Ginger Saariaho provides oversight and strategic direction to the development functions that advance Boston College’s academic priorities including school development, corporate and foundation relations, and law school advancement. She also has launched a strategic engagement team whose work includes developing meaningful engagement opportunities for the University's key advisors and benefactors. 

Saariaho joined Boston College in June 2005 as associate director of corporate & foundation relations, and became the department’s director in September 2007. In 2012, she was promoted to executive director of school development & organizational giving, a unit of 16 that supports Boston College’s mission through partnerships with corporations, foundations, and all those whose philanthropic goals align closely with the university’s academic leadership. She became AVP in 2017. Saariaho’s service to Boston College includes roles on the Montserrat Taskforce, a group of senior administrators that seek to reduce disparities in the college experience for students with the highest financial need; and Global Engagement Taskforce which works to develop recommendations to increase BC’s global presence and impact. Since 2012, she has been a member of the national executive team of the Jesuit Advancement Administrators network, which plans an annual conference for advancement professionals at the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S. Saariaho came to Boston College from Brown University, her alma mater, where she served multiple roles in the Advancement division, most recently as assistant director of corporate and foundation relations. She also held positions in the major gifts and stewardship departments. She continues her service to Brown as a founding board member of the Brown Women’s Crew alumnae group. Saariaho earned her MBA from the Carroll School of Management while working at Boston College. She currently resides in Roslindale, Massachusetts with her husband and two young children.