Faculty and Guest Speakers
Meet Your Chair
Kirsty MacDonald
Kirsty MacDonald has enjoyed a career encompassing director level positions in leading educational and cultural institutions over thirty years in the UK and Canada. Going into her tenth year as Deputy Principal (Advancement) at the Royal Academy of Music, she was awarded an Hon FRAM for her achievements there. A member of the senior management team, she leads strategic planning and is responsible for external relations including fundraising, marketing, communications, audience engagement and alumni relations. In 2022, she launched the largest fundraising campaign for a music college outside the US with a target of £60m, which was exceeded last year and increased to £100m.
Kirsty has delivered transformational outcomes in every role she has taken on, which includes fundraising leadership roles at the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh and Oxford (Wadham College). Her previous experience across higher education and the arts includes London Business School, English National Opera, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Glyndebourne. A mentor to several fundraising leaders, she is well known throughout the UK Advancement sector, often invited to speak at national conferences in higher education and serves as the Chair of the CASE Europe Trust. Kirsty has an Honours BA from the University of Toronto and in 2009 was awarded an MA Oxon.
Faculty
Dr. Barbara Altmann
Dedicated to F&M’s liberal-arts mission and work-force preparation, President Altmann is committed to deepening and broadening the connections between the Franklin & Marshall community and a changing world.
Dr. Altmann recently led the largest campaign in the College’s history to a successful conclusion. She is currently leading the College through the implementation of a strategic plan, entitled L&AD: Leveraging Excellence, Accelerating Discovery, that will position F&M to better respond to student priorities and academic interests, invest in student and alumni success, and ensure institutional sustainability.
In addition to her leadership at F&M, President Altmann is currently an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP), and the Board of Trustees of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the Fulton Theatre, and the Economic Development Company of Lancaster.
Before her arrival at F&M, Dr. Altmann had served as the provost at Bucknell University since 2015. A native of Canada, she received her bachelor’s degree with honors in romance languages at the University of Alberta. She earned her master’s degree in French from the University of Toronto, where she also earned her doctorate in medieval French language and literature.
As a scholar of the French Middle Ages, Dr. Altmann served for more than 25 years at the University of Oregon. She was a professor of French, head of the Department of Romance Languages, and director of the Oregon Humanities Center before spending her last three years at the university as senior vice provost for academic affairs. Early in her career, she also served as an assistant visiting professor at Dartmouth College.
President Altmann has written or edited four books and written numerous articles, reviews and conference papers in her field of expertise. In academic circles, she has served as an elected delegate to the executive councils of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Modern Language Association.
Kate Bond
Kate is the Chief Advancement Officer, Trinity College Dublin and the Chief Executive Officer of Trinity Foundation. She led Trinity’s first comprehensive philanthropic campaign – the €400M Inspiring Generations campaign. Kate is responsible for the strategy and operations of philanthropy, alumni engagement, regular giving, corporate and foundation relations, development and alumni communications and donor relations.
Kate is a member of the CASE Commission for Philanthropy.
Kate has held a variety of senior university fundraising and administrative roles over the past 20 years. She has particular expertise in establishing and improving the performance of advancement teams and enjoys identifying and managing the change required for this.
Before joining Trinity in 2016, Kate was the Deputy Director of Alumni Relations & Philanthropy at the Australian National University where she led the establishment of the philanthropy and donor relations teams and prior to this was the Director of Development & Alumni Relations at Ulster University in Northern Ireland.
An English graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, Kate began her career in marketing and fundraising for professional theatre and worked in the arts for over 10 years. As a fundraiser she has drawn on this experience to create authentic narratives that inspire supporters.
Charlie Jeffery
Charlie became Vice-Chancellor and President at the University of York in September 2019. He joined us from the University of Edinburgh where he had been Senior Vice-Principal since 2014. He was a Member of Council of the Economic and Social Research Council from 2006-12 and Chair of the Political Studies Association of the UK from 2009-12.
He has a deep-rooted interest in how university research and education can serve the general benefit of society, or public good. In Edinburgh and now in York he has worked to bring together the University with local authorities, businesses, other universities and colleges to promote inclusive economic development, and to open up access to university study and economic opportunity to people from disadvantaged backgrounds - both in the UK and internationally.
Charlie is committed to sustainability, in particular, harnessing the expertise and passion of the university sector to respond to the climate crisis.
Charlie is Chair of the N8 Research Partnership (a collaboration of the eight most research intensive universities in the North of England), a member of the Partnership Board of key organisations in the City of York, the York Central Steering Board, and the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board. He lives in York with his family.
Sue Cunningham
Sue Cunningham is President and CEO of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), which supports over 3,000 schools, colleges and universities worldwide in developing their integrated advancement work (alumni relations, communications, fundraising and marketing operations). As CASE President and CEO, Ms. Cunningham provides strategic and operational leadership for one of the largest associations of education-related institutions in the world with members in over 80 countries. She started her leadership role at CASE in March 2015.
While at CASE, Ms. Cunningham has engaged CASE in two strategic planning processes. The first, which engaged thousands of CASE volunteers, resulted in Reimagining CASE: 2017-2021, and created an ambitious framework for serving CASE’s members and championing education worldwide, which included a comprehensive restructure of CASE’s volunteer leadership and governance structure. Building on the strengths of this plan, she led a recalibration exercise that resulted in Championing Advancement: CASE 2022-2027. This Plan articulates a clear strategic intent: that CASE will define the competencies and standards for the profession of advancement, and lead and champion their dissemination and application across the world’s educational institutions.
