RAISE Podcast

Tom Wamsley joined UIC in 2019. Previously, he served as the Chief Development Officer at Stephen M Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan where his efforts resulted in a significant increase in the school’s visibility and impact, and the fundraising of $415 million for the Business School during the campaign that closed in December of 2018.

Tom arrived at UIC with over 20 years of experience in development, including 18 years in higher education with a demonstrated ability to develop and execute fundraising and engagement strategies, experience in campaign planning and successful campaign closure, and experience in management of alumni engagement and supervision of related staff.

Tom received his Master of Business Administration from Wright State University, and a Bachelors of the Arts in Political Science from Ohio University.

Fred Van Sickle is the vice president for Alumni Affairs and Development and the university's chief fundraiser, overseeing the team responsible for building alumni engagement worldwide and securing private support from individuals and institutions for the University through the “To Do the Greatest Good” campaign.

Before joining Cornell in January of 2016, Fred served Columbia University as executive vice president for Alumni and Development. During his 12 years there, he played a pivotal role in planning, executing, and completing the $6.1 billion Columbia Campaign. Fred also served as chief development officer at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey; associate vice president for Development and assistant dean for Development for the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan; vice president for Alumni and Development and secretary of the College at Lake Forest College (his undergraduate alma mater); and director of Principal Gifts at Princeton University.

Fred holds a Master of Education degree from Harvard University and a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He serves as president of the Board of the Finger Lakes Land Trust and as a board member of the Food Bank of the Southern Tier.

Kathryn Van Sickle is a passionate fundraiser, community builder, and storyteller and has spent the past decade focused on building expertise in fundraising. She has worked for small colleges, large research universities, and now works at an independent day school.

Kathryn currently works in New York City as the Director of Major Gifts & Strategic Engagement at The Chapin School, an independent k-12, day school. She is also the founder and host of The Development Debrief LLC (https://www.devdebrief.com/). The Debrief podcast has been featured in The Chronicle of Philanthropy and Kathryn has been an invited guest speaker for the Association of Fundraising Professionals-NYC, Women in Development, CASE programs and more. Most recently, the Debrief was named the first channel of Evertrue Studios Podcast Network.

Kathryn is a member of Trinity College's Board of Fellows and the Engagement Chair for the Women’s Leadership Council Executive Committee. She is also the Vice President on the Associate Board of Directors for the nationally-acclaimed Jericho Project which is ending homelessness by enabling homeless individuals to attain housing, employment & mental & physical health services. She lives in New York City’s Upper West Side and loves running in Central Park.

Dan Peterson joined the University of Washington in 2016 and recently retired from his position as vice president for development for university advancement and president of the UW Foundation. Dan has served in a number senior leadership roles for four leading public research universities, including as Vice Chancellor/CAO at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dan's career focused on fostering a best-in-class fully integrated advancement organization, in close partnership with college and unit leaders, with a mission of enhancing the impact of edication throughout the world. His 40-year career in the field includes 21 years at Washington State University, where he served as Campaign Director, the Director of Gift Planning, Associate Athletic Director, Regional Giving Director, and the Director of Athletic Development. Dan’s tenure also includes UW Medicine Advancement and Oregon State University Foundation.

Dan was raised in Federal Way, WA, is a 1982 graduate of WSU and earned his law degree from Seattle University in 1985. He is a member of the Washington State Bar Association.

As the Vice President of Alumni Engagement at Boston University, Erika Jordan serves as the chief alumni engagement officer for the campus and plays a key role in providing leadership and strategic guidance to the Alumni Engagement, Annual Giving, and Development Events & Communications teams.

Prior to this role, Erika served as the Assistant Vice Chancellor, Alumni & Constituent Engagement at UC Irvine. She was instrumental in growing alumni engagement, developing the engagement and annual fundraising programs, growing the annual fundraising by establishing campaigns like UCI Giving Day, UCI’s dual alumni engagement campaign goal and leading special projects.

Erika has spent her career in politics, special events, alumni relations, frontline fundraising, and served as the Director, Alumni Relations and Annual Giving for the USC Marshall School of Business prior to joining UCI. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Howard University and executive masters in leadership from USC.

David P. Bennett serves as the Senior Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations at Howard University. In this role, David provides strategic vision, and leads the critical work of developing campaigns and activities that will enhance philanthropic support and alumni engagement for the University.

David is an energetic leader with more than 25 years of experience advancing development strategies for organizations with national and international focus. Most recently he led all philanthropic programs globally for one of the world’s largest nonprofit organizations, the National Geographic Society. Serving as Chief Development Officer, his responsibilities included managing a portfolio of trustees and high net-worth donors and prospects, overseeing all international fundraising efforts and providing direction for several keys areas including principal and major gifts, planned giving, annual giving, and stewardship. In addition, he helped to build a network of fundraising and programmatic offices for National Geographic around the world. David has a proven track record of building close, collaborative, and transparent relationships across teams, creating strategies that increase engagement, and driving campaigns that exceed their target goal.

