UC Agriculture and Natural Resources connects the strength of UC research in agriculture, natural resources, nutrition and youth development with local communities to improve the lives of all Californians. As the extension arm of the University of California, UC ANR has physical locations and programs in every county of the state.I was promoted in late 2022 to the unit’s management team based on my prior experience working in a Corporate Relations role at UC Davis. I am excited about this new opportunity to build a Corporate and Foundation Relations program at UC ANR. My responsibilities include working with stakeholders and partners in the following ways: ► Serving as primary point of contact so they can navigate the complexities of the university system. ► Strengthening industry relationships so we can understand their pain points and anticipate their future needs. ► Supporting UC ANR leadership in pursuing ambitious, forward-thinking research and extension projects that produce high impact, long-term results.►Coordinating the Farm Robotics Challenge annual student competition. Working to inspire students to pursue careers in agriculture and help growers solve on-farm challenges with AI, automation, and robotics.► Mentoring, coaching, and onboarding new employees to aid in their development and success within the organization. As Director of this new program I also plan to: ► Nurture and steward industry and foundation partnerships with utmost care and attention to detail, responsiveness, and accountability. ► Collaborate and train UC ANR Leadership, Faculty, and Program Directors in CFR 101 to instill best practices in external relationship building.

In 2017, I was recruited by a former supervisor to join a newly formed Development Services team to establish a fundraising unit for UC ANR. At the onset, the institutional culture was not entirely supportive of our efforts. Just two weeks after I started this role, one of our program’s advisory board members proclaimed, “We have an ‘F’ word for fundraising and it’s not fun.” Building a fundraising operation from scratch was challenging but fortunately the culture has changed for the better. To this day I am still grateful for the support of several committed leaders and impressed by the organization’s long history of community engagement. In my role as Major Gifts Officer, I researched and built a robust donor portfolio of prospects capable of making gifts of $25K and above. I led strategy development for statewide programs and research centers where we planned and implemented comprehensive fundraising programs.With a laser focus on donor relations, I successfully:► Secured philanthropic gifts to support the naming of 2 UC ANR buildings.► Led fundraising initiatives that created 5 new endowments to ensure the long-term sustainability of UC ANR programming. ► Created scholarship and fellowship initiatives to support program accessibility and early career research opportunities. ► Served as Planned Giving lead for the front-line fundraising team, building resources and outreach materials to support and steward gifts from donors’ estate plans. ► Volunteered and served on our unit communications team to develop and deliver webinars aimed at building a culture of philanthropy within the organization.► Completed a professional development certification course for Major Gift Fundraisers from the Veritus Group Academy, gaining recognition as a Veritus Scholar.

California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) established in 1998, is a STEM focused, college preparatory, residential summer program for talented and motivated high school aged students. COSMOS statewide office is located at UC Davis but supports the four program sites currently at UC: Davis, Irvine, San Diego, and Santa Cruz. A College of Engineering colleague recruited me to serve as the fundraising lead for the administrative unit overseeing this multi-campus program. I joined a brand-new administrative team, the program transitioned from the UC Office of the President to its campus location at UC Davis. Since this position had been unfilled for several years, I quickly recognized that donor stewardship required my full attention. I hit the ground running to nurture those key relationships to assess needs and build trust. My duties included: building a comprehensive strategic fundraising plan, overseeing all development activities from annual campaigns to major gifts ($50K and above) and grant writing, while also reporting to and engaging with an external advisory board. In this role I successfully:► Secured funding from corporate partners and philanthropic foundations to support hundreds of student scholarships. ► Spearheaded and executed COSMOS’ first annual fundraising campaign, targeting parents of COSMOS alumni.► Collaborated with COSMOS’ Executive Director to advocate for the program with the California Legislature, endorsing and ultimately passing Assembly Bill 616 (2017) to ensure state financial support for the program.

