The Council of Foundation Leaders is a standing advisory group of professional leaders, knowledgeable about the roles, responsibilities, and practices of effective governance for institutionally related foundations. They also have a deep understanding of the purpose of institutionally related foundations and the inherent dynamics of interrelatedness between foundations and the universities, systems, and colleges they serve. The Council meets quarterly.
George P. Watt
AGB Senior Consultant, Senior Fellow, and Membership Ambassador
Former Executive Vice President, Institutional Advancement
and Executive Director, College of Charleston Foundation
Former President, U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association and U.S. Naval Academy Foundation
Margaret Ann Bollmeier
Medical College of Virginia
Trishana Bowden
George Mason University
Gretchen Buhlig
Arizona State University Foundation
DeAnna Carlson Zink
University of North Dakota Foundation
Monica Delisa
University of Vermont Foundation
Kristen DeVries
Western Michigan University Foundation
Jay Dowd
The Citadel Foundation
Rod Grabowski
UCF Foundation (University of Central Florida)
Brian Hastings
University of Nebraska Foundation
Abby Kelso
Evergreen State College Foundation
Matthew Lambert
William & Mary Foundation
Karen McCauley
Clemson University Foundation
Ian Mercier
Medical College of Georgia Foundation, Inc.
Augusta University
James H. Moore, Jr.
University of Illinois Foundation
Robert Nava
California State University San Bernardino Philanthropic Foundation
Guy Patton
University of Oklahoma Foundation
Leonard Raley
University of Maryland System Foundation
Cynthia Roth
West Virginia University Foundation
Katherine Sawyer
Oakton Community College Foundation
Amanda Sbriscia
Holyoke Community College Foundation
Tyson Voelkel
Texas A&M Foundation
Matt White
Utah State University Foundation
Top-of-mind priorities for foundation leaders in 2021 include the return to foundation offices; talent management and diversity, equity and inclusion; the foundation’s sustainability; tensions over the use of funds raised and managed by the foundation; and the institution-foundation partnership.
The operational uncertainty unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic creates stress for everyone in higher education, not least foundation leaders, board members, and staff.
AGB’s Council of Foundation Leaders convened in late September to discuss current and emerging issues spanning the effects of the pandemic; financial sustainability; strategic alignment; cyber risk oversight; campus activism; and justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion (JDE&I).
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