Faculty
Meet Your Chair
Edgar Gonzalez
Edgar Gonzalez is an experienced and proven leader, team-builder, and collaborator with almost 20 years of experience in higher education advancement and program development. He currently serves as Vice President of University Advancement at Seattle University. Prior to joining Seattle University, Edgar held leadership roles at Oregon Health and Science University, the University of Washington, and the Alliance for Education.
A native of Argentina, Edgar and his family emigrated to the US when he was 9 years old in pursuit of the American dream. After earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington, he has dedicated his entire career to working in higher education and ensuring that everyone has access. Edgar is passionate about the positive impact philanthropy can have on the institutions, communities, and individuals he is fortunate to serve. His career has always been focused on building institutional capacity through cultivating deep relationships, transformative philanthropy, leadership development and impactful storytelling.
Faculty
Emilie Fan
Emilie Fan (she/her) is the Senior Director of Advancement for the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. In this role, Emilie provides strategic leadership and direction to Brown School deans, leads a team of fundraisers and collaborates across the department to advance fundraising efforts for the Brown School to realize its vision for a better and more equitable society.
A social worker by training, Emilie believes strongly in relationship building as the catalyst to transformative philanthropy. Emilie joined Washington University Advancement in 2016. Prior to joining Washington University, she began her advancement career at the Jewish Federation of St. Louis in 2013 and then served as Director of Development for Girls on the Run St. Louis. Emilie’s professional mission is to advance educational equity through philanthropy.
Emilie has special ties to the Brown School, as a 2013 alumna of the Master of Social Work program with a focus on nonprofit management and organization leadership. She also met her husband while attending the Brown School, and they now live in St. Louis with two children.
Pedro Govantes
Pedro Govantes is the Executive Director, Schools & Institutes at New York University. Pedro is the son of Cuban immigrants and is the only member of his family born in the United States. He has over thirty years of experience working in the nonprofit and higher education sector, including working at Villanova University, University of Michigan, and now NYU.
Pedro is a recognized leader in professional development associations and in issues of diversity, equity and inclusion within the higher education advancement community. He is a past member of the board of directors of the Planned Giving Council of Greater Philadelphia. He served on two different committees at University of Michigan that focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion and is currently serving on one at NYU. Pedro leads the Multicultural Advancement Professionals committee for CASE that focuses on helping young people, particularly young people of color, begin and thrive as professionals in higher education advancement. Pedro also mentors young professionals of color through the Association of Fundraising Professionals in New York City.
Pedro has three master's degrees, including an MBA from Villanova, and is currently pursuing a fourth master's at NYU. Pedro also has several certifications and designations in fundraising. His bachelor’s degree is from the University of Maryland in Government and Politics.
Pedro and his wife Christy live in Pennington, New Jersey. Christy works as the program manager for The Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice at Princeton University. They have been married for over 31 years and have three children.
Joyce W. Lee
Joyce W. Lee (she/her) brings 20 years of experience in higher education to matching transformational ideas with transformational giving. As a member of the principal gifts team at Stanford, she focuses on university and presidential priorities, partnering closely with academic leadership and colleagues across schools, disciplines, and units to help key donor relationships flourish. Initiatives that she has especially enjoyed working on include equity and access, scientific innovation, ethics, and sustainability.
Her career has also included facilitating faculty relationships with foundations in her time on Stanford’s University Corporate and Foundation Relations team; working in program development and fellowship administration at the American Council of Learned Societies in New York, the preeminent funder of faculty fellowships in the humanities and social sciences; and coordinating corporate and community partnerships for experiential education at UCLA, as well as teaching 20th- and 21st-century American literature there.
She attended MIT and UCLA, earning her Ph.D. in English from the latter. She grew up in Illinois and currently lives in San Francisco.
Kristin Love
Kristin Love joined Creative Fundraising Advisors as Principal, West Coast, in September 2023. In this role, she will oversee projects spanning CFA’s suite of services, including development assessments, campaign feasibility studies, campaign counsel, and strategic planning. Based in Los Angeles, California, Kristin comes to CFA with over 20 years of experience in higher education, program development, and nonprofit advancement.
Kristin most recently served as Vice President for Development at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles, California. At LMU Kristin oversaw college, unit and centralized major and principal gifts, as well as corporate and foundation philanthropy and gift planning. Prior to LMU, Kristin served as the assistant vice president for volunteer leadership at Colorado College, where she developed sustainable volunteer pipelines and engagement through effective management, partnerships, and collaborations with faculty and college leaders, resulting in greater philanthropic support and lifelong ambassadors to the college. Previously, as executive director of regional advancement for University of Denver, Kristin established and led a 15-member team across six states and five regions to maximize volunteer activity and philanthropy in support of institutional fundraising activities. She also served as director of development for an 8-state region for Colorado College.
Kristin holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in public administration and Spanish with a minor in Japanese from Baylor University.
Michael Reza
Michael Reza is an established leader that believes higher education can transform the lives of individuals, communities, and society. This belief drives his passion for the work that we do as Advancement professionals. Michael currently serves as the Associate Vice President, Portland Development & Alumni Engagement at the University of Oregon. He leads the Portland, OR regional advancement strategy and serves on the UO Advancement senior leadership team. Portland is home to the largest concentration of UO donors and alumni, as well as a regional UO Portland campus. He works closely with academic leadership, maintains a portfolio of donor prospects, and takes a prominent role in representing the university in the Portland community.
Michael has more than 19 years of experience in higher education advancement at large public and small private institutions. Prior to the UO, he served as Vice President for Advancement at George Fox University where he led a team that included development, alumni relations and grants. While there, GFU doubled their fundraising in three years and launched a campaign. Michael has experience in advancement from his time in progressive roles at the University of Arizona, UC Irvine and Oregon State University. He is an active volunteer with CASE and completed his term as Chair of CASE District VIII in June 2022.