Jillian Pinkard serves as the Senior Director of Advancement for the St. Paul’s Schools (Brooklandville, Maryland), a family of independent schools serving children from infancy through grade 12. Jillian’s advancement career began during her senior year at Juniata College (Huntingdon, Pennsylvania), where she worked as a student phonathon caller. Following graduation, Jillian joined Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland) to manage the phonathon program for academic and hospital programs. She went on to become Associate Director of Development before joining St. Paul’s School in 2010.

Over the last twelve years, Jillian has served in a variety of roles with St. Paul’s, including Director of Leadership Giving, Campaign Director, and Director of Advancement. In 2021, following the unification of St. Paul’s School and St. Paul’s School for Girls, she was named the Senior Director of Advancement for the newly unified St. Paul’s Schools. She led the consolidation of separate advancement departments, a rare opportunity, and a process complicated by the global pandemic and leadership transitions, including the departure of the schools’ president and the retirement of a long-tenured executive director of advancement. Through these challenging circumstances, Jillian effectively managed and mentored an eleven-person advancement team through a database merge, a new unified annual fund rollout, a new executive director of advancement, and a comprehensive capital campaign readiness study. She provided critical department leadership that resulted in securing a record $8.1 million in total philanthropic support for the St. Paul’s Schools during the 2021-22 year.

In addition to her professional responsibilities, Jillian has served as a volunteer with Bridges Baltimore, an organization committed to the long-term success of motivated Baltimore City youth and providing life-changing opportunities for independent school students. She is a member of the Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), to which she submitted the winning nomination for the 2017 Seymour Preston Award. She has also served as a presenter and member of the planning committee for the annual CASE-NAIS Independent Schools Conference.