Megan joined Fairfield University, a private Jesuit Catholic University, in Fairfield, CT during the summer of 2021 as the Director of Annual Giving. In her role she oversees and collaborates on a robust portfolio responsible for contributing $3.3 million to the Fairfield Fund and leads strategy on alumni participation efforts. She directly oversees the Reunions, Leadership Annual Giving, Senior Class Gift, Young Alumni, & Telefund teams. Additionally Megan spearheads Giving Day efforts and all direct marketing strategy and execution. 

Prior to joining Fairfield, Megan was Senior Associate Director, Donor Participation and Annual Giving for the University of Chicago, where she oversaw strategic initiatives supporting annual giving and donor participation goals. Present for the planning and execution of the creation of Giving Day, Megan’s responsibility and ownership of the program grew in the 6+ Giving Days and under Megan’s leadership UChicago saw its most successful day raising an institution record ($10 million raised in the 2021). She credits her success in exceeding goals and driving revenue and alumni participation at UChicago by ensuring the use of multi-channel solicitation strategies, data analytics, wide segmentation integration and diverse and mission focused messaging. In 2019 Megan received the UChicago Gates Award, voted on by her colleagues for outstanding contributions to fundraising.  

Before joining University of Chicago, Megan spent four years with the Alzheimer’s Association, one of the top 50 non-profits in the US, where she was project manager for direct marketing efforts in acquisition, renewal and upgrades to 10 million+ donors. Prior to her work in Annual Giving, Megan spent seven years in university admissions, at Illinois Institute of Art and Westwood College, both in Chicago.

Megan received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Theatre/Television Arts from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, IN, and an MBA from University of Phoenix(before it was cool to be online. She is ever present in the AG space as a presenter and organizer for annual giving conferences, and spent 10 years involved with the Board of Directors of New Leash on Life, an animal rescue nonprofit. 
 

Astria L. Smith is the assistant vice president of annual giving and alumni relations at Southern Methodist University. She provides strategic leadership and direction for efforts that engage, solicit and steward SMU alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends. Her role allows her to integrate several areas of passion and expertise, including front-line fundraising, annual giving stewardship, multi-channel direct marketing, volunteer management and alumni engagement.

Smith holds a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University and master’s degrees from both Amberton University and SMU. She began her development career at Methodist Children’s Home in Waco, TX before joining SMU in 2007. As a compliment to her 18 years in the development field, Astria shares her fundraising knowledge by volunteering in the community and has served as a presenter for several networks including CASE and AGN. She also appreciates the opportunities she has to benchmark with colleagues through her participation in a variety of professional national consortiums, advisory councils and organizations.

Jake Strang is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Alumni Annual Giving at the University of Pittsburgh. In this role, he leads a central annual giving team that engages alumni constituents and secures sustainable funds for Pitt’s highest priorities. Jake is a resource and convener for annual giving staff at Pitt’s regional campuses and has primary responsibility for the operations and staff of Panthers Forward, a signature student debt relief program.

Prior to joining Pitt, Jake was the director of annual giving and alumni engagement at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. While there, he led a comprehensive annual giving program including reunions, volunteers, graduating class gift campaigns, and the school’s leadership society. In addition to annual giving responsibilities, he also was responsible for alumni marketing including newsletters, social media, alumni webinars, and the semi-annual Tepper Magazine. Jake also worked at Columbia University, where he was the senior associate director for annual fund programs. At Columbia, he served on the core team for the first five Columbia Giving Days and led the direct marketing for multiple annual funds across the university. Before joining Columbia University, he was a program center manager with Ruffalo Noel Levitz. While with RNL, he managed the on-site telefunds for Columbia University and the University of South Carolina.

Jake holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina in Marketing and Management and a master’s degree from Columbia University in non-profit management.