With more than 20 years of experience in advancement, Floyd Akins is a search and fundraising consultant who provides counsel in advancement and fundraising strategies. He has experience in major and principal gifts, advancement organizational structures, corporate and foundation engagement, diversity in philanthropy and advancement career counseling.

Prior to joining the Aspen Leadership Group, he was an assistant vice chancellor for development for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In this role, he provided leadership and managerial support for UT’s regional major gift officers and corporate and foundation engagement team. Akins helped develop the framework for and oversaw the creation of UT’s principal gifts program. He has been a strong advocate for diversity in advancement and higher education at all levels throughout his professional career and was the co-chair of UT’s Council for Diversity and Interculturalism.

Akins has raised numerous multimillion-dollar gifts and managed staff in several billion-dollar campaigns. Before joining UT, he served as The Ohio State University’s senior associate vice president for university development and vice president of the OSU Foundation and previously was assistant vice president for principal gifts at the University of Iowa Foundation. Other positions include executive director of development in the Henry B. Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa and director of the capital campaign at Grinnell College. In addition to his fundraising positions, he held numerous positions at both Grinnell College and the University of Iowa that included admissions, public relations and multicultural affairs. He has been an active speaker for CASE since 1998 and has chaired several conferences on major gift fundraising in both the United States and Canada.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Eastern Illinois University and his master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Iowa. He was one of the original members and lead vocalist of the band Funkdaddies in Iowa City that opened for the Beach Boys at the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Freedom Festival. He currently sings in the gospel choir at St. Dominic Parish in Columbus and is a member of the Harmony Project in Columbus, a 500-person choir that connects people across social divides through the arts, education and volunteer community service.