Astria L. Smith is the senior executive director for annual giving and alumni relations at Southern Methodist University. She provides strategic leadership and direction for efforts that engage, solicit and steward SMU alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends. Her role allows her to integrate several areas of passion and expertise, including front-line fundraising, annual giving stewardship, multi-channel direct marketing, volunteer management and alumni engagement.

Smith holds a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University and master’s degrees from both Amberton University and SMU. She began her development career at Methodist Children’s Home in Waco, TX before joining SMU in 2007. As a compliment to her 18 years in the development field, Astria shares her fundraising knowledge by volunteering in the community and has served as a presenter for several networks including CASE and AGN. She also appreciates the opportunities she has to benchmark with colleagues through her participation in a variety of professional national consortiums, advisory councils and organizations.