Reed College Vice President for Advancement Leadership Profile

Executive Summary

Reed College, a top liberal arts and sciences college, seeks an experienced, strategic and collaborative leader to serve as its next vice president for advancement.

Reed College is a highly selective, national college of the liberal arts and sciences located in Portland, Oregon, with over 1,500 students. Reed provides one of the nation’s most rigorous undergraduate experiences, with a highly structured academic program that balances broad distribution requirements and in-depth study in a chosen academic discipline.

The vice president for advancement will report to President Audrey Bilger and will be responsible for advancement, alumni relations, trustee relations and fundraising, marketing and communications, government and foundation grant relations, conferences and events planning, the Center for Life Beyond Reed, and community and external relations. Additionally, the person in this role will oversee brand, marketing, and public relations efforts for the college and the implementation of cohesive and timely communications strategies. As a key member of the President's senior leadership team, the vice president will participate in strategic planning and work collaboratively with others across the institution to identify and support college priorities, initiatives, and opportunities. The college seeks a collaborative, forward-thinking, and goal-oriented advancement leader with a robust track record as a major/principal gift fundraiser and manager of a sophisticated advancement operation.

Substantial leadership and management acumen is required, and thus the ideal candidate will have successfully led or had a major leadership role in development or advancement programs for at least 10 years. Demonstrated experience in developing and executing successful communications and fundraising campaigns is highly desirable. As would be expected, superior communication and relationship-building skills are necessary. The vice president for advancement will have the opportunity to make a significant contribution to this outstanding institution by leading it to new levels of engagement with its external constituencies and even greater achievement in fundraising. Doing so will require the skills and experiences of a seasoned advancement leader and manager, one with a significant track record of personal and successful involvement in individual major and principal giving, and experience in leading a team of skilled fundraisers and alumni relations professionals. Demonstrated success with leadership experience within a comprehensive campaign is critical, as is a deep and abiding commitment to the liberal arts. A bachelor's degree is required and an advanced degree is preferred.

To submit a nomination or express personal interest in this position, please see Procedure for Candidacy at the end of this document.

The Office and Role of the Vice President for Advancement

The vice president for advancement has primary responsibility to advance understanding and support of Reed College among key internal and external audiences, including alumni, parents, current and prospective students, community leaders, media, elected officials and governmental entities, corporations and foundations, and other friends of the college. As one of six vice presidents involved in the management of the college, the vice president is the chief liaison to Reed’s 30-member board of trustees (and 20 emeritus trustees) and works with the college president and board leadership closely

In addition to being responsible for the college’s fundraising efforts, this new leader will oversee alumni relations & volunteer engagement, communications and public affairs, conference and events planning, and the Center for Life Beyond Reed, which helps students prepare for their lives after graduation. In December 2012, Reed concluded the largest fundraising effort in College’s history, with more than US$203 million raised. The new vice president will work with the leadership team in the implementation of Reed's recent comprehensive strategic plan, the conclusions of which have launched efforts to strengthen the academic program, ensure long-term financial stability, enhance student engagement and support, and promote greater diversity within the campus community.

In addition, the vice president will be expected to:

Review and help advance the college's fundraising efforts

The vice president for advancement will lead collaborative efforts with the President’s leadership team, trustee leadership, and senior members of the administration and faculty to identify and track long- and short-term institutional targets that are supported by engagement, fundraising, institutional communications, and marketing. A review of the program will naturally lead to a strategic plan for the operation. Building from the base provided by the college's strategic plan, the vice president will work with colleagues within and beyond advancement to articulate a strategic vision and action plan to guide the program for the next several years. Key to this plan will be an expression of priorities for resource allocation and a projection of the anticipated return on those investments. The vice president will ensure that progress on the plan is measured by agreed-upon metrics and will socialize that plan across advancement and the college to establish appropriate, but ambitious expectations on the part of college leadership and the institutional community as a whole. Reed is embarking on the early planning of a capital campaign, the next vice president will be responsible for leading and executing, along with staff and volunteers, this upcoming campaign to support the college's educational programs and initiatives to support student success. Reed continues to work toward the goal of creating an equitable and inclusive living, learning, and working environment for students, faculty and staff. The new vice president will work with the senior leadership in fulfilling that commitment in representing advancement efforts.

