Speakers - Higher Education Summit

The following speakers will be presenting at the event:

Young P Dawkins III - Summit Chair
Vice-Principal of Development, University of Edinburgh

Young Dawkins became Vice-Principal for Development at the University of Edinburgh in June, 2005 where he is currently leading the largest fundraising campaign in the history of Scottish Higher Education – a five year, £350 million effort.

Prior to this appointment, Mr Dawkins served for eight years as President of the University of New Hampshire Foundation in Durham, New Hampshire.  During his tenure at UNH, the University received the largest gift in its history and set all time records for both single year and consecutive year fundraising totals.  In 1999, the foundation launched the next Horizon: the campaign for the University of New Hampshire, the most ambitious fundraising effort in the University’s history. In June, 2002, the campaign surpassed its $100 million goal with gifts and pledges totalling $103 million, a full two years ahead of schedule. 

Before joining the UNH Foundation, Dawkins served as Vice-President for Development, Alumni Affairs, and Communications at Oberlin College and was a principal architect for the college’s $165 million capital campaign.  Dawkins began his development career at Dartmouth College in 1983, where he worked for ten years as a major gift officer and director.  During his tenure, Dawkins was credited with securing a $30 million gift to construct a library -- the largest gift in the College’s history. 

A past Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Cheshire Academy in Cheshire, Connecticut, Dawkins has long been active with the council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), an international professional organisation for fundraisers.  He is a 1997 recipient of the CASE Stueben Apple for Excellence in Teaching, a past member of CASE District 1 Board of Trustees, and an immediate passed member of the CASE Philanthropy Commission.  In 2002, he chaired the organisation’s first virtual, web based seminar for newcomers in development.  Additionally, Dawkins served as Chair of the CASE International Conference in Miami July, 2005, and was on the faculty of the inaugural CASE conference in Asia held in Singapore in April, 2006, and is active in the annual CASE Europe conference. 

Dawkins, who has authored several articles on major gift fundraising, received his Bachelors and Master’s degree from Dartmouth College.  He is the 2001 recipient of the Seacoast Writers Association award for poetry in New Hampshire, and there is a prize for outstanding creative writing in his name at the University of New Hampshire.    

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John W. Welty
Vice President for Development & Administration, University of New Mexico Foundation

Session Title - If it’s not in your CRM, then it simply does not happen

Join this discussion on the importance of connecting your underlying tools to principles of successful fund raising in higher education, capturing and acting upon all necessary and relevant constituent infomration within a single system of record, as well as utilising this motto to guide your institution to reinvigorate itself for major gift fund raising.

Speaker Bio
John W. Welty, raised in New England, began his development career at The University of Arizona College of Science in 1990.  He then served for seven years as Director of Development at the Arizona Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute – designated comprehensive cancer center at the Arizona Health Sciences Center.  During his tenure there, Mr. Welty led a team that secured more than $50 million to build and equip The Sydney E. Salmon, M.D. Building.  In 1999, he was asked to join the management team at The University of Arizona Foundation where he served in a variety of roles, most recently as Vice President for Information Services & Annual Giving.  Mr. Welty participated in two comprehensive capital campaigns at Arizona; the Century II Campaign (1992), and he helped to lead the $1.2 billion Campaign Arizona (2005).
In the summer of 2006, the Foundation contracted with Blackbaud to install The Raiser’s Edge as the new underlying tool for advancement at the University, under the direction of Mr. Welty and his team.  It was during this project that he coined the phrase, “It it’s not in The Raiser’s Edge, then it simply did not happen,” to reinforce the cultural changes using the new software would encourage.

In June 2008, Welty was appointed as Vice President for University Development at the newly revitalised University of New Mexico Foundation, Inc. in Albuquerque.  He is a member of the Foundation’s senior leadership team and brings considerable successful experience to both front-line fund raising and non-profit organization operations.  In June, 2009 Welty was named Vice President for Development & Administration and is responsible for the daily operations of UNM fund raising, and for guiding the central services that support development staff.

