Faculty
Shaun B. Keister
Shaun B. Keister, a veteran fundraiser with experience in higher education, arts, and conservation philanthropy, became UC Davis' first vice chancellor for development and alumni relations in 2011.
He functions as the campus's chief fundraising officer and also serves as president of the UC Davis Foundation. He led UC Davis in successfully completing its first comprehensive fundraising campaign, "The Campaign for UC Davis," raising more than $1.1 billion from nearly 110,000 donors. Under his leadership, UC Davis became one of the top two percent of fundraising programs in the United States according to the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
Keister has served in a series of high-level development posts at Florida State, Iowa State, and Penn State universities. In his previous positions he has played a key role in the launch of three major campaigns.
He is a nationally-renowned fundraising expert having been quoted in local and national media outlets including "CNN Money," The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Currents magazine, The Sacramento Bee, and Fox 40 News. Additionally, he has nearly 20 years as an independent fundraising consultant serving clients including the San Francisco Opera, Steppenwolf Theatre, World Wildlife Fund, and the Nature Conservancy, and more than 60 public and private universities.
Keister has served as a CASE member and volunteer, speaking at more than 20 international conferences. He is the 2005 recipient of the CASE Crystal Apple Award for excellence in teaching.
He has a bachelor's degree in political science from Pennsylvania State University and master's and doctoral degrees in sociology from Iowa State University of Science and Technology.
Rodney Grabowski
Rodney M. Grabowski is UCF’s Senior Vice President for Advancement and Partnerships and CEO of the UCF Foundation, Inc. A passionate advocate for higher education and its power to transform lives, he oversees the university’s fundraising, alumni relations, partnership, communications and marketing efforts. Under his leadership, the Division of Advancement and Strategic Partnerships builds meaningful, fruitful connections that enhance UCF’s impact and result in new sources of revenue to fuel our excellence and unleash the potential of our students, faculty and community.
Mr. Grabowski has more than three decades of experience in nonprofit and advancement leadership, including extensive experience in higher education and health care philanthropy. He is a national leader in the use of artificial intelligence, data-driven strategy and innovative management strategies.
Before joining UCF in September of 2022, Mr. Grabowski served as Vice President for University Advancement with the University at Buffalo. His team surpassed the university’s fundraising goal of $650 million a full year early and increased the goal to $1 billion for the same time period of the campaign — an effort boosted by back-to-back record-setting years for UB.
Prior to his years at UB, Mr. Grabowski was at the University of Cincinnati as President of the University of Cincinnati Foundation, Vice President of Advancement, and President and CEO of the UC Health Foundation. At Cincinnati, he successfully concluded a $1 billion campaign, surpassing the goal by 10 percent. In Florida, he served as the University of South Florida’s Senior Associate Vice President for Advancement and campaign director, where he managed the university’s $600 million fundraising campaign. He also served in fundraising leadership positions at the University of North Florida and at Jacksonville University.
A native of Phoenix, New York, Grabowski holds the prestigious CFRE credential — Certified Fund Raising Executive. He earned an MBA from the University of North Florida and a Bachelor of Arts in international relations from Syracuse University. He is an active member and leader in the Association of Fundraising Professionals and CASE, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. An Eagle Scout, he is active in the Boy Scouts of America
Erin Martinovich
Martinovich has 25 years of experience in higher education fundraising. She supervised the Direct Response program for the University of Rochester and its Medical Center, managing of a team of 12 and overseeing all annual giving marketing channels for more than 21 academic and academic medical units, URMC hospitals, clinical areas, and affiliate programs. Her team worked directly with university leadership to ensure the successful realization of a $25 million annual fund goal.
Prior to coming to the University of Rochester, Martinovich was managing director of the Fund for Babson, at Babson College in Wellesley, MA, from 2013-18; was director of The Northeastern Fund, at Northeastern University in Boston, from 2009-13; and director of Annual Giving, at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, from 2004-09. She also previously directed reunion giving at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY (2001-04), annual giving at Philadelphia University (1998-2001), special gifts and volunteer programs at University at Albany (1996-98).
Martinovich earned a B.A. degree in public communication in 1993 from the College of St. Rose. Her husband, Chad, is the head football coach at the University of Rochester. The couple has two children: daughter Hailey, a freshman at Castleton University in Vermont, and son Tyler, a freshman at Brighton High School, Rochester.
Santa J. Ono
Installed as President and Vice-Chancellor in 2016, he also serves as Chair of the U15 Group of Universities, on the Board of Directors of Universities Canada, and as Past Chair of Research Universities of British Columbia. He is also a member of the Boards of Fulbright and MITACS. He has also served on the Boards of the American Council on Education and the Council on Competitiveness and as Chief Innovation Advisor to the Province of British Columbia.
Prior to his appointment as President and Vice-Chancellor of UBC, Dr. Ono served as the 28th President of the University of Cincinnati and Senior Vice-Provost and Deputy to the Provost at Emory University.
