VICE PRESIDENT FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT
SEMINARY OF THE SOUTHWEST
Austin, Texas
THE OPPORTUNITY
With a compelling mission to form leaders for vocations in ministry, service and healing, along with the benefit of experienced, motivated colleagues, and a development-savvy dean and president, the vice president for institutional advancement position offers a rare opportunity for a talented advancement professional.
Leading a 5-person advancement team, including two major gift fundraisers, the manager of annual giving, a database manager and a senior administrative professional, the successful candidate will enjoy an organized, engaged team of professionals. Southwest recently completed a $20M capital campaign while simultaneously inspiring donors to three, consecutive record years’ annual fund giving. With the board of trustees’ commitment to investment in the institutional advancement program, and another campaign on the horizon, there is a philanthropic environment primed for even greater success as led by the next, highly-qualified, senior development professional.
Seminary of the Southwest’s core values of hospitality, conversation, mutuality, respect, rootedness, and celebration speak to an environment that encourages commitment to faith, imagination, and skill. The Seminary possesses tremendous fundraising potential and seeks a vice president to have a transformational impact on the present and future of the institution.
OVERVIEW
The vice president for institutional advancement, in collaboration with the dean and president, the
institutional advancement committee of the board of trustees, and the faculty and staff, will implement the vision and goals of the board of trustees to advance the mission of seminary. The vice president will lead, manage, and direct a comprehensive program of institutional fundraising, including the annual fund, major gifts, planned giving, and capital campaign initiatives. The vice president will work closely with the dean and president, advising on matters of donor solicitations, alumni/ae and church relations, external constituency relations, and special events. The vice president will manage and mentor all personnel in the office of institutional advancement and serve as liaison to the institutional advancement committee of the board of trustees. The vice president is a senior advisor to the dean and president for strategic decisions to strengthen the institution for the near- and long-term future.
Seminary of the Southwest, located in the heart of Austin, Texas, is a triple-accredited institution of higher education offering four master’s degree programs exploring the most challenging and exciting questions and issues in religion, clinical mental health counseling, chaplaincy, pastoral care, and spiritual formation. Its mission is to form people for vocations in ministry, service and healing. Graduates of the seminary serve the mission of God in parishes, dioceses, hospitals, non-profit organizations, and in the armed forces and beyond. Over 1,200 graduates of the seminary of the Southwest are serving in 23 countries around the world, including 18 bishops serving in the Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion.
The seminary has approximately 130 enrolled graduate students, one-half of whom reside on campus, and an additional 220 through non-degree programs of local formation and training within over 32 dioceses within the U.S. The seminary provides excellent residential formation for ordained ministry; offers professional master’s degrees to a range of lay professionals in a range of denominations and faith traditions; and serves the church through innovative models for local formation and ongoing training.
Approximately 60% of students receive financial aid for tuition through the seminary’s scholarship aid and work programs.
Seminary of the Southwest employs 13 full-time faculty, 18 part-time adjunct and visiting faculty, and 23 full-time administrative and support staff. The seminary operates a $8 million annual budget with an endowment of over $36 million. Its nine-acre campus is situated in close proximity to the University of Texas and downtown Austin. Its professors and instructors are dedicated teachers, thoughtful scholars, and models of leadership. Its staff is knowledgeable and committed to the success of its students.
REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS
The vice president for institutional advancement will receive primary supervision and direction from the dean and president.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES
The vice president for institutional advancement will:
● solicit major gifts, galvanize board and faculty involvement, and promote philanthropy in support of Seminary of the Southwest and its mission;
● assist and support the dean and president, including related calendars in development activities;
● collaborate with communications and marketing staff directly related to development campaigns and programs;
● collaborate with the institutional advancement committee of the board of trustees to facilitate effective fundraising activities;
● direct institutional advancement fundraising activities, including annual fund; alumni/ae relations; major gifts and planned giving; case writing; brochure, appeal, and proposal writing; volunteer development; and cultivation, solicitation, and tracking of prospects;
● oversee other promotional and informational efforts in the office of institutional advancement;
direct development-related external and internal constituency relations, including oversight of programs and activities that communicate important achievements and projects to the seminary’s various constituency groups (graduates, parishes, friends, foundations, and church related organizations, etc.);
● oversee alumni/ae relations and establish a strong relationship with the alumni/ae association’s steering committee;
● oversee a limited number of campus events related to development efforts (alumni/ae days, lectures, etc.) in conjunction with other departments as appropriate;
● direct and utilize technology/databases to achieve effective record-keeping, to acknowledge and report gifts, grants, and bequests and to institute “best practices” in higher education, as defined by the Council for Fundraising Executives (CFRE) and other professional fundraising organizations, and conforming to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States and Financial Accounting Standards Board ASUs;
● develop and monitor departmental budget in coordination with strategic plan objectives to achieve advancement related programs.
