Jane Walsh is a Peoria native with more than 20 years of experience in fundraising leadership, strategic planning and nonprofit management.
Recognizing these virtues, Bradley has named Walsh vice president for advancement.
In this role, she will be focused on fundraising, alumni relations and marketing efforts to enhance Bradley’s reputation as an institution. The advancement team on campus is behind annual events such as the Lydia Moss celebration, Founder’s Day and the Day of Giving.
“My top priorities are getting to know the entire advancement team and really settling in across campus to work closely with the senior leadership team, obviously President Shadid, as well as deans and faculty,” Walsh said. “In my process, I’ve had a lot of great conversations, and I think there’s real enthusiasm and some creative ideas for how we can take the advancement work into a new direction and engage more people across campus. I also hope that in my early days, I’ll be spending a fair amount of time with a good number of current students and alumni.”
Walsh replaces Charlie Roy, who has served as interim vice president for advancement for the past two school years. Meanwhile, Roy will become the director of principal gifts. Reflecting on his time as vice president, he shared what working in advancement means to him.
“I like walking around campus and seeing things I’ve helped play a part in, whether it was the Robert Lawrence sculpture … or the Ren complex and the band show … everything we have – if you think about it – everything starts with a gift, right?” Roy said. “Lydia Moss Bradley gave us the gift of the land and the gift of the initial capital, so it’s just sort of part of how we do things.”
Roy has worked in various positions throughout his years at Bradley. Although Walsh will be a fresher face to the campus, she’s not exactly a stranger either.
“Bradley means a lot to me. I’m a Marquette University alum … but I grew up a Bradley Braves fan, and I would do all sorts of things on campus, especially related to men’s basketball back in the Willie Scott, Hersey Hawkins eras, and it’s just meant a lot to me,” Walsh said. “My family has a lot of close ties [with various alumni], and my sister got her master’s degree [at Bradley].”
Walsh also has close ties to President James Shadid; she babysat his kids in high school and worked in his law office in college.
“When he took the role [of president], I attended his inaugural event that was held at the Renaissance center, and I hadn’t seen his kids in some time … it was just a nice reconnection,” Walsh shared. “From there, he and I were talking, and it just felt like the right time and the right opportunity. So the door opened, and I walked through.”
In the time between her school years and now, Walsh has spent 25 years working at the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), a global nonprofit organization focused on entrepreneurship education.
In between two stints at NFTE, she brought her fundraising experience to a college campus, spending a year and a half at Illinois State University (ISU).
“University settings are really comfortable and familiar to me,” Walsh said. “But I think the principles, you know, the kind of guiding core principles of fundraising can transcend different types of institutions, and I think it also takes a lot of enthusiasm and a sentiment of love thy donor. And I think that can be applicable anywhere you are.”
Walsh will officially become vice president for advancement on May 26. As this date approaches, her predecessor shared a few words of advice.
“I always say, when you take over a new team, it’s good to meet with everybody individually. I think it’s good to ask what’s working well and what we should keep doing and then what we can change, what we can do better,” Roy said. “[Walsh] brings a lot of experience leading fundraising teams and events, so I think she’ll have lots of ways that we can improve.”
Walsh expressed confidence in Roy’s sentiment, optimistic that she can help Bradley advance in the right direction.
“I’ve been doing fundraising for a long time, and I still have a lot of enthusiasm and energy – and then there’s my history with Bradley and Peoria, my love for Bradley and my strong relationship with President Shadid, which I think will be advantageous,” Walsh said. “I think I’m going to bring a lot of energy and a sense of strong ambition for what the future can look like. I definitely like to play on the winning team, so to speak, so you’ll find that I work hard, and I’m going to work hard at Bradley and get to know a lot of people and hopefully help make it a big success.”
