Alex Brown leads Emory University’s principal gifts program. In this capacity, he partners closely with donors, university leadership, and faculty on transformational, complex gifts. In addition to personally managing a portfolio of donors and prospects, Alex and team members work as internal consultants and donor advocates across all schools and units. Over his career, Alex has played leadership roles in successful major and principal gift solicitations of more than $1.1 billion and in the execution of two billion-dollar comprehensive campaigns. He also oversees the Office of Foundation and Corporate Relations to grow foundation support and corporate engagement across the enterprise.

Alex has nearly 22 years of institutional memory and began his Emory career negotiating corporate research contracts. After transitioning from research administration, Alex supported the Emory Vaccine Center as a major gifts officer. Alex also previously served as interim chief development officer for the Goizueta Business School, associate vice president responsible for the Emory University School of Medicine and Emory Healthcare fundraising and alumni engagement programs, interim vice president for Woodruff Health Sciences Center development and alumni relations, interim chief development officer for the Winship Cancer Institute, and chief of staff for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center team.

In $1.6 billion Campaign Emory from 2005-2012, Georgia’s first billion-dollar campaign, Alex was a key player on the team that raised $1.17 billion for the health sciences. The team Alex co-led averaged 18th in the United States annually for total private support in the 2012-2016 American Association of Medical Colleges development surveys.

After graduating from Emory College, Alex began grant writing for a national nonprofit before joining his alma mater as an employee.

Julie Morgan Hooper, CFRE, is the Vice Chancellor for University Development and Alumni Relations (UDAR) at the University of California, Berkeley.  As Vice Chancellor, Hooper provides campus-wide leadership on all philanthropic endeavors, including the $6B Light the Way campaign, and the broad-ranging advancement programs in UDAR involving a staff of 300+ employees and an operating budget of $63 million. In her role, she serves as President of the UC Berkeley Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation that raises, invests, and administers private funds for the campus. She also provides oversight and guidance to the activities of approximately 25 different advancement programs in the schools, colleges, and campus units.

Julie came to Berkeley in July 2014 from the University of Texas at Austin. During her almost eight-year tenure at UT, Julie served as Assistant Dean for Development and External Relations in the School of Architecture and as Associate Vice President for Development for the University Development Office. In this role, she acted as Campaign Director for The Campaign for Texas, an eight-year, $3B capital campaign, which ended in August of 2014 and raised $3.11B for the university.

Julie has also served as Executive Director and Senior Director of Development for various non-profit agencies in Texas and was named Outstanding Fundraising Professional in 2010 by the Greater Austin Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). She has almost twenty-five years of experience in leading operations and fundraising for non-profit organizations and institutions of higher education as well as experience working in the private sector in global trade.

Julie holds a master’s degree in historic preservation from the University of Georgia and a BA in history from Boston University. She previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, the international non-profit association based in Washington DC dedicated to educational advancement. She also served six years on the Board of Directors and as Board Chair for the Sustainable Food Center based in Austin.

Brian Sischo joined NC State University as its Vice Chancellor for University Advancement and President of the NC State University Foundation in 2014. He leads a comprehensive Advancement organization that incorporates University Development, Alumni Engagement & Annual Giving, University Communications and Marketing, and Advancement Services with a hybrid team of more than 300 staff who are embedded centrally and within ten colleges/units across campus. The organization is responsible for strengthening relationships with alumni, donors, and friends to elevate the NC State brand and build a culture of philanthropy.

Under Sischo’s leadership, NC State launched the most ambitious fundraising campaign in university history, a $1.6 billion effort to increase scholarship support, fund research and faculty positions, create and revitalize campus infrastructure and increase the university’s endowment. At the campaign’s completion on December 31, 2021, more than 133,000 donors from all 100 counties in North Carolina, all 50 states and 73 countries had helped the university raise more than $2.1 billion. Sischo has implemented university-wide engagement initiatives such as Red and White Week, a Women in Philanthropy program and an innovative internal cost-sharing partnership that enhances NC State’s ability to connect alumni and friends with the university.

Prior to joining NC State, Sischo served as vice president for development at Syracuse University, where he spearheaded the planning, implementation, and successful conclusion of the university’s first-ever $1 billion comprehensive fundraising campaign. Before joining Syracuse in 2001, Sischo worked for ten years at his alma mater, Clarkson University, where he served as the chief development officer and led two successful capital campaigns. Sischo earned a B.S. in finance and a master’s degree in management systems from Clarkson.

Matthew is concurrently the chief executive officer of the William & Mary Foundation and the vice president for university advancement at William & Mary.  

He oversees the university’s team of nearly 200 staff including constituent and regional development; alumni engagement; campaign operations & principal gifts; lifetime philanthropic engagement & annual giving; university marketing & communications; events; and strategic advancement initiatives. He leads a team that strives to strengthen William & Mary’s community by identifying and qualifying new prospective donors, volunteers and connectors, and providing the meaningful philanthropic and engagement opportunities to ensure alumni, parents, and friends become consistent supporters of the university.  

As CEO of the W&M Foundation, he works with the Board of Trustees and dual-hat staff to ensure the Foundation's stewardship of nearly $1 billion in endowments for the benefit of William & Mary. He also oversees Foundation Services, LLC, which is responsible for the management and coordination of services supporting all of William & Mary's affiliated foundations.

Dr. Lambert and the leadership team successfully completed the historic For the Bold campaign in 2020, surpassing $1 billion, the highest alumni participation rate of any public university, and deeper ties among alumni and their alma mater. The All In Campaign for W&M Athletics was launched in March 2021, with a focused goal of $55 million by 2023.  

Prior to W&M, Matthew was the associate vice president for university development at Georgetown University. During his 11 years at Georgetown, Matthew held a variety of roles incorporating major gift and annual fund together with alumni and volunteer engagement. He worked with students, alumni and parents, including reunion-specific fundraising, alumni relations and principal gift management. He had direct oversight of development operations and staff for the university’s $1.5 billion campaign, including all the Main Campus academic units, Athletics and Mission & Ministry programs, as well as the Regional Advancement team. Matthew created the Student Discovery Initiative and was involved with every step of the program’s evolution, which is now recognized nationally as a model for alumni engagement.

Dr. Lambert is active in public policy research and teaches in the Education and Public Policy programs. He is the author of Privatization and the Public Good, published by Harvard Education Press and co-editor of Advancing Higher Education, published by Roman & Littlefield (September 2019).

Courtney Surls is the Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations at American University, where she works with the university leadership, alumni, and donors to support AU's strategic priorities, attract new funding, and build lifelong relationships between AU and more than 115,000 alumni.

Prior to coming to American University in 2015, Surls served as senior vice president for development at the Newseum, where she provided strategic leadership for fundraising, membership, and stewardship and prepared the institution for its next fundraising campaign.

Surls’s experience also includes serving as vice president of development at University of Southern California, positions in development and advancement at Loyola Marymount, and as a teacher and development director at an independent school in Los Angeles. She earned her master of education degree in school administration from Loyola Marymount and her bachelor's degree in music and music curriculum from Iowa State University.