Wendy M. Anderson has worked in Texas Development at the University of Texas at Austin for over 19 years. She is the Assistant Vice President for Transformational Giving and leads the university’s transformational gifts strategy on increasing the number of eight- and nine-figure gifts. She is dedicated to partnering with Texas Development colleagues, academic leaders, faculty, and staff to build and cultivate strong relationships with top philanthropists and secure transformational gifts.

Before her role in Transformational Giving, she served as the Chief Development Officer for the McCombs School of Business, the Executive Director of Development for Regional Fundraising and a Major Gift Officer at the Cockrell School of Engineering. Her accomplishments include helping to double the UT fundraising production and exceeding the $6B campaign goal, increasing annual fundraising to $80M and securing $150M for a new undergraduate business building at McCombs.

Wendy has also worked with alumni to secure seven-and eight-figure naming gifts. Beyond UT Austin, her fundraising experience includes the arts nonprofit sector, healthcare fundraising, and higher education fundraising consulting. 
 

Amanda Hopkins, J.D., serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Development at CU Boulder, where she spearheads strategic planning and execution of fundraising initiatives to meet ambitious goals. She plays a pivotal role in leading the planning for CU Boulder's inaugural comprehensive campaign, ensuring alignment with university leadership.

In her role, Amanda supervises teams of professionals across various departments including Development Operations, Principal Giving and Strategic Initiatives, Parent Giving & Boulder Advancement Programs, Crown Institute & Campus Institutes, and Industry & Foundation Relations. She reports to the Vice Chancellor for Advancement and collaborates closely with CU System Advancement's Research, Portfolio Intelligence, and Gift Planning teams to align fundraising and engagement objectives.

Before joining CU Boulder, Amanda made significant contributions as the Assistant Vice President for Development at Rollins College. She is also a licensed attorney in Florida, where she practiced in commercial real estate and secured finance law. Amanda completed her Juris Doctorate at the University of Florida and her undergraduate studies at Rollins College.

Amanda's work ethic and leadership style have propelled organizations to build effective teams and programs that result in sustained fundraising growth. She has spent most of her career in higher education advancement as a proven fixer, strategic partner, intentional relationship builder, and collaborative leader guiding teams to increase their fundraising results by planning their work and working their plan.

Matt Leroux is an associate vice president of Development at the University of Chicago, managing University-wide fundraising for the Physical Sciences Division, the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, Foundation and Corporate Relations, the Office of Gift Planning, and key interdisciplinary initiatives, such as the recently launched Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth. 

With more than thirty years of higher education fundraising experience, Matt came to the University of Chicago in 2019 from Harvey Mudd College, where he served as assistant vice president for development and constituent programs. Matt started his development career at his alma mater Middlebury College, after which he went on to development positions of increasing responsibilities at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, the University of San Francisco, MIT, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, Arizona State University, and Caltech. 

Jamie McMahon, CFRE serves as the chief executive officer of the Community College of Allegheny County’s Educational Foundation in Pittsburgh, PA and has more than 20 years of experience in fundraising, nonprofit management, strategic planning, and board development. In his current role he has overall management responsibility for the college’s related foundation, is responsible to the foundation’s board of directors, oversees annual fundraising, builds philanthropic relationships with alumni and community donors, and administers the foundation’s endowment. During his tenure, the foundation received the three largest gifts in its history, as well tripling the annual amount of scholarship aid awarded to students. He partnered with the college’s president to complete the Pioneering Pittsburgh's New Workforce campaign, which ran from 2017-2023 and raised $90M from all sources, on a $65M goal, in support of workforce development initiatives and student needs at the college.

Mr. McMahon was formerly advancement director for Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, where he worked with the Board of Trustees on annual and major gift fundraising projects, as well as for both Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Carnegie Museum of Art during his tenure. Prior to that, Mr. McMahon was a director of development with the Medical and Health Sciences Foundation of the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He also spent a number of years as a fundraising consultant for Ketchum (now Pursuant Ketchum), where his clients included leading nonprofit organizations throughout the United States whose fundraising and campaign goals ranged from $3M to upwards of $550M. Additionally, he is an adjunct faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh where he teaches fundraising and philanthropy in the Master of Arts Management program.

Well known as a philanthropic leader and mentor, Mr. McMahon has presented at numerous regional and national conferences with organizations including CASE, AFP, and the American Association of Community Colleges. He currently serves as incoming president of the board of directors of the Western PA Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and served a term as treasurer in the past. Previously, he chaired the Standing Commission on Stewardship and Socially Responsible Investing of the Episcopal Church USA and currently serves on its national Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility. Additionally, he served as vice-chair of the board of directors of the Tracing Center on the Histories and Legacies of Slavery and as a board member of Forward Movement. 

Mr. McMahon holds an A.B. in English from Dartmouth College, an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and is completing a doctorate in higher education management at the University of Pittsburgh. He also holds the Certified Fund-Raising Executive (CFRE) certification from CFRE International, the only internationally recognized baseline professional credential for philanthropic fundraising executives. 

Zack Smith currently serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Leadership Strategy and Engagement at his alma mater, UC San Diego. He works directly with the Vice Chancellor for Advancement and Chancellor to advance strategic university initiatives through transformational relationships and philanthropy. He leads a team of passionate development experts who are responsible for the development and facilitation of multi-faceted strategies and personalized stewardship processes for donors and prospects who are the university’s most capable and generous donors in considering transformational gifts to support the campus’ highest priorities.

Smith previously served as the Vice President of University Development and Alumni Engagement at Cal Poly. At Cal Poly, he led a team of more than 70 individuals to advance Cal Poly's "Learn by Doing" mission. He also served as the CEO of the Cal Poly Foundation. 

Smith served as the Executive Director of Development for the Jacobs School of Engineering at University of California, San Diego. Smith led the efforts of the external relations staff at the Jacobs School which includes major and principal gifts, donor relations, stewardship, and events. Smith worked directly with the Dean of the School to provide strategic direction for a comprehensive major and principal gifts program as the University completes the next comprehensive campaign. Smith served in a similar role at his alma mater, the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego.

At the Palomar Health Foundation, Smith served as the Senior Director of Development where he oversaw a team of fundraising professionals dedicated to the advancement of Palomar Health, California’s largest public health care district. Prior to this position Smith served as the Director of Major Gifts within the Palomar Health Foundation where he had the primary fundraising responsibility for the divisions of Orthopedic Medicine, Cardiovascular Care, Men’s Health, Rehabilitative Care, and Neurosciences.

Smith also served as the Associate Director of Major Gifts and Donor Relations at California Western School of Law. There, he built the school’s first comprehensive major gifts program. Smith successfully created a breakthrough in fundraising, leading to the school’s most successful years of philanthropic support in the school’s history at that point.

At Portland State University, Smith started as a telefund caller and was quickly promoted to various posts in the Office of Annual Giving and eventually a Major Gifts role.

Smith cultivated his passion for higher education at Portland State University, where he earned a B.S. in Criminology and Criminal Justice, while Minoring in Civic Leadership. Smith was a member of the PSU Wrestling Team and competed in the PAC 10 Division during which time, he was honored as an All-Academic PAC 10 wrestler. He went on to earn his MBA at the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego.