Announcing Kimberly Hopely as Rutgers University Foundation President

September 13, 2021

Members of the Administrative Council:

I am pleased to announce that, after a national search that attracted an outstanding pool of candidates, Kimberly A. Hopely will become our next President of the Rutgers University Foundation and Executive Vice President for Development and Alumni Engagement. Her first day here at Rutgers will be on October 11.

Ms. Hopely comes to us from Arizona State University, where, as its senior vice president and chief development officer, she led a recently completed comprehensive fundraising campaign that totaled $2.35 billion. In her six years at ASU, her alma mater, she helped to triple the annual fundraising base from $90 million per year to $275 million per year. Ms. Hopely accomplished these milestones while proving to be a strong and visionary manager, creating professional development and promotional opportunities and instituting a leadership caucus to encourage and invest in diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Before beginning her work at ASU, Kimberly Hopely was senior director of operations and development at Banner Health Foundation in Phoenix, where she led the fundraising strategy for Banner MD Anderson, Banner Children’s, and Banner University Medicine. Prior to that, she served five years as senior director of development and then assistant vice president for university advancement at A.T. Still University of Health Science. In that position, she became the first non-physician chosen for the American Osteopathic Association health policy fellowship.

In her impressive career, Ms. Hopely also served as executive director of the United Way of Grays Harbor and director of a program to reduce substance abuse, both in Aberdeen, Washington. She also oversaw health services for 11 centers with Head Start and Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program contracts in Whatcom County, Washington.

Kimberly Hopely brings a wealth of experience in organizational leadership and fundraising strategy to Rutgers at a propitious time, as we are in the early stages of our next comprehensive fundraising campaign. With enormous thanks to our search committee, led by Dr. Margaret Marsh, I am confident that in Ms. Hopely we have made a brilliant choice for taking the Foundation to even greater levels of success in supporting our mission.

As we prepare to welcome our new Foundation president, I want to applaud and thank Lavinia Boxill, Vice Chancellor for Advancement at Rutgers–New Brunswick, for her excellence and professionalism in stepping in as interim president as we conducted the search. Lavinia’s wisdom, leadership, and poise have been invaluable in these critical months.

Please join me in welcoming Kimberly to our community and wishing her every success as we work together to secure an exciting and rewarding future for Rutgers University.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Holloway President and University Professor