Development Leadership
- Rod Kirsch, Senior Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations
- Shaun Keister, Associate Vice President for Development
- Dave Lieb, Associate Vice President for Development
- Kristen Rozansky, Associate Vice President for Development, Penn State Hershey
The Division is led by the Senior Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations, Rod Kirsch.
During Rod's tenure, Penn State has secured more private support than it raised in its previous 140-year history. He has served Penn State since February 1996, first as Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations and since May 2006 as Senior Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations.
Rod graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Dakota with a bachelor of arts in English and minors in German and history, and he earned his master's degree in higher education administration from Indiana University in Bloomington.
Rod began his development career at Drake University in Des Moines in 1982. Before joining Penn State, he held several posts at the University of California at Berkeley, where he directed the largest public university campaign in the country at the time, and he served as Senior Vice President for Development with the Indiana University Foundation in Bloomington, Indiana.
Rod oversees all of Penn State's development programs, including all central functions and the development activity in more than 43 fundraising units, including Penn State's Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Under Rod's leadership, Penn State concluded the Grand Destiny campaign in 2003, surpassing its $1.3 billion goal. In 2000 and again in 2002, Penn State's development program received CASE's Circle of Excellence Award for Overall Performance.
As a result of the efforts of Rod and Penn State's outstanding development team, the University can maintain its commitment to top-quality education across a wide range of disciplines.
Shaun B. Keister serves as
Associate Vice President for Development
Prior to this position, Shaun served as vice president for development outreach at the Iowa State University Foundation. During his thirteen years at Iowa State, Shaun has provided leadership in many areas, including donor relations, annual giving, major gifts, and prospect management. He has also worked closely with fundraising volunteers, and he has had a key role in planning and implementing Iowa State’s current campaign, which has a goal of $800 million.
Shaun earned a B.A. in political science from Penn State, graduating magna cum laude as a member of the University Scholars Program, the forerunner to the Schreyer Honors College. He received both his master’s degree and doctorate in sociology from Iowa State University. Shaun’s career has also taken him to the Florida State University Foundation,
where he worked with its annual fund program.
Shaun maintains supervisory responsibility for several central development areas, including annual giving, development communications, corporate and foundation relations, donor relations, gift planning, leadership gifts, and research/prospect development.
David J. Lieb serves as Associate Vice President for Development.
Dave has over 22 years of nonprofit fundraising experience. He began his career at Penn State as a regional coordinator for the Office of Annual Giving. After serving as a development officer for Penn State's Smeal College of Business, Dave was promoted to director of development for university programs and served in that capacity until 1996, when he left Penn State to become the associate vice president for university advancement at California University of Pennsylvania.
In 1999, Dave returned to Penn State and currently serves as the associate vice president for development with supervisory responsibility for all of the major gift activities in the academic colleges and campuses as well as Continuing and Distance Education, the Dickinson School of Law, Intercollegiate Athletics, Research and Graduate Studies, and University Libraries. In addition, he also oversees the management of the office of Prospect Tracking and Management.
Dave received his bachelor of arts from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a master's degree in higher education from Penn State. In 1992, he was certified as a Fundraising Executive through the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Kristen Rozansky is the Associate Vice President for Development at Penn State
Hershey
Kristen began her career at Penn State in early 2008 when she was recruited to serve as the first associate vice president and chief development officer for Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine. In this role, she oversees the fundraising and alumni relations activities for the Penn State Hershey Medical Center, including the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital, as well as the academic and research efforts associated with Penn State College of Medicine. Kristen leads a 35-person development office whose activities and programs include major gift fundraising, annual giving, alumni relations, prospect management, the Children's Miracle Network, and the Four Diamonds Fund, which supports pediatric cancer patients and their families.
Before joining Penn State, Kristen filled various administrative roles at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, where she was instrumental in the planning and implementation of the highly successful, $425-million Campaign for Sustained Leadership and later at Penn Medicine, where she led a 14-person team in raising funds for medical education as well as clinical and research priorities.
Kristen earned her bachelor's degree in English from Susquehanna University. She is a member of the American Association of Medical Colleges and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.