Optimize presidential reach and influence

The vice president will meet with the President regularly as a trusted advisor to provide guidance and counsel on issues and opportunities related to developing, implementing, and advancing a comprehensive advancement strategy. The vice president will engage the President in high level, principal gift fundraising strategies and activities, provide exceptional staffing support on presidential fundraising initiatives, and ensure the President’s time is appropriately leveraged and maximized for high value meetings aimed at securing impactful gifts. The vice president should be comfortable serving as a key consultant and advisor

to the President on matters of donor and board relations as it pertains to philanthropic initiatives and will apply professional expertise as the chief fundraiser and fundraising strategist to the broader Reed community and its leadership.

Provide vision and leadership

Reed benefits from the work of an advancement staff that is highly experienced and deeply committed to the college. The vice president will be able to lead the advancement and communications organization with vision and creativity. There is also an opportunity for the new vice president to assess the current organizational structure, areas of strength and opportunities for transformation. They will have a strategic outlook and eye to new possibilities and emerging challenges. The vice president will demonstrate an ability to build and motivate a team and to inspire joy in one’s work. The vice president will need to leverage the operational capacity of everyone in the organization to ensure its productivity. The vice president will assess and provide for additional training or other support needed across the organization to increase its efficacy and productivity. They will articulate clear and compelling expectations for every aspect of the advancement and communications organization and will hold all staff accountable for meeting or exceeding those expectations. They will provide ethical and mindful management of the department’s financial, personnel, and capital resources in the execution of strategic plans, and individual duties and responsibilities. The vice president will lead and manage the advancement/development, engagement, communications, and marketing functions and staff of the college. They will set and clearly communicate specific and measurable goals and expectations for department staff to meet college needs, commitments, and strategic targets on a regular and ongoing basis. They will promote and ensure accountability at all levels, while leading by example.

Foster a culture of philanthropy

The successful candidate will encourage a campus-wide culture of philanthropy that fosters appreciation for and engagement in advancement efforts. They will proactively facilitate and support networking opportunities and connections for individuals across the college community with external contacts for fundraising, funding, publicity, and community and business partnerships to advance the college’s current and future strategic goals. They will serve as a liaison for relationship building between internal and external stakeholders, facilitating and shepherding communications and engagement. It will be important that they actively communicate and engage with the President’s leadership team, trustees, faculty, staff, students, parents, and alumni to remain knowledgeable about current and upcoming projects, programs, and initiatives.

Continue to build engagement

Reed alumni are passionate about their alma mater. They are steeped in its traditions and care deeply about its future. They live across the nation and around the globe, and they want to remain engaged. The alumni relations operation that serves them is energetic and enthusiastic, if somewhat traditional in

approach. Continuing and accelerated development of the alumni relations programs will be an area of concentration for the new vice president.

The vice president will take a critical look at the philanthropic environment to create a strategy to broaden the pool of prospective donors while also tapping the scope of sustained, meaningful engagement with alumni and current donors, in ways that engender affinity and lifelong connections. The vice president will develop methods of securing support across all areas in a competitive fundraising environment. They will personally identify, solicit, cultivate, and attain major gifts, media connections, and beneficial external relations for the college to meet expectations and goals set by the President, Board of Trustees, and other key stakeholders.

Professional Qualifications and Personal Qualities

The vice president for advancement will first and foremost be a successful and experienced major and principal gift fundraiser with a track record of leadership in word and deed. This leader will have significant experience at the leadership level within a comprehensive campaign of significant breadth and high aspiration. The vice president will be aggressive about goals, a strong motivator of people (both professionals and volunteers), and deeply knowledgeable about and committed to best practices across higher education. It is critical that they be experienced with alumni relations programs and demonstrate a commitment and ability to integrate an institution’s external messaging and programming.