Among the key initiatives that have developed under her leadership include the redesign and delivery of a new global governance structure. In addition, CASE acquired the Voluntary Support of Education survey and created CASE’s Insights, CASE’s global research and data efforts. CASE published the first global and digital edition of CASE’s Global Reporting Standards and Guidelines, which operate as the industry-leading Standards for the profession, and launched the first global Alumni Engagement survey in addition to annual fundraising surveys. CASE created an ambitious competencies model across all advancement disciplines and a related career journey framework; opened the CASE Opportunities and Inclusion Center which focuses on equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging; and has reinvigorated a global advocacy agenda to communicate the value of education. Ms. Cunningham serves as a Trustee and Secretary for the University of San Diego, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board. She is a member of the Signature Theatre (Arlington, Virginia) Board of Directors, Chairs their Governance Committee, and sits on the Executive Committee. She is a member of the Washington Higher Education Secretariat steering committee, the International Association of University Presidents Executive Committee, and the International Women’s Forum. She has recently been named to the new, US-based Council of Higher Education as a Strategic Asset. She is the author of ‘Global Exchange: Dialogues to Advance Education’.
Prior to her appointment to CASE, Ms. Cunningham served as Vice-Principal for Advancement at the University of Melbourne where she led the Believe campaign resulting in surpassing its original $500 million goal; and the Director of Development for the University of Oxford where she led the development team through the first phase of the largest fundraising campaign outside of the United States (at the time): Oxford Thinking, with a goal of £1.25 billion. She served as Director of Development at Christ Church, Oxford and as Director of External Relations at St. Andrews University.
Before working in education, Ms. Cunningham enjoyed a career in theatre, the arts and the cultural sector. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2012, Ms. Cunningham received the CASE Europe Distinguished Service Award, and has received the coveted CASE Crystal Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. Ms. Cunningham was awarded a master’s degree from the University of Oxford, a bachelor’s degree in performing arts from Middlesex University, and is a graduate of the Columbia University Senior Executive Program.
Guest Speakers
Professor Shitij Kapur
Professor Shitij Kapur is the Vice-Chancellor & President of King’s College London. He returned to lead King’s in June 2021, following more than four years at the University of Melbourne, where he was Dean and Assistant Vice Chancellor (Health) for the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences and interim Deputy Vice Chancellor (International).
Professor Kapur is well known at King’s having previously served, between 2007 to 2016, as Assistant Principal (Academic Performance), Dean and Head of School for the Institute of Psychiatry and the founding Executive Dean of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN).
Professor Kapur is a member of the College Council and also serves on the Governance and Nominations Committee, the Estates Strategy Committee, the Finance Committee, the Investment Subcommittee, the Governance & Nominations Committee, the Chairs' Committee and the Fellowships & Honorary Degrees Committee.
During his time in Melbourne, Professor Kapur significantly increased the educational footprint of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, introducing innovative models of learning, increasing both research income and impact, while doubling philanthropic support. In collaboration with colleagues across the university and medical research Institutes he was involved in creating the Centre for the Digital Transformation of Health and establishing the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery. He Co-Chaired the Australian Million Minds Mission and during the Covid pandemic took a lead role in bringing together scholars from the Group of Eight Universities to deliver the ‘Roadmap to Recovery – a Report for the Nation’.
Professor Kapur graduated from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in 1988. He went on to complete his residency training in Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, and a Fellowship in Schizophrenia and a PhD in Neuroscience from the Institute of Medical Science, both at the University of Toronto.
Professor Kapur is recognised worldwide for his own research on understanding psychosis and antipsychotic treatment – with over 300 papers, numerous presentations and an H-index of over a hundred. While at King’s he led NEWMEDS, an international consortium of scientists from 19 institutions from nine EU countries, which was one of the largest academic-industry research collaboration projects in its time. He has received many awards and honorary fellowships including the honours of Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK), Fellow of the Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (Australia) and Fellow of King's College London. He has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Copenhagen.
Georgina Cannon
Georgina Cannon is the Executive Director of Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement at King's. Georgina joined King's in November 2024 from the University of Cambridge, where she was the Managing Director of Development, responsible for leading all of the University's fundraising. She previously held the position of Director of Development, Schools and Institutions, where she led the team responsible for fundraising for the non-medical academic schools, departments and collections of the University.
She has been working as a professional fundraiser for non-profit institutions for nearly 25 years. She began her career working with international NGOs before moving into higher education, first of all at London Business School and then Cambridge. Alongside her professional appointments, she also served two terms as a Trustee of Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity.
Emily Robin
Emily Robin leads the Advancement team working to serve London Business School’s global network of alumni on its learning journey, creating value for all members of the community and inspiring philanthropic support through the Forever Forward campaign.
Before joining LBS, Emily was Senior Director of Development at INSEAD. She previously held roles at her alma maters, the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School, as well as at Bryn Mawr College and the American School of Paris.
Emily is an active volunteer for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Association Française des Fundraisers. She is a CASE Laureate, recipient of a CASE Crystal Apple for Teaching Excellence, and chair of the CASE Spring Institute in Educational Fundraising. She is a past member of the Boards of SIS Paris Ouest and the French International School of Philadelphia.
Emily is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business of the Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania, and she holds a Master of Arts in Linguistics with Distinction from University College, London.
Sergei Guriev
Sergei Guriev joined London Business School as its tenth Dean and a tenured professor of economics in 2024.
Before LBS, he was on the faculty of Sciences Po (Paris) as a tenured professor of economics (2013-24) and as its first Provost (2022-2024). In 2016-19, he was on leave from Sciences Po, serving as the Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Between 2004 and 2013, he served as the Rector of the New Economic School in Moscow.
Professor Guriev’s research interests include political economics, development economics, labour mobility, and contract theory.
Professor Guriev is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), a Member of the Group of Thirty, a Global Member of the Trilateral Commission, Senior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France, Ordinary Member of the Academia Europaea, and an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Economic Association. In 2006, he was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.