Prior to joining National Geographic, David was Chief Advancement Officer of Safe Kids Worldwide, an international injury prevention organization. In this role, he was responsible for the fundraising, communications, and public policy functions of an organization with over 350 affiliates in the United States and operations in 17 other countries. His previous experience also includes serving as vice president of United Cerebral Palsy of America and as director of the Fundraising and Sponsorship Group of Odell, Simms, & Lynch, a consulting firm that provide services to nonprofit organizations. Early in his career, Bennett worked in federal politics as a finance director for two United States Senate campaigns and as a fundraiser for a national political party.

David earned a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.

Joe Kender serves as Senior Vice President for University Relations at Saint Joseph’s University. In this role, he oversees the strategy and execution of university advancement and government & community relations. His primary aim is to position the university externally among a wide array of constituents ranging from our immediate community to the region and the university’s nearly 70,000 alumni and parents.

Kender has more than 30 years of experience working at three institutions - Saint Joseph's University, Lehigh University, and Georgetown University. A creative and collaborative leader, Joe brings expertise in building organizations for sustained excellence and raising capital. During his career, he has worked with university leadership and boards to drive broad institutional excellence and performance.

Specialties: Institutional strategic planning and implementation; Board management and recruitment; Partnering with leadership on a wide array of issues that span the institution; Proven ability to work effectively with academic leadership and members of the academy; Understanding of the higher ed business model and the role of philanthropy; Public speaking and public relations; Building high-performing teams; Acquiring and managing talent; Creating a positive culture to drive performance; Campaign planning and implementation; Broad understanding and experience with virtually every facet of a sophisticated advancement program; Raising capital - specifically, working with donors to bring transformative impact to institutions.

Kender holds a BA and an MBA, both from Lehigh University.

Jean Kramer Crosby joined Ball State University in 2011. She became President of the Ball State University Foundation and Vice President of University Advancement in 2020, with the Foundation’s 35-member board and 75 employees who are responsible for fundraising, alumni relations, donor relations, and stewardship of the Foundation’s $300 million in assets.

Previously, Jean had been the Foundation’s vice president for strategy, engagement, and communications. In that role, she was responsible for developing strategies, building relationships, and instilling a culture of philanthropy among Ball State University students, alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and friends of the University. She also has overseen alumni engagement, annual giving, donor relations, marketing, communications, advancement services, prospect research, and alumni center operations.

A Ball State graduate, Jean also served as director of donor relations and special projects for Ball State’s Office of Development and as interim associate vice president for development. She was also a development officer for the Community Foundation for Muncie and Delaware County Inc. and international training manager and fund development supervisor for Rotary International.

Dana Cummings serves as Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Franklin College, located in Franklin, Indiana. She has spent the entirety of her 16-year career in higher education fundraising - working for big public institutions, as well as small privates, and all within her home state of Indiana. Dana is also pursing a doctorate in education, and is set to complete her degree in 2024. Dana's research interests have to do with women in higher education leadership positions and she is a strong supporter of women who are interested in progressing up the career ladder within higher education, especially those with an advancement background. Dana and her husband have three children, ages 14, 11, and 9, and live on a small farm outside of Franklin, Indiana, where they raise katahdin sheep and chickens.

Jeremy Galvin’s leadership and service have had a profound effect on the ISU Foundation since 2003. His work in fundraising clearly impacts students and faculty across campus as evidenced by the more than 15 named faculty positions and countless scholarships he has helped secure throughout Campaign Iowa State.

Galvin’s passion for mentoring and advising students is most impactful in serving the university. He consistently represents Iowa State University in a professional manner and serves as a positive role-model for everyone who witnesses his work.

Jennifer Howe, former vice president of advancement at the University of Dayton, was named Georgia Tech’s next vice president for development on August 15, 2022.

Howe comes to Tech with more than 25 years of experience in university development, advancement, and alumni relations, including campaign planning, stewardship, major and principal gifts, corporate and foundation relations, athletics capital needs, and planned giving. She has served in her current role as the chief advancement officer at the University of Dayton since 2016, where she has led a team of 86 advancement professionals, served on the President’s Cabinet, and worked with the university’s board of trustees.

During her tenure at the University of Dayton, Howe guided significant investment in staffing, resources, and infrastructure. Under her leadership, the team realized notable gains in principal and major gifts as well as the launch of new fundraising and engagement initiatives in student philanthropy, parent support, peer-to-peer ambassadors, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion/affinity-based groups, and digital/virtual lifelong learning. Before joining the University of Dayton, Howe served at Vanderbilt University for 15 years, where she helped lead a $1.93 billion fundraising campaign. She began her fundraising career serving in a development director role at Emory University. Howe is a Georgia native. She was born in Gwinnett County and spent much of her childhood and adolescence in the Atlanta area. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from James Madison University.

In the role of vice president for Development at Georgia Tech, Howe will guide the Institute’s Development enterprise, which includes more than 100 staff members, provide strategic oversight of Tech’s newly launched comprehensive campaign, “Transforming Tomorrow: The Campaign for Georgia Tech,” and serve as an active member of President Cabrera’s executive team, providing support to the president as well as senior leaders across the Institute in implementing fundraising initiatives in alignment with the Institute’s strategic plan.