Faculty
Meet Your Chair
Kathi Dantley Warren
Kathi Dantley Warren has 25 years of advancement leadership experience at higher education and academic medical institutions in $1B+ campaigns. Most recently, she served as vice president for development and alumni relations at Rice University where she launched a $2B campaign, the largest at a private institution in TX. At Rice, she also led a team of 150 with responsibility for principal and major gifts, gift planning, alumni relations, corporate and foundation relations, presidential events, donor relations, annual giving, marketing and communications, and advancement services.
Under her leadership, Rice set new fundraising records in fiscal years 2021 and 2022, and also broke a record for giving to the Rice Annual Fund, while steadily growing annual fund participation. In 2020, she led Rice to securing its first nine-figure gift, followed by a second in 2021. She established new standards for organizational excellence within the development and alumni relations division by implementing a division-wide annual planning process and instituting a slate of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Prior to Rice, Dantley Warren served as senior executive director of development at the Duke University Cancer Institute, where they successfully completed a $200 million campaign. From 2010 to 2014, she served as assistant dean for alumni affairs and development at Cornell University’s College of Engineering, where she developed and implemented the college’s first alumni affairs and development strategic plan and alumni engagement plan and increased annual revenues from $22.7 million to more than $56 million.
She spent eight years at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business, ultimately serving as campaign director, and was a major gift officer at The Johns Hopkins University Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.
Dantley Warren earned a masters degree in cellular and molecular biology from Duke University and a bachelors in biology from Hampton University. Originally from Northern Virginia, she is an avid sports enthusiast and dog-rescue advocate who also enjoys travel, cooking and painting.
Faculty
Christy Cates
Christy Cates is currently the executive director of advancement services for Development and Institute Relations at the California Institute of Technology. She is responsible for establishing and refining comprehensive programs that integrate into all facets of the organization. Her areas of focus include prospect research, prospect management, reporting, prospect analytics, talent acquisition, professional development, staff engagement, and performance management.
Prior to joining Caltech, Cates served as the senior executive director of advancement of human resources at UC Irvine. She has also held human resources positions with In-N-Out Burger and Pick Up Stix, Inc., multisite corporations employing 800-4,000 employees.
David Lively
With 27 years of experience in higher education advancement, David Lively has directed successful development strategies across five comprehensive fundraising campaigns. Lively joined Northwestern University in January 2012 and in his current role manages "We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern," a $5 billion University-wide fundraising campaign. Additionally, he oversees a team of 60 development professionals responsible for principal gifts, regional and international major gifts (including offices in New York and San Francisco), and gift planning.
Lively earned a bachelor's degree in history from Southern Methodist University, a master's degree in history from Colorado State University, an MBA from the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business, and a certificate from the Management Development Program at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. In April 2017, he authored Managing Major Gift Fundraisers: A Contrarian's Guide (published by CASE).
Jeffrey Schoenherr
Jeff Schoenherr has 25 years of experience in higher education and health sciences advancement, serving increasing greater roles at some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions. In his current position at West Virginia University, Jeff leads all aspects of medical and health sciences development for a growing team, with a focus on alumni and grateful patient fundraising.
Formerly as an assistant vice president, he helped to manage principal giving at The Ohio State University, guided fundraising efforts for the university's Discovery Themes, and oversaw specific areas of central development.
As vice president at Emerson College, he created best practices in alumni, parent and donor relations and developed a strategic plan, which was leading the college to its first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign. Under his leadership, the college experienced three consecutive record-breaking years of fundraising and engagement.
At Harvard Law School, he managed all aspects of alumni relations, the annual fund, major gifts and gift planning, leading a staff of 25 professionals. For 10 years at Johns Hopkins, he directed a team responsible for regional and international major gifts, which helped the university successfully complete the $3.74 billion "Knowledge for the World Campaign." Among other responsibilities, his team successfully engaged alumni, parents and friends for the university and departments of medicine, and hosted regional campaign outreach events.
Schoenherr started his career at the University of Michigan, where he received a bachelor's degree in political science, working in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, as an engagement director for the alumni association, and in development for the Ross School of Business.