Welty received an A.B. with honors in Geology (1980) from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.  In 1988, he received a master’s degree in Geosciences from The University of Arizona contemporaneous with his employment at the Arizona Geological Survey.  Welty notes he still seeks gold and silver, only now it is in negotiable form. 

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Mrs. Sam Davies - Panel Chair - Lost Alumni
Director of Development & Alumni, University of Brighton


Session Title: Hunting high and low – how to track down your lost alumni?

This session seeks to offer advice and ideas (all based on real-life experiences!) in the activity of tracking down your ‘lost’ alumni.  Hear from 4 different institutions on how they tackled this problem, the pitfalls to avoid and the success achieved so far in each case.  In addition, learn about the different methods adopted (both in-house and external) and find out which are most effective.  Finally, pose questions to the panellists regarding your own particular institutional lost alumni situations.

Speaker Bio
Sam’s first foray into fundraising came whilst a finalist at Warwick as a caller for their first-ever telephone campaign in 1997.  Following graduation, she worked for a consultancy and spent 2 years managing telephone campaigns at 22 institutions (universities and schools).  She then returned to Warwick full-time to run their campaigns and later became responsible for all other Annual Giving activities (direct mail, legacies, e-fundraising and stewardship).

Sam became Brighton’s first Director of Development & Alumni in August 2008 tasked with establishing a sustainable development operation and imbedding a culture of philanthropy amongst the alumni community.


Karen Brady - Panel Member, Lost Alumni
Head of Alumni Relations, University of Liverpool

Speaker Bio
Karen Brady joined the University of Liverpool in as Alumni Development Manager in 2006.  Now as Head of Alumni Relations she is responsible for implementing and managing the alumni relations strategy for the University's 154,000 graduates worldwide. During her time at Liverpool she has overseen the launch of several new initiatives, including a successful overseas Alumni Ambassadors programme and the re-launch of the University's annual giving campaign. Prior to this she worked in the corporate sector, specialising in event management and outside catering. She is a Durham alumna, graduating in 2002 with a degree in Human Sciences and is a Certificated Member of the Institute of Fundraising.

Ian Moore - Panel Member, Lost Alumni
Deputy Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Coventry University

Ian is Deputy Director of Development and Alumni Relations at Coventry University, having joined in 2005 to create a fully-fledged Alumni Relations operation. In this time the alumni network has expanded to 3 times its size and further growth is still sought. Previously Ian spent four years at the Open University reshaping alumni communications and managing affinity schemes. Ian formerly worked for 7 years in consumer magazine publishing.


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Shona Nicholson, CFRE
Head of Annual Fund, University of Oxford

Session Title: Puzzle Pieces: Building An Integrated Annual Fund Programme.

Speaker Bio
Shona Nicholson is currently Head of Annual Fund & Legacies at the University of Oxford. Prior to that, she was Manager of the Annual Fund at Aston University.  Before coming to the UK, Shona worked in North America as a direct marketing consultant for over 15 years, assisting not-for-profit organisations in the development and execution of fundraising programmes that are integrated with new media and internal/external communication strategies.
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Professor Eric Thomas
Vice Chancellor, University of Bristol

Session Title: Higher Education Fundraising in the UK - What has happened since the Thomas Report?

Speaker Bio
Professor Eric Thomas has been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol since 2001.

He graduated in Medicine from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1976 and proceeded to obtain his MD by thesis in research into endometriosis in 1987.  He trained as an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and worked at both the universities of Sheffield and Newcastle.  In 1991 he was appointed Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Southampton and then became Head of the School of Medicine there in 1995 and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Biological Sciences in 1998.  He was a Consultant Gynaecologist from 1987 to 2001.

He is Chair of the Research Policy Committee of Universities UK and a member of its Board.  He is a member and trustee of the Universities and Colleges Admissions service.  He chaired the government Taskforce into Increasing Voluntary Giving in Higher Education which reported in 2004.  He was Chair of the Worldwide Universities Network from 2003 – 2007.  He was a member of the Board of the South-West Regional Development Agency from 2002 – 2008.

He is a Deputy Lieutenant of the City and County of Bristol and is married with two children.

For more information please contact solutions@blackbaud.co.uk