RAISE Podcast

Steve Rosfeld is Vice President for Development at the University of Cincinnati Foundation. In this role, he leads fundraising efforts of 10 main campus colleges and units, and Bearcats athletics. Additionally, Steve leads the central development team that services the University of Cincinnati and UC Health through specialties involving donor relations, national development, gift planning, corporate relations, and foundation relations. He also carried strategic leadership responsibilities for the comprehensive Next/Now campaign during the early planning, launch, and implementation phases. As a student at the University of Cincinnati, Rosfeld was an intern for the UC Foundation and ultimately joined the organization in 2006 as an alumni relations professional for the UC Alumni Association. He has assumed additional responsibilities over the years including, most recently, serving as the Executive Director of Development for the Carl H. Lindner College of Business. With 20 years of professional experience, Rosfeld previously served in a variety of capacities for several local, state, and national political campaigns.

Michael Reza is an established leader that believes higher education can transform the lives of individuals, communities, and society. This belief drives his passion for the work that we do as Advancement professionals. Michael currently serves as the Associate Vice President, Portland Development & Alumni Engagement at the University of Oregon. He leads the Portland, OR regional advancement strategy and serves on the UO Advancement senior leadership team. Portland is home to the largest concentration of UO donors and alumni, as well as a regional UO Portland campus. He works closely with academic leadership, maintains a portfolio of donor prospects, and takes a prominent role in representing the university in the Portland community.

Michael has more than 17 years of experience in higher education advancement at large public and small private institutions. Prior to the UO, he served as Vice President for Advancement at George Fox University where he led a team that included development, alumni relations and grants. While there, GFU doubled their fundraising in three years and launched a campaign. Michael has experience in advancement from his time in progressive roles at the University of Arizona, UC Irvine and Oregon State University. He is an active volunteer with CASE and serves as immediate past chair of the CASE District VIII Cabinet.

Bernard “B.J.” Davisson is executive vice president for development and chief development officer at the West Virginia University Foundation where he oversees all facets of private fundraising. This includes having led the closing years of the Foundation’s historic and successful $1.2 billion “State of Minds” comprehensive campaign.

A senior executive with over 30 years of experience in both higher education and healthcare fundraising, including nearly a decade of work at the prestigious John Hopkins University, Davisson began work at WVU in April 2015.

Prior to his current position, he was the senior associate vice president for development and alumni relations at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he worked closely with institutional leaders, key volunteers, and a large and diverse development staff in securing significant gifts.

A native of Westernport, Md., Davisson earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Frostburg State University and a master’s degree in higher education administration from The Ohio State University.

With more than 25 years of fundraising experience, Cheryl Crounse has a passion for high-impact work in higher education and is driven by the opportunities that philanthropy can provide to advance excellence in support of equitable student success. She was appointed as vice president of advancement of Salem State University and executive director of the University’s in 2019. In her current role, Cheryl is responsible for strategically advancing the fundraising priorities, overseeing nearly $60 million in assets in the Salem State University Foundation, Inc. and works with a 22-member Board of Directors who partner with the university to actively steward and invest the contributed private funds.

Under her leadership, the university launched the largest campaign in Massachusetts State University history in May of 2023, set to raise $75 million. Hired by the university in 2011, Cheryl led its first-ever comprehensive campaign which exceeded its goal by raising $26.5 million and doubled the revenue distributed to the university in support of scholarships, on-campus programming and unrestricted support. Nearly 12,000 passionate donors supported the campaign priorities. She previously served as campaign manager, assistant vice president and associate vice president with increasing roles and responsibilities within advancement.

As a first-generation, Pell-eligible, public higher education student studying business at Oswego State University, she learned the fundamentals of fundraising as a student employee calling alumni for her alma mater. Prior to joining Salem State, Cheryl directed leadership giving, annual giving, pre-campaign assessment planning and advancement operations at Emerson College. She spent the early part of her career shaping and significantly growing annual giving programs at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Cheryl is engaged in her community including serving on the Board of Lynn Museum/Arts, as a Board of Director at St. Jean’s Credit Union and started a scholarship at her alma mater. She enjoys all kinds of travel including spending quality time with her family in West Valley, a rural community south of Buffalo, NY.

