MSU Advancement leader connects alumni and donors to their passions

<p>Do you have any experience with either MSU or the state of Michigan?</p><p>“Growing up on the north shores of Lake Superior, I would drive through the great state of Michigan many times on the way to my grandmother's house in Sarnia, Ontario on the other side of the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron. And my first college football game was in Spartan Stadium in 1992. My dad was a huge Spartans fan. He brought the whole family down, and I was just shell shocked on what a great experience it was to see all the people and Spartans fans; that just blew me away. And then a few years later, my second game was here, and it was 10/10/1998. I was with my fiancé at the time, who is now my husband of 23 years. It was Michigan State versus Indiana. The game went into overtime and Michigan State won. It was very exciting and very loud and just a lot of energy and excitement. That left an impression on me.”</p><p>What’s your background?</p><p>“I've just come off 7,060 days at Colorado State. I’ve been working and living in Colorado for the last 19 years and four months. And it's been a wonderful journey. I've done many different things working at Colorado State University advancing from working in two different colleges to working centrally and ultimately becoming the vice president of Advancement. Prior to that, I worked at two Canadian universities, and that's where I got my fundraising start. And before that, I worked in the arts; my undergraduate degree is in arts management. The beginning of my career was working with the Toronto International Film Festival and the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum.”</p><p>What got you interested in higher education fundraising originally? And why do you love the work?</p><p>“My background is in arts management. Revenue generation is of utmost importance in the arts. That was interesting to learn about, but I really started working in cultural programming on campus at my alma mater, the University of Toronto. And then I was recruited by the executive director of