Jerry May joins U-M as vice president for development




Updated 5:00 PM January 13, 2003
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Jerry May joins U-M as vice president for development

By Julie Peterson
Office of the Vice President for Communications

May (Photo by Paul Jaronski, U-M Photo Services)

Jerry A. May, vice president for development at The Ohio State University and president of its foundation for the past 10 years, will return to Ann Arbor to assume the position of vice president for development at the University. May left Michigan for Ohio State in 1992 after a 13-year career in fundraising at the Ann Arbor campus.

His appointment was recommended Dec. 17 by President Mary Sue Coleman after a national search. It will be effective Feb. 1 upon approval by the Board of Regents. The board is expected to consider the appointment at its Jan. 16 meeting.

“I am deeply appreciative of the hard work done by the search advisory committee to identify the strongest candidates across the country,” Coleman says. “Jerry May was the most outstanding of these, and we are delighted to have him returning to the Michigan community.

“We will be working hard over the next few years to raise funds for our most important priorities, and Jerry will contribute his extensive knowledge and experience to making this effort successful. He is one of the leading fundraisers in higher education today and comes to us with a terrific national reputation and a long track record of major successes.”

“I am excited to work with the president, the donors and volunteers, and the development team to help increase private resources that will support Michigan’s great academic programs,” May says.

At Ohio State, May is responsible for all fundraising activities across the university, including more than 25 schools, colleges and programs. He planned and saw to completion in 2000 a major capital campaign there, which raised more than $1.2 billion, surpassing its goal. The campaign dramatically increased the university’s endowed faculty positions, scholarships and research funds, and helped to build more than a dozen new facilities.

U-M soon will kick off its own fundraising campaign. May will be responsible for launching that effort, as well as for coordinating development efforts centrally and partnering with the 19 U-M schools and colleges in their development activities.

U-M has an endowment valued at about $3.4 billion, 12th largest among all U.S. universities. Its last capital campaign, completed in 1997, raised $1.4 billion for facilities, academic programs, endowed professorships and scholarships.

May first joined the U-M development staff in 1979 as a senior development officer. From 1979-92 he served in a variety of roles, most recently as director of the Major Gifts Program and director of the Principal Gifts Program. Prior to that he was senior associate director of the University’s Campaign for Michigan in 1983-87 and directed the U-M Business School’s capital campaign in 1982-83.

May holds a B.A. degree in English from Hope College and a M.Ed. in student personnel administration from the University of Vermont. He did graduate work in higher education administration at Michigan from 1976-79.

Rebecca Blank, dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, the Henry Carter Adams Collegiate Professor of Public Policy and professor of economics at U-M, chaired the search advisory committee.

Cynthia Wilbanks, U-M vice president for government relations, also has been serving as interim vice president for development while the search was underway.

Jerry May joins U-M as vice president for development

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