Vice President for University Advancement California State University, Fresno | Fresno, California California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) announced the appointment of Brady Crook as the vice president for university advancement, effective September 8, 2023. As a member of Fresno State’s senior executive team, Crook will lead and drive fundraising strategy in support of the university’s top priorities and multi-faceted campaign initiatives by strengthening institutional affinity across the Central Valley and the country through a donor-, alumni-, and student- centric model.Brady Crook brings more than 32 years of experience in higher education and a record of extraordinary success in fundraising, new donor campaigns, large scale individual gifts, and corporate philanthropy. Most recently as the senior associate vice chancellor for institutional advancement at the Texas Tech University (TTU) System, Brady oversaw leadership and annual giving across five of the system’s campuses. Under his direction, the Chancellor’s Council, a select group of alumni and friends who support the TTU System’s top priorities, has seen a resurgence and is celebrating the most successful fundraising year in the TTU System’s history. Prior to the TTU System, Crook led advancement teams at Adelphi University (Adelphi) and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). At Adelphi, Crook doubled the philanthropic revenue while implementing infrastructure that included a policy library, a fund agreement process and an annual planning process with industry best practices and metrics. While at UIC, Crook nearly tripled giving totals across the 11 units that reported to him. He led dozens of strategies including but not limited to a $35 million opportunity to name the College of Pharmacy, $13.6 million in naming opportunities for a new engineering building, a $5 million deanship, UIC’s first, and a $3 million naming opportunity that created an innovative research fund held at the Chancellor’s level. He was also instrumental in planning UIC’s $750 million comprehensive campaign and led implementation of that planning throughout units under his purview.Crook also held fundraising positions with the University of Nevada Reno, the University of Oregon, and Washington State University during the institution’s $1 billion campaign. Crook earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Sports Management from Washington State University. Rachel Ellenport led this search with Christina Garrison and Megan Gorman.