Leslie Hutchens is currently the director of development at Flint Hill School in Oakton, Virginia. With 25 years of experience, she has been fortunate to be a part of a broad range of institutions, from JK-12 day and boarding schools to universities. These experiences have helped her find that at their core, all development offices have more similarities than differences.

In her current role, she participated in Flint Hill’s first capital campaign in nearly 20 years. This experience was a reminder of the great work development offices can do to build a strong community. In her daily roles with the school, she oversees annual giving, leadership giving, stewardship, and alumni relations.

Before joining Flint Hill, she was director of annual giving and parent programs at The Madeira School in McLean, Virginia. In that role, she oversaw a $1.8M annual giving program, parent engagement and development operations. Madeira launched a $65M million capital campaign during her time there, and she was responsible for keeping the annual giving program a priority for the Madeira community.

Prior to Madeira, Hutchens was the director of annual funds and major gifts at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., where she grew the annual giving program to a record level in dollars raised as well as both alumni and parent participation. 

She was previously the director of annual giving at the University of Richmond, where she managed both the annual giving program and the Spider Athletic Fund. From 1996-1998 she ran the annual fund program at the Haverford School, a PK-12 boys school in Haverford, Pennsylvania. She began her development career in the Alumnae Affairs Office at Hollins College.

Hutchens is a frequent speaker with CASE, a recipient of the CASE Crystal Apple for Excellence in Teaching, and the author of a chapter in “Philanthropy in Independent Schools” (NAIS, 2009).