The vice presidency at Reed is a leadership position. As such, it requires the fundamental attributes of leadership: unquestioned integrity; excellent judgment; intelligence; creativity; a sense of urgency; the ability to assess risk and a willingness to take calculated risk; courage of convictions; diplomacy and tact; the ability to speak truth to power; decisiveness; self-awareness; patience; and a sense of humor. It goes without saying that extraordinary relationship-building skills and outstanding communications skills –including especially the ability to listen carefully and well – are critical necessities in the position.

A bachelor’s degree is required and an advanced degree is preferred. A track record of progressively responsible management experience with responsibility for people, programs, and budgets is required, as is a demonstrated track record of working and interacting productively with diverse people and groups. The vice president should be familiar with the latest technology in use in the advancement arena and facile in its use.

Duties and Responsibilities

▪ Developing the infrastructure, staff, and relationships to generate private donations to support the college operations and strategic plan, including scholarship, academic, operational, infrastructure, and capital priorities.

▪ Demonstrate a commitment to student success and motivation to reduce financial barriers for all students to better access a Reed education.

▪ In partnership with the President, manage Board of Trustee events, meetings, and communications.

▪ Assist the President with external community relations.

▪ Develop and manage alumni relations, donor relations, and stewardship programs that provide meaningful engagement between donors and the college.

▪ Provide leadership and support for effective college internal and external communications, public relations, and marketing.

▪ Effectively provide leadership and management for the Division of Advancement, including development and execution of strategic plans and priorities, stewardship of resources and encouragement professional growth, and upholding the highest professional standards for division staff.

▪ Lead and manage the work of the division, primarily through four professional staff leadersexecutive director of advancement; executive director of public affairs & conference and events planning; associate dean of students and director, Center for Life Beyond Reed; and director, advancement information systems.

▪ Develop strategies, resources and initiatives that help increase a sense of community, purpose, inclusion and belonging; support and uplift staff and their work.

▪ Actively partner with the Office for Institutional Diversity (OID), to strategically leverage diversity as a core asset by developing targeted alumni outreach plans and building meaningful relationships across diverse communities.

▪ Collaborate with OID, Institutional Research, Student Life, and the Dean of the Faculty to leverage data for inclusive outreach, developing evidence-based strategies that effectively engage alumni, students, families, and other constituencies.

Minimum Qualifications

▪ Twenty years of experience in a professional setting, providing leadership of significant finances, departments and staff to include ten years or more of professional experience reflecting increasing levels of responsibility with donor relations and proven success with fundraising.

▪ Dynamic communicator with superior interpersonal skills.

▪ Visionary leader with experience conducting and/or overseeing marketing and communication, including leading organizational crisis and emergent issue communications internally and externally.

▪ Experience leading complex teams of high performing professional staff within a highly complex organization.

▪ Bachelor’s degree in any field

Preferred Qualifications

▪ Professional experience in higher education, particularly at a selective private college.

▪ Experience relating to one or more of the following: public affairs; conference and event planning; private and/or public grant applications; marketing; and internships, externships, fellowships, or similar.

▪ Experience as primary liaison to an executive board or similar.

▪ Advanced degree.

Physical Demands

▪ Routine, extensive travel is required for this position, primarily domestic destinations.

▪ As a member of the President’s Staff and Emergency Response Team, this role is on-call during planning for or incidents requiring immediate response which may occur 24/7 with or without advance notice.

▪ This role requires occasional to regular night and weekend work.

About Reed College

Overview

Reed College is a highly selective, national college of the liberal arts and sciences located in Portland, Oregon, with over 1,500 students. Reed provides one of the nation’s most rigorous undergraduate experiences, with a highly structured academic program that balances broad distribution requirements and in-depth study in a chosen academic discipline.

