Shawn L. Scoville has been the president and CEO of the Oregon State University Foundation since January 4, 2020. Under his leadership, the OSU Foundation seeks to build on its momentum to support OSU’s aspirations, establish industry-leading fundraising and engagement growth and further energize donors, alumni and volunteers to engage with the university. In October 2022, the OSU Foundation, in partnership with OSU, launched the $1.75 billion Believe It fundraising and engagement campaign, the second in the university’s history, and the first to include specific engagement priorities.

Part of the Foundation’s leadership team since 2005, Mr. Scoville served as the executive vice president at the OSU Foundation. In that role, he led advancement strategy and organizational development, focusing fundraising efforts on initiatives that advance the university’s priorities while striving to build a culture of meaningful engagement for all of the university’s constituents. He served as the principal architect of The Campaign for OSU, which raised more than $1.14 billion from 106,000 donors. OSU was one of only two public universities in the nation to have a first campaign with a $1 billion goal, and one of only 35 public universities to have crossed the billion-dollar mark in a fundraising campaign. 

Mr. Scoville has been instrumental in building upon the fundraising and engagement momentum to position the Foundation, and the university, for the future; the last three years have been the most successful in the university’s history. Focused efforts to engage and build community among donors who have given $1 million or more to Oregon State has been a priority, and this group has quadrupled in size since he arrived at the Foundation and now includes more than 500 members.

Over the years, he has held several volunteer positions in the advancement industry’s leading professional organization, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), as well as participated actively in the Association of Governing Boards (AGB) and Grenzebach, Glier & Associates’ Advancement Leadership Forum (ALF). A native of Upstate New York, he is a graduate of Gettysburg (Pa.) College.

Kathi Dantley Warren has more than 25 years of advancement leadership experience, serving in progressively responsible positions at higher education and academic medical institutions in $1B+ campaigns.

Ms. Warren currently serves as Associate Vice President for Development for Schools, Colleges and Units at the University of Maryland. In this role, she oversees fundraising for the 12 degree-granting units and Athletics and manages the university’s comprehensive campaign set to publicly launch in October 2025.

Priority to this role at Maryland, Ms. Warren served as the vice president for development and alumni relations at Rice University from July 2019 until March 2023. There she led a team of 150 and held responsibility for alumni relations, major and principal gifts, gift planning, corporate and foundation relations, presidential events, annual giving, marketing and communications, and advancement services. She joined Rice in July 2017 as the associate vice president for development in charge of individual giving.

Under her leadership at Rice, the university secured the first nine-figure gift in its history in 2020, followed by its second in 2021. Propelled by these commitments, the university set new fundraising records in fiscal years 2021 and 2022, including more than $250 million raised in 2022, and another $50 million gift in fiscal year 2023.

Prior to her tenure at Rice, Ms. Warren served as the senior executive director of development at the Duke University Cancer Institute. In this role at one of the original eight National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers, she transformed the fundraising program from a yearly $18 million enterprise to $30 million, and successfully completed a $200 million campaign.

From 2010 to 2014, Ms. Warren served as assistant dean for alumni affairs and development at Cornell University’s College of Engineering, where she developed and implemented its first alumni affairs and development strategic plan and alumni engagement plan. During her tenure, she increased annual revenues from $22.7 million to more than $56 million and led the college to its second-best fundraising year.

Prior to Cornell, Ms. Warren spent eight years at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business, ultimately serving as Campaign Director, where she helped lead Smith to achieving its $90 million campaign goal one year ahead of schedule. She also served as a major gift officer at the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at The Johns Hopkins University.

Ms. Warren earned an M.A. in cellular and molecular biology from Duke University and a B.A. in biology from Hampton University. Originally from Alexandria, Virginia, she is an avid sports enthusiast and dog-rescue advocate who also enjoys travel and painting. 

Dr. Gia Bazil Soublet has 26 years of successful development and nonprofit experience and currently serves as the Vice President for Strategic Impact Investment Funding at the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), a major philanthropic initiative set to elevate the critical work of UNCF. In this role, she works with the Office of the President and oversees gift acquisition for UNCF’s strategic priorities, which includes prospect management and managing a team of senior fundraising professionals.

Before joining UNCF, Dr. Soublet served as Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) where she increased fundraising by 125% in two years and doubled the alumni giving percentage. Prior to that, Dr. Soublet served as Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Xavier University of Louisiana. Under her leadership, the University enjoyed fundraising increases yearly and she is credited with establishing a corporate partners program, expanding the planned giving program, establishing a presidential funding initiative, and overhauling the stewardship operation, resulting in significant growth in donor retention. Prior to Xavier, she served as Director for Corporate and Foundation Relations at Dillard University, where she started her career in higher education as a Major Gifts Officer. Prior to Dillard she worked in several roles at United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area before eventually serving as the Assistant Vice President for Campaigns. During her tenure at United Way, Dr. Soublet won numerous national participation and goal achievement awards as the director for the Combined Federal Campaign.  

Dr. Soublet holds a Doctorate in Urban Higher Education Administration from Jackson State University, a Master of Business Management from the University of Phoenix, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Xavier University of Louisiana. Additionally, Dr. Soublet earned Certification in Fund Raising Management from Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Nationally recognized for her success in fundraising and nonprofit management, she has presented for the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Association for Fundraising Professionals (AFP), and United Way conferences on various topics including major gift acquisition, grant writing, donor participation, board development, diversity and inclusion, and ethics in fundraising. She served on the Board for the New Orleans AFP chapter from 2020 to 2022.  

Dr. Soublet is also the principal for Soublet Consulting Group (SCG). SCG has worked with universities and nonprofits locally and regionally to achieve their organizational objectives and it is committed to helping nonprofits of all sizes plan for self-sustainability. Services include board training and development, strategic planning, program audits, development operation audits, fundraising strategies and plans, capital campaign readiness and planning, and ethics and diversity training.