Michael Morsberger

Michael Morsberger

Vice President for Advancement and Chief Executive Officer
University of Central Florida
Speaker

Bio

Mike Morsberger is an accomplished advancement professional with 30 years of experience in nonprofit fundraising and development. In June of 2015, he joined the University of Central Florida as the vice president for advancement and CEO of the UCF Foundation. He arrived at a pivotal time in the silent phase of their comprehensive campaign, and was asked to reorganize and rejuvenate both the advancement team and campaign strategy to substantially accelerate fundraising capacity. The $500 million "IGNITE Campaign" launched publicly in September, 2016, with more than $265M in private support raised. After back to back record-breaking years, the campaign now is poised to successfully conclude in June of 2019. 

Morsberger started his career in Baltimore, Maryland, with several smaller charitable institutions including the Maryland Special Olympics, The National Aquarium in Baltimore, Calvert Hall College Prep, and Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital. In 1995, he joined the major gifts team at Johns Hopkins Medicine, and over the course of the next decade, worked his way up to executive director of the Oncology Development. In 2001, he was privileged to be the lead staff member involved with securing the largest (then) gift in Johns Hopkins’ history, when philanthropist Sidney Kimmel committed $150M to rename their renowned Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

Following his tenure at Johns Hopkins Medicine, he moved on to become associate vice president of development and alumni relations for the University of Virginia Health System, and also executive director of the UVA Health Foundation. He then transitioned into the role of vice president of development and alumni relations at Duke Medicine for four years, before heading to Washington D.C. to become vice president of development and alumni relations at the George Washington University. During his five years at GW, he oversaw the planning and launch of their $1 billion "Making History" campaign, and helped to secure the two biggest gifts in university history ($50M and $30M).

Morsberger is a respected leader in the advancement field, having served on two dozen nonprofit boards, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Florida and the Harry P. Leu Gardens; and as a frequent guest speaker at national and international conferences on the topic of fund raising and philanthropy. 

He received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Radford University and his master’s degree in the study of philanthropy and development at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.