Ivan Adames is a seasoned advancement leader with experience managing fundraising shops for higher education and academic medicine institutions, arts & culture, and national non-profits programs.

Adames is currently the Chief Development Officer at the Chicago Botanic Garden. He previously served as a Senior Consultant with the Aspen Leadership Group. Adames also held executive positions at the Food Bank for New York City, Northwestern University, DePaul University, and Johns Hopkins University where he led the international programs working closely with faculty, physicians, alumni, and grateful patient benefactors. He has held early-career professional positions at Imperial College London and the Ohio State University.

A former Fulbright Scholar (Germany) and Council for the Advancement & Support of Education Fellow, Adames has been an active CASE volunteer, having served on the CASE Commission on Philanthropy, district leadership boards, and on multiple conference faculty. He is a contributor and chapter author for the book Advancing Higher Education: New Strategies for Fundraising, Philanthropy, and Engagement. He is a past board member of the Science of Philanthropy Initiative at the University of Chicago and currently serves on the board for Children’s Place International.