QUALIFICATIONS
Seminary of the Southwest seeks a vice president for institutional advancement with,
● an ability to collaborate in an academic, entrepreneurial, and spiritual environment;
● demonstrated success cultivating, soliciting, closing, and stewarding individual major gifts;
● demonstrated success with annual fund, capital campaign, planned giving, foundation grants, alumni/ae affairs, and church relations;
● experience in leading and managing a team of development professionals;
● outstanding interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to engage diverse constituencies;
● knowledge of and interest in the Episcopal Church;
● a strong understanding of the appropriate interface among marketing, public relations, and
publications with the development function.
A bachelor’s degree or relevant experience is required. A master’s degree is a plus.
Must be able to travel regionally and nationally for donor meetings, occasional off-site fundraising meetings and conferences, along with attending infrequent evening and/or weekend events.
At least ten years of progressively responsible experience managing significant aspects of an institutional fundraising department, including annual, major and planned gifts, foundations, capital campaigns, and alumni/ae relations is preferred.
KEY LEADERSHIP COLLEAGUES
The Very Rev. Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, Th.D.
Dean and President
Dean Kittredge is the eighth Dean and President of Seminary of the Southwest. The focus of Dean Kittredge’s leadership is the formation of Christian leaders in community for the vitality of the church and to advance God’s mission of reconciliation. She believes that critical engagement with scripture, tradition, and context, energized by imagination, and grounded in prayer is the center of formation for mission.
In the wider church, Dean Kittredge is a respected scholar and preacher who teaches and leads retreats on the vital intersection of scripture, spirituality, and preaching for Christian leaders. In her role as Dean and President, she continues to form students at Southwest in creative and faithful approaches to biblical studies, early Christian history, Greek reading, and the embodied practice of liturgical leadership.
She was appointed in 2013 after serving on the faculty as the Ernest J. Villavaso, Jr. Professor of New Testament and as Academic Dean. Committed to theological education for the church, Dean Kittredge has served as a member of the Steering Committee for Theological Education in the Anglican Communion, as Chair of the Board of the Episcopal Evangelism Society, and President of the Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars.
A biblical scholar valued by her colleagues for her insight and generous collegiality, Dean Kittredge is a contributor to The New Oxford Annotated Bible and the Women’s Bible Commentary, and the author of Conversations with Scripture: The Gospel of John and Community and Authority: The Rhetoric of Obedience in the Pauline Tradition. She co-edited The Bible in the Public Square: Reading the Signs of the Times and Walk in the Ways of Wisdom: Essays in Honor of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. She is the co-editor of the Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The New Testament (2014).
Fascinated by the interplay of intellect and imagination in the interpretation of scripture, she wrote A Lot of the Way Trees Were Walking: Poems from the Gospel of Mark (Wipf & Stock, 2015).
Prior to joining the seminary faculty in 1999, Dean Kittredge taught at Harvard University and the College of the Holy Cross. She serves as assisting priest at The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin. MDiv, ThM, ThD, Harvard Divinity School; BA, Williams College.
She is married to Frank D. Kittredge Jr. and they have three grown children.
Frederick L. Clement
Executive Vice President & CFO
Frederick L. Clement is Executive Vice President and CFO.. Appointed in 2012, he partners in close collaboration with President Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, Academic Dean Scott Bader-Saye, and a talented group of board members, faculty, and staff to execute the seminary’s strategic plan. His functional areas of management responsibility include administration, finance, investment, accounting,
facilities, HR operations, auxiliary services, and legal affairs. He is an Ex-Officio member of the board’s executive committee and its committees on strategic planning, investment and finance, and building. As corporate representative of the Seminary, he serves on the Diocese of Texas’s Natural Resources Stewardship Committee by appointment of the Bishop Diocesan; the committee advises on the strategic management of oil and gas interests owned by diocesan foundations and the Seminary.
As a lifelong learner, Executive Vice President Clement has participated in executive education and certificate programs in negotiation, investment management, risk management, and mediation at Harvard Law School, the CommonFund Institute at Yale, Cambridge, and at the Dispute Resolution Center of Austin, where he served as board resident and a certified mediator. He has attended numerous conferences and seminars on accreditation, tax and employment law, higher education management, Title IV federal student aid, and Title IX compliance. He has been profiled on the cover of Church Executive magazine and is a recipient of the Golden Hammar Award for excellence in administration. He is married to Donna Hill Clement and they have two children. MLA, Harvard; BA, University of Texas at Austin.
