Vice President for Advancement

A champion for the transformative power of the liberal arts, Kenyon College seeks a creative, passionate, and sophisticated fundraising leader to serve as the next vice president for advancement. This individual will join Kenyon following the arrival of President Julie Kornfeld in 2023, the celebration of the college’s bicentennial in 2024, and the record-breaking completion of a $532 million comprehensive campaign the same year. The dawn of Kenyon’s third century gives way for reflection on all the college has accomplished over the last 200 years, while inspiring its leadership to adapt and innovate for the future. Kenyon’s next vice president will be an advocate for the liberal arts and a thought partner to the president, helping to guide the college’s strategic direction as a key member of an evolving executive leadership team. The vice president will work with President Kornfeld, peer leaders, board members, donors, and staff to reinforce Kenyon’s position and strength in a changing higher education landscape while maintaining the college’s rigorous approach to the traditional liberal arts that prepares its graduates for lives of purpose and consequence.

Kenyon is an institution steeped in unique traditions, lifelong connections to people and place, and an enduring affinity among its alumni and supporters. More than 60 percent of Kenyon’s 23,000 living alumni contributed to the last campaign. However, philanthropy at Kenyon is also evolving. The next vice president will be an innovator prepared to leverage industry-wide technological advancements, such as the use of artificial intelligence, while also responding to new college-specific opportunities. With nearly one-half of alumni having graduated since 2000, the college must develop future gener­ations of Kenyon donors at all levels of the giving pyramid while continuing to strengthen its efforts in alumni engagement and non-alumni engagement and giving. The profile of Kenyon’s most influential donors has also shifted through the emergence of a new generation of alumni joining the college’s highest-level supporters. Their investment in Kenyon has now sparked Third Century Founders—a two-year initiative focused on endowment support from principal-gift-level donors that is currently under development.

The next vice president will build upon existing success and lead the continued growth and evolution of a highly regarded, well established advancement operation. The role includes oversight of a multifunctional division across major, principal, and planned giving; advancement information services; advancement communications and strategy; alumni and parent engagement; and annual giving, including the Kenyon Fund and the Kenyon Parent Fund. In total, the vice president will manage a budget of approximately $1.2 million and an advancement operation that received $70 million and secured $20 in new attainment in Fiscal Year 2024. They will lead a team of approximately 40 professionals across a cohesive enterprise that prides itself on collaboration, achievement, commitment to mission, and an exceptionally strong team culture.

In addition to guiding the team, the vice president will personally participate in the identification, cultivation, and solicitation of high-level prospects, and will become an active and visible member in the college community, balancing their time and presence both on campus and around the globe. The vice president will also work with the president and trustees to ensure the effective use of their time and maximization of their success, serving as the principal advisor on advancement and guiding and partnering with the president in the cultivation of Kenyon’s most transformational donors. Success for the next vice president will, in part, be defined by an ability to educate and engage all members of the Kenyon community—faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, volunteers, and senior administrators—in advancement efforts, connecting individuals not only to Kenyon’s 200-year legacy, but also to its ambitious and trailblazing future as a global leader in liberal arts education.

The next vice president will be a strategic, visionary, and high-performing leader capable of building upon a strong existing program to deliver creative and entrepreneurial fundraising strategies, clear and achievable goals, and data-informed risk-taking and decision-making in a changing higher education landscape. The vice president must be a superb storyteller with extraordinary skills that include crafting multiple compelling cases for support, and engaging and building authentic relationships with the college’s broad range of constituencies. The successful candidate will reflect and embody the values of Kenyon, leading advancement efforts and serving the college with warmth, humility, kindness, and humor. The successful candidate will demonstrate a high level of integrity and trust; have the ability to adapt in a dynamic environment; and exhibit authenticity, credibility, sophistication, empathy, and judgment to effectively engage and partner with all key internal and external members of the Kenyon community, building bridges and strong collaborative relationships across the college. A minimum of 10 to 15 years of leadership experience in fundraising, constituency engagement, and staff management is required, as is a comprehensive knowledge of strategies employed in all major development and alumni functions.

Jack Gorman is leading this search with Grace Zakim and Lisa Clayton.