The college consistently attracts bright, highly motivated students who are intellectual, demanding, engaged, creative, and independent. Reed students seek a challenging program of study in which strong and ever-improving skills in critical reading, writing, oral expression, quantitative analysis, laboratory work, and creative production are the expectation. For students at Reed, scholarly engagement, academic rigor, and creative invention are the central focus of college life. Reed’s program produces graduates who approach the challenges of the modern world with passion, confidence, and creativity.

Reed’s faculty consists of dedicated teacher-scholars. They are actively engaged in teaching undergraduates and investigating questions of current interest in their disciplines. Faculty members regularly include students in collaborative research, scholarship, and artistic work.

The college enjoys a national reputation as a leader in liberal arts education, with sound financial underpinnings and a beautiful, well-maintained natural and built environment. The faculty, staff, and student body are united in an extraordinary sense of stewardship for the college, its uniqueness, and its mission.

Mission

Reed College is an institution of higher education in the liberal arts devoted to the intrinsic value of intellectual pursuit and governed by the highest standards of scholarly practice, critical thought, and creativity. Its undergraduate program of study, leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts, is demanding and intense and balances breadth of knowledge across the curriculum with depth of knowledge in a particular field of study. The goal of the Reed education is that students learn and demonstrate rigor and independence in their habits of thought, inquiry, and expression.

History of the College

Reed College was founded in 1908, and its first classes were held in 1911. Reed is named for Oregon pioneers Simeon and Amanda Reed. Simeon Reed had been an entrepreneur in trade on the Columbia River; in his will he suggested that Amanda “devote some portion of my estate to benevolent objects, or to the cultivation, illustration, or development of the fine arts in the city of Portland, or to some other suitable purpose, which shall be of permanent value and contribute to the beauty of the city and to the intelligence, prosperity, and happiness of the inhabitants.” Amanda Reed followed that suggestion in her will by setting up a board of trustees to found the Reed Institute. After extensive research, the trustees of the Reed Institute made the decision to establish a college of liberal arts and sciences in Portland, with no limits other than an insistence on equality and secularism.

The Reed Education

1. The Reed education balances broad study in the various areas of human knowledge and a structured, indepth study in an academic discipline through degree requirements established by the faculty.

2. The educational program’s pedagogies are characterized by close interaction of students and faculty in an atmosphere of shared intellectual and scholarly concern and active learning. Small conference and laboratory classes are the norm, providing students the opportunity to demonstrate intellectual initiative and creative engagement.

3. College-wide distribution requirements provide a foundation for all students in the assumptions, basic theoretical frameworks, techniques, and current literature of a range of academic disciplines, both humanistic and scientific.

4. The program in a student’s major area of study is an intensive examination of the objects, literature, theoretical concerns, and research models characteristic of an academic discipline. Among the requirements for the major are successful performance on a junior qualifying examination, completion of a yearlong senior thesis based on original research or artistic expression, and a successful oral defense of the thesis before an interdisciplinary faculty board.

5. The Reed education is distinguished by a yearlong interdisciplinary humanities course, required for every first-year student. The college further encourages interdisciplinary study through upper-division humanities courses, as well as established interdisciplinary majors representing areas of research and scholarship that span traditional disciplines.

6. To ensure the highest quality education for its students, the college supports and encourages scholarly research by the faculty and the application of such scholarship throughout the teaching program.

Reed College Diversity Statement

Reed College is a community dedicated to serious and open intellectual inquiry, one in which students, faculty, and staff can fully participate, regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, socio-economic status, or disabilities. Reed embraces the inherent value of diversity. It is committed to attracting the best and brightest from every group, including those who have historically experienced discrimination and prejudice, for it recognizes that dialogue between people with different perspectives, values, and backgrounds enhances the possibilities for serious intellectual inquiry. The College is also committed to creating an environment that respects the dignity and civil rights of all persons, particularly those from groups that have experienced discrimination and persecution, for it recognizes that intolerance and prejudice diminish those possibilities.

Reed is dedicated to the honor principle, which expects that each of us actively maintains an open mind and generous heart in order to create a community that welcomes and supports all of its members. When the honor principle is realized, every member of the community is respected, and can speak, work, teach, and learn free from intolerance or harassment.

