became an honorary member of the TKE fraternity at the university. When he's on campus Tapia is known for taking the brothers of TKE to dinner at one of Tampa's finest steak houses.

Last spring, Tapia made the largest gift in the school's history. It is helping to construct a state-of-the-art building that will house the School of Business and be named in appreciation of Tapia.

 

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