Eric Scott
Vice President for Communications & Marketing
As Vice President for Communications and Marketing, Mr. Scott is responsible for coordinating both internal and external communications, brand development, press relations and the development and implementation of the seminary’s strategic marketing plan. Eric has more than 20 years experience in the non-profit sector, holding roles in communications and development for iconic cultural institutions and social service providers in both Austin and New York City. He has served in critical roles at Roundabout Theatre, the Irish Repertory Theatre, PeopleFund, ZACH Theatre, and previous to the seminary he was Chief Development Officer at Any Baby Can, an Austin, TX based agency serving children with special healthcare needs. As a former development director at the seminary and cradle Episcopalian, Eric brings to this position a level of resourcefulness and familiarity with our students, alumni/ae and other key constituents that are critical in communicating the story and message of the seminary. A native Austinite and proud alumnus of the University of Texas, Eric lives in Southwest Austin with his wife, Laura, and their two daughters.
Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas
Chair, Southwest Board of Trustees
Kathryn “Kai” McCrossen Ryan was born in Raton, New Mexico and was baptized at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. There, her life in Christ and leadership gifts were nurtured as a youth in camping ministry, the Happening movement, and parish committees, including one that resettled a refugee family. The youngest of four daughters, she attended public schools in Albuquerque where she pursued her fondness for athletics through competition in gymnastics, track, and cross country.
Kai attended Sewanee for her undergraduate studies, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy in 1986. While at Sewanee, she met her husband, Tim Ryan. The couple married in 1989. They have two children, Ned and Eleanor.
Kai received her Master of Divinity at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, and subsequently served 20 years in parish ministry, including 14 years as rector of Ascension, Dallas. There she learned from brothers and sisters of other cultures how to lead a multi-ethnic community. From 2014 through 2018, Kai served as Canon to the Ordinary of the Diocese of Texas, leading the ministry staff in its work to implement the diocesan vision. She was elected Bishop Suffragan at Diocesan Council on February 22, 2019. She was consecrated as a Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Texas by Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry on June 1, 2019 in Austin.
The Rev. Lisa P. Mason
Chair, Institutional Advancement Committee
The Reverend Lisa P. Mason is rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, in Larchmont, N.Y. Rev. Mason is the 128-year old church’s 9th rector, and the first woman to hold that position.
The Rev. Mason and her husband, Kirk, moved to Larchmont from Texas, where they were both raised. Rev. Mason was ordained to the priesthood in 2009. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and a Master of Divinity from the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. Prior to becoming a priest, she had a career in real estate. She and her husband have two grown sons.
While rector of St. David’s Episcopal Church and School in San Antonio, Texas, she was very active in local organizations such as Battle of Flowers, Under the Bridge, Snack Pak 4 Kids, ICAN (an interfaith community initiative), Terrell Hills Park Association, and Good Samaritan Community Services. An avid runner, gardener, hiker and sailor, the Reverend Mason is a member of the Southwest Board of Trustees and chairs the Institutional Advancement Committee.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION
Seminary of the Southwest values a professional work environment characterized by its core values of hospitality, mutuality, respect, conversation, rootedness, and celebration. This is a community whose members have diverse cultures, backgrounds, and life experiences. The Seminary’s leadership recognizes that a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace is one where all employees and volunteers, whatever their gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation or identity, education or disability, feels valued and respected. The Seminary is committed to providing equal opportunity for employment and advancement in all of its academic and administrative departments and programs. It celebrates a culture of respect, values diverse life experiences and heritages, and endeavors to ensure that all voices are valued and heard. The Seminary employs persons and admits students without regard to race, sex, color, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
SALARY & BENEFITS
The seminary offers a very competitive program of compensation, including group health and dental care, AD&D and long-term disability, term life insurance; an employer-funded contribution to a 403(b) retirement plan; health savings account, generous vacation and paid time off.
LOCATION
This position is located in central Austin, Texas and the principal work of this role is conducted on site and in person on the seminary’s campus..
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
All applications must be accompanied by a cover letter and résumé. Before submitting your materials, please read them over for accuracy. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the successful candidate has been selected.
To nominate a candidate, please contact Charley Scarborough at [email protected]
All inquiries will be held in confidence.
The seminary is an equal opportunity employer that values diversity among its faculty, staff, and graduate students.