Every member of the Reed community benefits from the talents and experiences of our peers, from the mutual respect we exercise, and from the responsibilities we take for our actions. Each of us deserves equal opportunity to teach, to learn, and to grow.

Center for Life Beyond Reed

The Center for Life Beyond Reed (CLBR) is Reed's center of inclusive professional excellence and career advancement. CLBR is deeply integrated into the college relations (now advancement) division and supports every area of focus within the division including fundraising, alumni engagement, volunteering, data management and recording, outcomes reporting, institutional research, corporate engagement, and public affairs.

CLBR is the primary connector between hundreds of alumni and students annually and an institutional source for data and storytelling about Reedies’ professional success beyond Reed. CLBR’s unique and integrated advising framework serves as a national model for holistic graduate school, national fellowships, and career advising, employer relations, alumni engagement, and faculty involvement. With 1,400 appointments annually, students (80%) and recent grads (20%) engage with CLBR to plan for their success in their post-baccalaureate pursuits, including graduate school, law school, med school, M.B.A., work, and national fellowships; CLBR serves alumni for life with graduate school, med school, and law school advising. CLBR plays an institutional role as Reed's national fellowships office and is evolving into a centralized hub for Reed-based funding distribution. In addition to managing the institutional

platform Handshake, CLBR is also the first stop for hundreds of local and global employers, nonprofits, and corporations interested in Reed and Reedies.

Reed at a Glance

People

▪ 1,524 students

o o 58% women

o o 42% men

o o 30% students of color

▪ 175 faculty members

▪ 393 staff members

▪ 15,283 living degreed alumni

▪ 30 trustees, including the president; 23 are alumni.

Academics

▪ 9:1 student-to-faculty teaching ratio

▪ Conference-style interactive teaching method with small classes (average of 15.4 students)

▪ 38 departmental and 13 interdisciplinary majors in the arts, sciences, humanities, and social sciences

Distinctions

▪ A higher percentage of Reed graduates go on to earn PhDs across all fields than do graduates of all but three other U.S. colleges and universities

▪ In the life sciences, Reed is one of the top two institutions of higher learning in the percentage of graduates who earn PhDs

▪ Students regularly win Fulbright, Watson, National Science Foundation, and other fellowships

▪ Reed has produced 32 Rhodes Scholars, second only to one other liberal arts college

▪ The faculty has received national recognition for its commitment to teaching

Costs 2023-2024 and Financial Aid 2023-2024

▪ Tuition and fees are $67,020 per year

▪ Typical room and board is $16,820 per year

▪ More than 57% of Reed students receive need-based financial assistance

▪ The average need-based financial aid package for the incoming class of 2027 was $59,300.

▪ Reed’s need-based financial aid program meets 100% of demonstrated need for all admitted students

Budget

▪ The 2023-24 operating budget is approximately $133.5 (includes financial aid) million plus an auxiliaries' budget (room and board) of $18.9 million.

▪ Reed has tax-exempt bonds issued in the approximate amount of $125 million

▪ Bond rating: Moody’s Aa2/VMIG1 with a stable outlook, Standard & Poor’s AA- with a stable outlook

Campus and Environs

▪ Reed’s beautiful 116-acre, tree-lined campus in residential southeast Portland features a spring-fed lake and a canyon with abundant wildlife and native plants

▪ Facilities include 27 buildings and 27 residence halls

▪ Recent improvements include a new performing arts building, renovations to the cross-canyon dorms, construction of a new dorm; renovations are underway on the sports center and recently completed on the library

▪ Downtown Portland is a 10-minute drive and 20 minutes by bus

▪ Mt. Hood and Reed’s ski cabin are about 90 minutes to the east

▪ The Pacific coast is about 90 minutes to the west

Leadership

Audrey Bilger, President

Audrey Bilger is currently serving as the 16th president of Reed College in Portland, Oregon. She was appointed to the position in 2019 and is Reed’s first woman president. Her previous position was at Pomona College, in Claremont, California, where she served as vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college and professor of English.

