Katie Harrell, Senior Director of Strategic Planning and Organizational Development at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is an MBA-educated advancement professional with a proven track record of implementing organizational change in complex, matrixed organizations. A strategic leader in philanthropy in higher education, Katie believes strong systems drive excellence in performance, which is summed up well by James Clear, ‘You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the levels of your systems’. Katie couples her background in analytics and business operations with experience across advancement functions to translate data to strategy and back again, filling the gap between technical and strategic advancement operations. 

Passionate about adult learning and building world class higher education advancement operations, in addition to serving as CASE Faculty at the Summer Institute in Advancement Services, Katie has presented for the Annual Giving Network (AGN) & CASE (District V, All District and DRIVE/), at the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA) Data Science Now! & the Association of Donor Relations Professionals (ADRP) conferences, and at the Great Lakes Prospect Development Forum. Additionally, multiple projects lead by Katie have been featured as advancement best practices by EAB, a higher education think tank that works with 2,500+ schools, colleges, and universities to drive change through data-driven insights and best-in-class capabilities. 

Katie earned an MBA from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a Bachelor of Music at the University of Louisville.