"Everyone’s career story is unique,” says CASE Co-Executive Director of CASE Europe Pamela Agar, “[and] career paths can be surprising.” Here’s what she’s learned along her journey—and what she’s learned through each career move. 

Leading advancement teams today, amid change and hefty expectations, is like “constantly being in quicksand,” says Jhumar Johnson. That’s why cultivating resilience is crucial. Here, Johnson— who’s spent her career in development, including 11 years at the U.K.’s Open University—shares how resilience is built on consistency and trust, but also failure and joy.

At CASE’s “The Future of Advancement” panel discussions held throughout 2024, we invited members around the globe to share ideas about the profession. We consistently heard that institutions must sharpen their focus by listening more to their communities—understanding their doubts, addressing gaps in understanding, and clearly articulating our purpose.

For the University of New South Wales, the approach of its 75th anniversary in 2025 presented an opportunity to celebrate some of its pioneering alumnae and leaders. The Australian university launched an initiative to rename certain buildings and spaces and create a Celebrating UNSW Women Trail.

The Notre Dame University Alumni Association in Indiana, U.S., hosted its first Global Day of Service in 2023—drawing more than 3,500 volunteers for projects in 26 countries.

For marcomm leaders, it’s key to articulate where you want your team’s work to go—but then bridging the gap between intention and transformation takes a structured approach. That’s where a gap analysis framework comes in. It allows leaders to identify barriers to growth and develop clear, actionable paths to overcome them.

For a new leader, the first 30 days in the role are about establishing trust. Trust is built on consistency, compassion, competence, and communication. This checklist can help new vice presidents or managers assess their own skills and begin to set the groundwork for trust.

Higher education’s top leadership role has evolved and expanded—and today’s advancement leaders are finding partners in their presidents, chancellors, vice-chancellors, and rectors. Here, five pairs of leaders share how they work together with mutual trust and shared commitment to their institutions.

Good onboarding welcomes new colleagues into a team—like a welcome mat for the organization. That philosophy helps the University of California, Davis, U.S., start its newcomers in advancement off on the right foot. In 2021, the development and alumni relations division there launched The Learning DO–Development Officer Boot Camp. It’s a comprehensive, centralized, nine-week academy for fundraisers.

The average tenure for an advancement professional today is just five years. To keep staff on board, our workplaces need to be flexible, empathetic, inclusive, and transparent. Here, two researchers share what they’ve discovered about human-centered talent management and the key steps to retain staff: align talent to mission and values; engage the whole person; and recognize colleagues’ impact.