Bilger earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia and a B.A. in philosophy from Oklahoma State University. She was a member of the English faculty at Oberlin College and professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College. Bilger held a number of leadership positions during her 22-year tenure at Claremont McKenna, including founding faculty director for the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, chair of the literature department, coordinator of gender studies, and member of the Board of Trustees academic affairs committee. While at Claremont McKenna College, Bilger was selected to participate in the American Council on Education Fellows program, the nation’s leading program for preparing academic leaders for presidencies. Bilger currently serves on the Boards of Directors for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU), the Annapolis Group, and Project Pericles, and is secretary of the board for the Oregon Alliance of Independent Colleges & Universities (OAICU). Additionally, she is a member of the LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education and serves on the Partnership Council of All Hands Raised, a Portland, Oregon-based non-profit organization focused on breaking down barriers in education.

Bilger is a prolific author of scholarly books, articles, and chapters, as well as reviews, creative nonfiction, and journalism for the popular press. Her acclaimed work focuses on comedy, Jane Austen, the English novel, feminist theory, popular culture, and gender and sexuality. Her most recent book, Here Come the Brides! Reflections on Lesbian Love and Marriage, co-edited with Michele Kort, was a 2013 Lambda Literary Award finalist. She is the author of Laughing Feminism: Subversive Comedy in Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, and Jane Austen. She serves on the Ms. magazine Committee of Scholars and was the Gender and Sexuality section editor of The Los Angeles Review of Books. Her work, which has appeared in Ms., The Paris Review, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Los Angeles Times, has frequently covered issues pertaining to same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights.

Bilger’s spouse, Cheryl Pawelski, is a four-time Grammy-award winning producer and co-founder of Omnivore Recordings.

Portland, Oregon

Portland is made up of neighborhoods with distinct personalities. The communities closest to Reed Hawthorne, Division, Woodstock, and Sellwood are known for being creative and friendly.

Reed’s proximity to downtown Portland allows students access to countless opportunities. The city is home to large companies, like Adidas, Nike, Patagonia, Columbia, and Intel, as well as established nonprofits, like Literary Arts, Mercy Corps, and the Portland Art Museum.

Portland is home to more than 600 food carts more than any other city in the United States. Most carts are grouped together in outdoor enclaves called pods, which makes it easy to try several at a time. A short bicycle ride from Reed’s campus will yield vegan barbecue at Supernova in Sellwood, gourmet Korean food at Jin Dak in Westmoreland, and Norwegian lefse at Viking Soul Food on Belmont.

In Portland, more than 22,000 commuters choose to go by bicycle the highest percentage of bike commuters for a large American city. To make it easy, Portland has many miles of bikeways, including 94 miles of Neighborhood Greenways, 162 miles of bike lanes, and 85 miles of bike paths. Named a “platinum” bicycle-friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists (its highest rating), Portland has also been named the #1 bike-friendly city by Bicycling magazine for many years running. Providing a natural balance to the metropolitan area are the windswept beaches of the Oregon Coast and the snowcapped mountains of the Cascade Range. Reed is just 90 minutes away from each, and the Columbia River Gorge home to Multnomah Falls is even closer.

Procedure for Candidacy

All applications, nominations, and inquiries are invited. Applications should include, as separate documents, a CV or resume and a letter of interest addressing the themes in this profile.

WittKieffer is assisting Reed College in this search, which will remain open until an appointment is made.

Application materials should be submitted using WittKieffer’s candidate portal.

Nominations and inquiries can be directed to:

Mercedes Chacón Vance and Jenna Brumleve

ReedVPAdvancement@wittkieffer.com

Reed College is committed to building a culturally inclusive community and a work environment that respects and inspires every person. Your unique skills, work history, cultural contributions, and lived experiences are essential to building this community. Members of historically marginalized groups including women, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), those with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, those who have served in the military, and members of other underrepresented communities are invited to apply.