Faculty Leadership Team
Paige Bartels
Paige Bartels has been at Bennington College, one of the country’s most innovative liberal arts colleges, since 2004. She led advancement and alumni relations from January 2004 to May 2016, and in that time, the College raised more than $133 million. She oversaw the restructuring of the advancement operation, doubled the size of the team, created and expanded new alumni engagement programs and structures, and significantly increased major and annual giving and alumni participation. Bartels oversaw the launch and completion of Bennington’s last comprehensive campaign, which concluded in 2008 and raised $92 million in commitments toward a $75 million goal, and led the planning phase for the College’s current $150 million campaign.
In May 2016, Bartels assumed a new position of senior vice president for strategic partnerships, and was subsequently named senior vice president for strategy, philanthropy, and partnerships in June 2019. In this role, she leads the College’s reputational campaign, developing relationships with mission-aligned partners and stakeholders (cultural and educational institutions, foundations, influential alumni and parents, and the board) to help Bennington achieve its 10-year goals, expand the College’s network, and deepen the culture of philanthropy, engagement, and innovation within that network. Bartels also advises the president and board on philanthropic strategy and manages a small portfolio of principal gift donors. She also serves as secretary to the board of trustees, appointed in June 2019.
Bartels began her advancement career as part of the first team to staff University of Oxford’s North American development office; she later led fundraising and public relations efforts at Homes for the Homeless in New York City and at the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin, where she directed the $100 million fundraising campaign to build a new museum facility as well as managed the university museum's communications and membership programs.
Sharon Marine
Sharon Marine joined the University of Chicago as vice president for alumni relations and development in October 2017.
She leads the overall strategy, direction, and organization for development, alumni relations, and campaign planning. Collaborating with schools, units, and divisions across campus, Marine advances the University's mission by encouraging the intellectual, social, professional, and philanthropic engagement of all members of the University community. She works closely with President Zimmer, as well as with the provost, deans, officers, and the Board of Trustees, to maximize support for all areas of the institution.
Marine previously served as vice president for development for Cornell Tech and as Cornell University’s associate vice president for alumni and development for the Northeast Corridor. She was responsible for developing and maintaining donor relationships in support of faculty, students, program endowment, and the construction of a new campus for Cornell Tech. Marine also played a key role in building Cornell Tech’s board of overseers, and she was responsible for oversight and consolidation of the alumni engagement and fundraising strategy for the university’s most important regional market.
Scott Mory
Scott Mory is Carnegie Mellon University’s vice president for University Advancement. He is responsible for overseeing the university’s overall advancement efforts and for building partnerships with all of CMU’s philanthropic and volunteer communities, including university alumni, parents and friends; charitable foundations; and corporate donors.
Appointed in 2015, Mory works closely with administrative and academic leadership to develop the philanthropic support that enables CMU to fulfill its potential and continue its ascent. Under his leadership, in October 2019 the university launched its most ambitious philanthropic campaign to date — Make Possible: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University. In Spring 2023, the university announced that it had achieved the campaign’s $2 billion goal more than 18 months ahead of schedule. To date, the university has received philanthropic commitments exceeding $2.26 billion from more than 66,000 supporters. Among the impacts these supporters have had include the creation of 62 new endowed faculty chairs, including 4 endowed deanships; more than 420 new endowed scholarships and fellowships; and new world-class facilities like the Tepper Quad, Alan Magee Scaife Hall of Engineering, the Highmark Center for Health, Wellness and Athletics, and the planned Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences.
Mory was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) in July 2022. He is also a member of the advisory board of The Andy Warhol Museum.
Prior to joining CMU, Mory served as associate senior vice president and campaign director at the University of Southern California, managing the day-to-day activities of the Campaign for USC, a historic effort to raise $6 billion. He joined USC in 2007 as associate senior vice president for Alumni Relations, a position he held until his promotion to campaign director in 2012. Prior to USC, Mory served as assistant vice president for Alumni Relations and Annual Giving at George Washington University. He also was an adjunct professor in the university’s law school, teaching a first-year course on legal research, writing and oral advocacy.
Scott holds a bachelor’s degree from the George Washington University and a juris doctor from the George Washington University Law School. Following law school, he clerked for the Hon. John Garrett Penn of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and practiced as a litigation associate at the New York office of Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP.
Danita D. Nias
Danita Nias joined FAU in October 2016 to lead the university into a new era of donor relations and to spearhead a capital campaign. Nias oversees all FAU fundraising efforts, including principal gifts, planned giving and alumni relations. Prior to arriving at FAU, she served as senior associate vice president for external affairs at the University of Florida. In that role, she was responsible for managing a portfolio of major donors and prospects while managing the university's campaign strategy and structure for volunteers.
From 1995 to 2011, Nias held numerous leadership positions at the University of Maryland, including assistant vice president for development and alumni relations. She has a bachelor's degree with a concentration in personnel and labor relations from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at Maryland and a Master of Social Science with a concentration in international relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Ronald J. Schiller
Ron Schiller is a nationally recognized advisor to presidents, chief advancement officers, board members, and other leaders and emerging leaders in the nonprofit sector. Since 2011, he has focused his attention on executive search, strategic consulting, writing, and speaking about philanthropy, drawing on his experience as fundraising leader, executive team member, board member, and search consultant built over a 30-year career.
Ron has held leadership positions in seven educational and cultural institutions, including the University of Chicago, where he led a team of more than 450 that completed a $2.3 billion campaign and facilitated two nine-figure gifts. He serves on the faculty of the annual CASE conference, "Inspiring the Largest Gifts of a Lifetime" and has served as co-chair of CASE's Winter Institute for Chief Development Officers. He is the author of four books: The Chief Development Officer: Beyond Fundraising (Rowman & Littlefield); Belief and Confidence: Donors Talk About Successful Philanthropic Partnership (CASE), Raising Your Organization's Largest Gifts: A Principal Gifts Handbook (CASE), and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Advancement: A Guide to Strengthening Engagement and Fundraising Through Inclusion (CASE), co-authored with Angelique Grant. He is a regular speaker for regional and national conferences of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, CASE, the League of American Orchestras, and gift planning organizations, among others, and he is a recipient of CASE’s Crystal Apple Teaching Award.
Ron has served on the Cornell University Council and on the boards of the American Friends of Covent Garden, Chicago's Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the Cornell University Glee Club, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Aspen’s Buddy Program, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Salt Bay Chamberfest, and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh.
Prior to founding the Aspen Leadership Group, he served as President of the NPR Foundation, Vice President for Alumni Relations and Development at the University of Chicago, and in various leadership roles at Carnegie Mellon University, Northeastern University, New England Conservatory of Music, and the Eastman School of Music. He began his career in philanthropy at Cornell during the university’s groundbreaking $1.25 billion campaign in the late 1980s.
Ron earned a bachelor’s degree at Cornell University.