Scott Roberts holds an associate’s degree from Missouri State University–West Plains, a bachelor’s from the College of the Ozarks, and a master’s in public administration from the University of Nevada–Las Vegas. After college he played professional basketball in Germany and Sweden for two years.

Roberts first entered the world of fundraising as a district executive for the Boy Scouts of America. He loved the job and seeing how he could positively impact others. Two years later, a volunteer urged him to apply for a job as director of major gifts at Pittsburg State University in Kansas, where he found his real passion. He served as director of university development at Pittsburg State University where he directed a $120 million comprehensive capital campaign.

From there, he spent nine years at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) first as associate vice president and then promoted internally to vice president for philanthropy and alumni engagement/President of the UNLV Foundation, which he led to annual fundraising records in both 2017 and 2018 with an all time high of $93 million. During his tenure, UNLV raised more than $500 million and saw a 56 percent increase in the number of gifts and a 51 percent increase in donors.

In 2019, Roberts served as President and CEO of the University of Connecticut Foundation, also setting all time fundraising records in 2020 and 2021. In this capacity he oversaw a team of 160 staff and an operating budget of nearly $25 million.

Roberts joined the Oklahoma State University foundation as the vice president of development in 2021. In his current capacity he oversees nearly 100 staff responsible for fundraising, marketing/communications, donor relations and prospect development. OSUF raised $208 million in FY22 and began the planning phase of the next campaign.

Throughout his career, Roberts has been involved with numerous nonprofit organizations and educational institutions. He served on the Blackbaud Higher Education Executive Advisory Board and the Board of Directors for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Foundation. He has also sat on the CASE District VII Board of Directors and is a member of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

A Brooklyn, New York native, Dr. Kirk A. Nooks was appointed to serve as the President of Gordon State College effective June 1, 2018. His career spans both the private and public sector which leverages over 25 years of education and engineering experience. Before transitioning to a career in higher education, Nooks worked as an engineering project manager at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center and as an account executive with a health benefits consulting company.

As President of Gordon State, Nooks is responsible for a campus of over 3,000 students which has a mission of being a catalyst for exceptional and accessible education, and a vision to elevate the region’s economic prosperity.

Nooks serves on national and local boards to include The Chair Academy and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. He has been recognized with several awards to include making the Georgia Trend’s Top 500 Influential Leaders list in 2022. As an author and presenter, he continues to stay active on topics that include college and university leadership, strategic planning and the learning college.

Dr. Nooks holds a doctorate in higher education administration from George Washington University (Washington, D.C.) and an MBA in marketing and a bachelor of science in industrial management from Mercer University (Macon, Ga.). He is a graduate of the Thomas Lakin Institute for Mentored Leadership and a member of the inaugural cohort of the American Council on Education’s Spectrum Leadership Institute.

Nooks is a first-generation college student and graduate. He believes that when institutions put students at the heart of its work, the institution can accomplish anything.

Dr. Kirk A. Nooks and his wife Alison reside in Forsyth, GA with their three children.

At the end of May, Dr. Nooks will continue his commitment to bridging the gap between high school students and the growing number of unfilled jobs through affordable, accessible, life-changing educational pathways by serving as as President and CEO of the Council on Occupational Education.

It's a fascinating story. Tune in!

Brian T. Hervey serves as the vice chancellor for University Advancement and Alumni Relations and the president of the UCI Foundation at the University of California, Irvine. He provides leadership over all aspects of the university’s fundraising programs, alumni relations and development initiatives. Before his appointment as vice chancellor, Brian served as associate vice chancellor for UCI Health Advancement.

Prior to joining UCI, Brian led successful multimillion dollar fundraising campaigns at Scott & White Healthcare Foundation as its vice president for philanthropy and communications. In this role, he supervised staff in the areas of major gift development, communications and planned giving for the Baylor Scott & White Health Central Division, which included 14 hospitals and over 65 clinics in central Texas. Previously, he was director of institutional advancement at Texas A&M Health Science Center (HSC) College of Medicine.

Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Texas A&M University. He is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) and a Certified Gift Planning Professional (CGPP). Additionally, Brian served as the chair for development on the institutional advancement steering committee for the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), and has presented at conferences on advancement topics for the AAMC, Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) and Council for Advancement and Support of Higher Education (CASE).

About Reshunda

Dr. Reshunda Mahone is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving at North Carolina State University. With over twenty years of advancement and development experience, she has supported every aspect of higher education fundraising. Dr. Mahone has previously held fundraising roles at Emory University, Virginia State University, Spelman College, the University of Miami, Georgia State University, and the University of Central Florida. She began her career in advancement at her alma mater, the University of Florida. She has expertise in campaign fundraising, data analytics, diversity, equity, and inclusion in philanthropy, leadership development, and operational optimization.

She is an active member of the Council for the Advancement & Support of Education (CASE) District III Board, and has previously served CASE on the Commission on Philanthropy and the Minority Serving Institution Advisory Board. Dr. Mahone also serves as the chair of the African American Development Officers (AADO) Network board and previously served on the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) boards for the Central Virginia, Greater Atlanta, and the Miami chapters. Dr. Mahone earned an Ed.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University, an MBA from the University of Central Florida, a B.S. in Decision and Information Sciences from the University of Florida, and is a Certified Fundraising Executive.

Mo Cotton Kelly was named senior vice president for stakeholder engagement and chief operating officer (SVP-COO) at the UConn Foundation with responsibility for driving operational and capital campaign strategy, overseeing key administrative functions, and guiding a culture of inclusivity. Cotton Kelly manages the departments of alumni relations, marketing and communications, annual giving, stewardship, and board engagement.

“It is a privilege to take on this new position, which was created with the UConn Foundation’s future in mind,” says Cotton Kelly. “Having direct oversight of engagement, annual giving, stewardship, and marketing and communications affords me a 30,000-foot view for developing strategy foundation-wide, so that we can elevate our critical work in support of Connecticut’s flagship university.”

“I have worked alongside Mo for several years and know her to be an exceptional leader, strategic thinker, and valued colleague,” says Jake Lemon, president and CEO of the UConn Foundation. “I look forward to working in close partnership with Mo in her new role.”

Cotton Kelly, who joined the UConn Foundation in 2014, has a national reputation for strong leadership built over two decades in higher education advancement. Previously, she was executive director of Bowling Green State University’s Alumni Association. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from BGSU. Currently, she is the District I Chair for CASE and an active member in the Council for Alumni Association Executives (CAAE).

Kimberly Russell, Ed.D, vice president for University Advancement, Texas Woman's University.

Russell has served as chancellor of Louisiana State University’s Eunice campus for the past three years, following more than two decades of leadership in advancement, foundations, corporate relations and grants for public and private higher education institutions.

During her leadership at LSU, enrollment at the Eunice campus grew 29 percent, and degree and certificate programs in high-demand healthcare fields were expanded. She also worked with the LSU Foundation on a comprehensive fundraising campaign to benefit all LSU institutions.

“This advancement leadership position is strategically important to TWU’s ability to prepare students to achieve their dreams and contribute meaningfully to Texas, and also to leverage our distinctive position as the nation’s largest university primarily for women,” said Carine M. Feyten, TWU chancellor and president.

Prior to her current position, Russell worked at Tyler Junior College as vice president for University Advancement and executive director of the TJC Foundation, which had a 35-member board of directors. During her 16-year tenure there, TJC completed a historic capital program that expanded the campus by 25 percent, including a new nursing and health sciences center, an energy center and residence hall. In addition, from 2013-2016, CASE consecutively recognized the TJC Foundation’s fundraising program for overall fundraising performance and sustained excellence.

Before joining TJC in 1999, Russell served as director of foundation and corporate relations at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas, where she and her team acquired more than $5 million in successful grant proposals from a number of high-profile foundations. Prior to that, she served as a secondary English teacher (grades 7-9) and as an adjunct professor of English at Kilgore College.

“I’m excited to return to pursuing my passion — higher education advancement,” Russell said. “I’m also glad to return to North Texas, after growing up in East Texas, attending the University of Texas at Tyler, and completing both of my graduate degrees at UNT.”