He was appointed by Governor John Kasich to lead Ohio’s Biopharmaceutical Task Force and to the Board of the Ohio Third Frontier – Ohio’s technology-based economic development program, when he served as President of the University of Cincinnati.
A molecular immunologist educated at the University of Chicago and McGill, Dr. Ono has taught at Johns Hopkins, Harvard University and University College London. He has advised national and regional governments on higher education and mental health. He has also advised companies such as GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Novartis on R&D.
He has served on a number of editorial boards, including Immunology, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, The Journal of Immunology and The Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.
Dr. Ono has been inducted as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors, USA and the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars.
He holds Honorary Doctorates from Chiba University and the Vancouver School of Theology and is a recipient of the Reginald Wilson Diversity Leadership Award from the American Council on Education, the Professional Achievement Award from University of Chicago, a Grand Challenges Hero Award from UCLA and the NAAAP 100 Award from the National Association of Asian American Professionals.
Fardin Sanai
Fardin Sanai was appointed UAlbany’s vice president for university advancement and executive director of The University at Albany Foundation in 2007, with responsibility for all fundraising and alumni relations functions. As executive director of the Foundation, Sanai serves as liaison to its board of directors and oversees Foundation operations including investments, real estate, and governance. In addition, Sanai oversaw UAlbany’s division of communications and marketing 2017-2021.
Since 2011 Sanai has served as chair of the executive committee of chief advancement officers for the State University of New York, working closely with his colleagues and the SUNY chancellor to guide the system’s 64 campuses in their fundraising efforts. He has chaired multiple national CASE conferences on Development for Deans and Academic Leaders, and as a faculty member for the SUNY SAIL Institute, has provided executive coaching for new presidents, provosts, and deans.
Under Sanai’s direction, UAlbany’s advancement program has routinely been recognized for industry best practices, receiving ten CASE Circle of Excellence Awards – including a Grand Gold for best online magazine – and seventeen CASE District II Awards.
Sanai is a board member of 15-Love, a non-profit offering free educational programs for inner city youth, the University at Albany Biosciences Development Corporation, and the University Auxiliary Services.
Prior to joining UAlbany, Sanai served as senior vice president for development and foundation operations at Albany Medical Center, and as vice president of institutional advancement and executive director of the Foundation at SUNY Cobleskill. He began his fundraising career at Albany Law School and spent two years as a fundraising consultant for Morin & Anderson, Inc. Sanai holds a bachelor’s degree from Marist College.
Heather M. Young
Heather M. Young, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N. is a nurse leader, educator, scientist, and nationally recognized expert in gerontological nursing and rural health care, and is a professor and dean emerita at UC Davis. As founding dean and associate vice chancellor for nursing for UC Davis Health, she led the establishment of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing and stewarded the $100 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to launch this effort. Accomplishments include five new graduate programs in Nursing Science and Health-Care Leadership, the design and construction of the 70,000-square-foot Betty Irene Moore Hall and the formation of a nursing science research program focused on healthy systems and healthy people.
Young researches healthy aging with a focus on the interface between individuals, family, and formal health care systems. She has received funding from more than a dozen foundations for research and program development. She co-leads the Healthy Aging in a Digital World initiative at UC Davis Health and co-directs the Family Caregiving Institute.
She is a UC Davis alumna, with a bachelor’s degree in dietetics. She holds an associate degree in nursing from Sacramento City College, a bachelor's degree in nursing from Southern Oregon State College, and a master's degree in nursing with a specialty in gerontology and a doctorate in nursing science from the University of Washington.
Mark Zupan
Mark Zupan became Alfred University’s 14th president in its 183-year history on July 1, 2016. During his tenure, he and his team have: created a five-year leadership giving society, the Saxon Circle, which now has nearly 500 members; established a Strategic Investment Fund with gifts from Board members and other key donors that allows the University to implement some of its strategic goals without adversely affecting the operating budget; and realized an average of over $21 million per year in new gifts and commitments, and are on track to top that this year.
A graduate of Harvard University with a degree in economics, President Zupan earned his Ph.D. degree, also in economics, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He began his teaching career at Harvard University and then the University of Southern California (USC). He moved into administration as associate dean of masters programs at USC and then dean and professor of economics at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.
Prior to coming to Alfred, he spent 10 years as dean of the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester, where he also served as director of the Bradley Policy Center and the Olin Professor of Economics and Public Policy. At Simon (with 13,000 alumni), Zupan spearheaded the first comprehensive campaign in the school’s history—one that ended up raising over $85 million over seven years and more than doubled the annual level of gifts and commitments to the school and added 10 new endowed professorships to a pre-existing base of 9. At the Eller College of Management (with 40,000) alumni, Zupan and his advancement team led a campaign that raised over $100 million in seven years, considerably surpassing the $13 million raised by the college’s previous campaign.