The College of Engineering (COE) is one of four undergraduate colleges on the campus of the University of California, Davis. The COE offers majors from a broad scope of engineering disciplines, including aerospace science, biochemical, biological systems, biomedical, chemical, civil, computer science, electrical, materials science, and mechanical engineering.The Director of Corporate Relations recruited me to fill the Assistant Director role to grow industry relationships for the COE. The Director had built the program to a mature state and brought me on to help take things to the next level. I focused on developing new programmatic offerings to deepen existing relationships and open the door to new corporate partnerships for the COE.In this role I successfully:► Developed, implemented, and managed an innovative new student recruiting software platform called “Eureka!” help connect employers to student talent.► Managed an industry supported “Scholar Awards” scholarship program to celebrate student achievement and connect companies with top performing students. ► Led over 50 off-campus student visits to corporate locations in Northern California, including trips to Google, Chevron, Intel, AT&T, and Keysight Technologies. ► Advised and collaborated with COE leadership, faculty members and student organizations to build corporate engagement plans.

The Cal Aggie Alumni Association (CAAA) is a UC Davis support group and separate 501c3 non-profit entity. CAAA is a self-supporting membership organization that is comprised of over 40,000 alumni, student, and parent members. CAAA has 23 alumni networks in the United States, 19 networks in other countries and ten special interest networks serving more than 300,000 living alumni.I had no ambitions or career plans to enter the fundraising world. I got the shoulder tap one day from a supervisor who thought I had the skills and personality to do well in a development role. Acting on blind faith, I took the risk and applied for an open position at the alumni association. The rest is history and includes consistently advancing through the position track hierarchy to levels of increasing responsibility. In my first university fundraising role, I implemented and expanded CAAA's corporate sponsorship program by establishing a new membership category for small and local businesses to help connect them to UC Davis and the alumni/student population, adding a new revenue stream for the association. I worked closely with corporate sponsors to negotiate, develop, and deliver comprehensive marketing plans that created mutually beneficial partnerships.► Spearheaded corporate membership program and added 20 new members in year one.► Created and executed custom marketing programs with affinity partners: Liberty Mutual, Bank of America, Kaplan, H&R Block.► Served as Chair of the CAAA Business Development Committee for the CAAA Board of Directors, and represented CAAA at the Davis Chamber of Commerce.

I managed operations, financial analysis, budgeting, and marketing for the Walter A Buehler Alumni & Visitors Center. One of the most popular special event venues on the UC Davis campus and host to 300+ events per year. I hired, trained and managed a group of 10 student event staff members. Coming into this role I inherited an operation that was running a deficit for several years. Through careful analysis of industry benchmarks and identifying service gaps I was able to implement changes that successfully:► Balanced the annual operating budget and moved from operating at a loss to a net positive.► Implemented new event staff training programs, resulting in higher customer service ratings and increased staff retention at the center. ► Cultivated key Alumni relationships with many high-level donors by managing the design, installation, and opening reception of the CAAA Scholarship Program Donor Recognition Wall.

The Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship guides researchers to find a path to commercialization and helps students develop the entrepreneurial mindset needed to solve our world’s challenging social and economic problems. The Institute is a Center of Excellence at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. After a brief entrepreneurial venture of my own, I joined the Institute because I had an interest in learning more about innovation and the start-up ecosystem. My position directly supported both faculty and staff administrators with event coordination and student support services.In my role I successfully:► Served as project manager for the Institute’s Entrepreneurship Academies that featured multi-speaker, multi-sector, and internationally attended weeklong training intensives.► Coordinated monthly-distinguished speaker series, quarterly networking mixers and annual signature events for local business leaders, corporate executives, PhD and MBA students.► Developed course materials and marketing collateral using professional design software.

Freeborn hall was an iconic multi-use venue in the heart of the UC Davis campus (closed in 2014). The hall played host to a variety of events including academic conferences, rallies, trade shows, dance performances, and commencement ceremonies. The hall is best remembered for hosting concerts by popular artists including: Joan Baez, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Marley, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Nine Inch Nails, and Steve Aoki. I managed a staff of 50 student employees and oversaw operations, on-site event management, and staff training. I collaborated with both internal (UC staff) and external clients to schedule, plan and manage multi-faceted special events. In this role I successfully:► Delivered top notch customer service to clientele that led to the venue being a preferred venue choice amongst event planners (per campus surveys).► Developed and implemented a software tool to manage weekly shift scheduling for our student employees. ► Improved scheduling processes which resulted in: improved staff attendance, reduced workload, and more effective time management for staff.

Marketed university meeting facilities and event services to prospective clients through sales presentations and tradeshows. Provided event coordination for a wide variety of special events including academic conferences, corporate meetings, large sporting events, and weddings.