ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan President Lee C. Bollinger has selected Susan K. Feagin to be the University’s vice president for development. His recommendation for her appointment was approved by the U-M Board of Regents at its Feb. 19-20 meeting. The appointment will be effective May 4.

Feagin currently serves as director of university development for Harvard University.

“We are lucky to have Susan Feagin join us,” said Bollinger. “She is widely, indeed universally, regarded as one of the preeminent development professionals in today’s academy. One of her strengths, which I value greatly, is her capacity to work with the schools and colleges to help them realize their goals. She will also help us preserve and foster a strong university-wide development organization.”

Feagin will oversee the University’s fund-raising operations, coordinating the fund-raising efforts of the University’s schools, colleges, and other units. She succeeds Thomas C. Kinnear, vice president for development, professor of marketing and the Eugene Applebaum Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies in the School of Business Administration.

Feagin has been responsible for overseeing a $2.1 billion fund-raising campaign at Harvard. The campaign began in 1994 and will end next year.

In September 1997, the U-M completed a $1.41 billion campaign, the most successful fund-raising drive in U-M history and the largest ever completed by an American public university.

Feagin received a bachelor of arts degree cum laude from Columbia University in 1974. She has spent nearly 25 years in university fund-raising.

Feagin joined Harvard University’s Development Office in 1975. Her responsibilities included administering the major gifts component of a $350 million campaign; successfully raising $1.5 million of Harvard’s Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in Florence, Italy; and serving as assistant director of major gifts.

Feagin moved to Columbia University in 1982. She was responsible for fund-raising for four arts and sciences schools and eight professional schools during the Campaign for Columbia, a five-year drive that raised $500 million.

In 1987, Feagin returned to Harvard to be associate director of university development for planning and external relations. In 1990, she was named associate dean for development for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, comprised of Harvard College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She was named director of university development in 1996.

Feagin serves her alma mater, Columbia, as chairman of the development committee for the School of General Studies.

Her husband, John J. Brown Jr. is the founder and president of John Brown Ltd., a training and consulting firm that works with non-profit organizations in building major gifts and planned giving programs.

Lee C. BollingerHarvard UniversityThomas C. Kinnear