Faculty
Meet Your Chair
Skylar Beaver
Skylar Beaver is the Assistant Director of Advancement at The Lawrenceville School, where she spearheads annual giving campaigns and oversees alumni and family engagement, donor relations, stewardship, and advancement services. With a strong global perspective, she also leads international fundraising initiatives. Her extensive experience spans 16 years in the development field, including leadership roles at The Spence School, Washington and Lee University, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
A respected voice in the industry, Skylar is a frequent presenter with CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education), a past chair of STAFF (Sharing the Annual Fund Fundamentals), and chairs NEAGC (Northeast Annual Giving Conference). Her exceptional contributions have earned her accolades, including the 2023 Diane Thompson Award for Excellence in Annual Giving from NEAGC, a CASE Crystal Apple Award for outstanding speaking, and the distinguished CASE Laureate honor.
Skylar holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and a Master's in Nonprofit Management from SUNY Brockport.
Faculty
Lacie LaRue
In August, 2021, Lacie LaRue was named as the assistant vice president of advancement strategies for University of Oregon Advancement. In this leadership role, she acts as a top strategist and creative leader for the UO Advancement program; overseeing several programs, playing a key role in campaign planning and spearheading UO Advancement’s Digital Transformation initiative. Her goal is to continually find sophisticated ways to utilize data and systems to improve the giving experience, identify the next generation of philanthropic leaders and optimize the work of Advancement.
She has spent the last 20 years working in the world of higher education fundraising, with positions at the Oregon State University Foundation, University of Maryland, Portland State University and Iowa State University. She has also chaired several national CASE conferences, including the Senior Annual Giving, Multichannel Annual Giving, and Leadership Annual Giving Conferences, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy recognized her contributions to nonprofit leadership in their “40 Under 40” list in 2016.
LaRue holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Iowa State University, a master’s degree in organization leadership from Colorado State University and a certification in Digital Transformation Strategies from Cambridge Judge Business School.
Jen McGrath
Jen McGrath is the Deputy Executive Director of Donor Engagement and Communications for Resource Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT.) Her team creates and implements strategies to support donor engagement, fundraising, and stewardship while showcasing and building the MIT story of philanthropy.
Jen has been working in development for more than 25 years with experience in nonprofit, small liberal arts college, and large university settings. In addition to her work in donor relations and communications, she has served in reunion campaign, annual giving, and corporate and foundation relations-related roles.
As a past conference presenter for CASE as well as the Association of Donor Relations Professionals (ADRP) Jen has addressed topics of particular interest to both new and seasoned professionals. She was a member of the ADRP Board of Directors from 2015-2020, serving as President of the Association 2018-2019.
Matthew Ter Molen
The vice president for institute advancement is responsible for oversight of the division of advancement, including strategy, services, and infrastructure; alumni relations, engagement and communications; and development, focusing on, individual, corporate, foundation, and international advancement initiatives through philanthropic support of the Institute.
Matthew J. Ter Molen has more than 30 years of expertise in development and fundraising. Most recently, he was the Chief Advancement Officer and Senior Vice President at Syracuse University, where he served for more than eight years. In this role, he oversaw all alumni relations and development activities, including the planning, launch, and execution of the $1.5 billion University-wide campaign "Forever Orange," which raised more in private philanthropy than at any other time in Syracuse University history. Prior to Syracuse, Ter Molen held a range of positions at Northwestern University, the most recent being the Associate Vice President and Campaign Manager. Ter Molen's career began at the University at Chicago in their annual giving office.
Ter Molen holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Miami University in Ohio, and served in the Peace Corps in Honduras for two years prior to the start of his career in fundraising.
Tyrell Warren-Burnett
Tyrell Warren-Burnett has served as the Senior Director of Annual Giving at the Oregon State University Foundation since August 2017. At the OSU Foundation, he provides strategic execution and management of a comprehensive annual giving program focused on acquisition and pipeline development. Prior to this, Tyrell worked at the Washington State University Foundation where he led Annual Giving for three years. He also served as strategic Marketing and Direct Mail Coordinator for annual giving at WSU, after working for several years in sales and marketing. Tyrell holds a BS from Michigan State University and an MBA from Ashford University.