Maureen Terese McCarthy is an experienced fundraiser, relationship builder, and strategist with a background in nonprofits and education. As the executive director of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at Quinnipiac University, she is responsible for developing integrated support services for sponsored programs, faculty and student research, and scholarship activity across the university's nine schools. Maureen manages pre- and post-award administration, compliance, and operations of externally funded projects ranging from large government grants to small corporate contracts.In two fiscal years, she grew the portfolio value of the office from ~$700k to over $4 million as an office of one. Now, the ORSP portfolio has grown to over $8 million and the office has grown to include two new staff: a Director of Foundation Relations and a Grants Specialist. Her voice is frequently sought on strategic university initiatives. She has been appointed by QU's president to four university-level strategic planning committees and selected for prestigious executive leadership training programs.Maureen comes to Quinnipiac from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) in Washington, DC, where she served on the Council’s senior leadership team as the director of Best Practices and Advancement. At CGS, she helped secure over $5 million in grant funds from federal and private sources and to grow corporate revenue 65% over five years. Her research at the Council focused on rethinking structures in higher education nationally and across disciplines, and she published on aspects of graduate education such as humanities PhD professional development, doctoral learning outcomes, holistic review in graduate admissions, and understanding PhD career pathways. At CGS, Maureen was recognized as a national expert on broadening professional development for humanities PhDs (#NextGenPhD) and the future of the doctoral dissertation. She authored a guide on promising practices and a review of prior work in humanities PhD professional development and has co-authored reports on holistic review in graduate admissions, PhD career pathways, and doctoral learning outcomes. Maureen earned her PhD in English from Emory University.Maureen is the founder and principal of Verdance Consulting, LLC, which helps nonprofit organizations advance their missions. Visit verdance.org to learn more or to start the conversation about how Maureen can help your nonprofit grow and thrive. Photo credit: Autumn Driscoll