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. 
 

As Associate Director of Annual Giving for Athletics and Student & Campus Life at Cornell University, Jon oversees Cornell's two largest college based annual giving operations; a unit that generated more than $20M in cash donations from over 17,000 donors in FY24. He brings thought leadership in the areas of digital fundraising, giving days and crowdfunding, front-line annual giving strategies, college and unit partnerships, and normalizing giving through strategic engagement.

In his previous role of Associate Director for Donor Participation and College & Unit Partnerships within Cornell's central alumni affairs and development team, Jon led coordination of strategic partnerships throughout Cornell 's seventeen college/unit partners. He served as the project manager for Cornell’s annual Giving Day, leading the strategy and refinement of Cornell’s flagship integrated marketing campaign which resulted in as many as 15,000 donors and $10 million raised in one day. He spearheaded the piloting of innovative initiatives that increased donor participation and led the integration of new efforts making them scalable for college/unit partners. 

Prior to joining the Big Red, Jon started his career in athletic administration at his alma mater and served as Assistant Athletic Director at Johns Hopkins University before returning to Ithaca College as a member of the alumni engagement and philanthropy team. Jon holds a bachelor’s degree in Sport Management from Ithaca College with a master’s degree in Athletic Administration from Southern New Hampshire University. He is an active speaker and presenter, currently serving as a committee member for the Northeast Annual Giving Conference.

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.

Chantel Smith serves as the Associate Vice President of Annual Giving, Campaign Planning and Development Operations at the University of San Francisco. In this role, she oversees the departments of Annual Giving, Campaign Strategy and Planning, Donor Services & Stewardship and Advanced Analytics. Prior to joining USF, Chantel served in supervisory roles at William & Mary and the University of Pennsylvania, and has helped to plan, manage and execute new initiatives in annual giving and pipeline development, stewardship, development services, special events, alumni engagement and major gifts to support multiple $1 billion+ fundraising campaigns.

In addition to her 13 years of professional experience in the field of higher education, Chantel has worked as a direct marketing, annual fund and mid-level giving consultant for nonprofit organizations across multiple sectors. She is passionate about the role higher education plays in changing people’s lives for the better and is honored to work in a field that supports providing access to a transformative educational experience to the next generation of college students. Chantel holds her Bachelor of Arts in History from Weber State University in Ogden, UT. She and her family currently reside in San Francisco, CA.