Oregon Health & Science University Foundation today announced it has named L. Keith Todd as its new leader. Todd will assume the presidency of OHSU’s nonprofit fundraising affiliate effective June 1, 2013. Todd has also been named senior vice president for advancement by OHSU.
Todd, 48, has worked in university advancement for more than two decades at nationally prominent academic health centers and public research universities. He is currently interim vice chancellor for university development for the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and senior vice president for the University of Illinois Foundation. In these roles he directs campus-wide development activities and provides strategic counsel to the university’s leadership team. At UIC, Todd also serves as chief development officer for the College of Medicine, the nation’s largest medical school, where he led the college’s fundraising team during UIC’s system-wide $2 billion plus campaign. (The College of Medicine’s portion of the campaign totaled $309 million.)
Before joining the University of Illinois, Todd served Ohio State University at Columbus as associate vice president for development, where he led principal gift efforts and directed a team of 40 professionals during a $500 million campaign for the Medical Center. Todd previously served as development director for the James Cancer Hospital & Solove Research Institute at Ohio State, overseeing cancer-related fundraising during a $1.5 billion university-wide campaign.
“We are pleased to welcome in this important role someone with Keith’s strong national experience in health sciences advancement,” said OHSU President Joseph Robertson, M.D., M.B.A. “I believe his exceptional leadership skills and strategic perspective will make an immediate contribution to OHSU’s executive team.”
Todd has also served in positions of increasing responsibility at other prominent academic health centers and medical colleges, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was associate dean for external affairs in the School of Public Health focusing on major gifts, alumni affairs, communications and marketing.
“Keith is an outstanding choice,” said OHSU Foundation Board Chairman Eric Parsons. “His enthusiasm, broad experience and knowledge of health sciences will be invaluable as we expand fundraising efforts to ensure OHSU can achieve its vital missions.”
“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve this incredible institution,” said Todd. “OHSU has gained a national reputation for big ideas that are changing the landscape of health. That kind of impact is enormously exciting. It attracts philanthropic partners who want to make a real difference. To be part of the exceptional team both at the university and foundation while helping drive the next chapter in OHSU’s story will be a privilege.”
Todd joins the OHSU Foundation during a period of significant growth in philanthropic investment in Oregon’s only public academic health center and premier research university. OHSU currently raises around $100 million annually through private contributions and has recently attracted transformational gifts from Phil and Penny Knight in support of its cardiovascular and cancer institutes.
Todd earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1986 from Clemson University and a master of education in institutional advancement from Vanderbilt in 1987. His wife, Elizabeth, is a former elementary school teacher and community volunteer. They have one daughter, Kara, who is completing her second year as a law student at Georgetown University.
Todd succeeds former OHSU Foundation President Allan Price, who died unexpectedly in February 2012.