Senior Executive Director of Gift and Estate Planning

Responsibilities

• Own the strategic and operational leadership of the Gift and Estate Planning team, setting the vision and annual priorities that drive an average of $200,000,000 in planned gift each year.
• Lead, develop, and hold accountable a leadership team of 12 direct reports, building a high-performing culture of collaboration and results.
• Manage the Gift Planning Advisory Board and its two meetings a year and continue the development of a new committee of volunteer advisors, supporting an increase in gifts of business interests.
• Direct the estate realization process in partnership with UT System leadership, establishing clear standards and serving as the authoritative voice on process and procedure for the broader Texas Development community.
• Lead the strategic deployment of the Gift and Estate Planning team’s footprint across colleges, schools, and units, shaping how the function scales to deliver dedicated support university-wide and integrating teams under a unified strategic approach to prospect identification, networking, and pipeline development.
• Set strategic direction for discovery and solicitation approaches across the team, providing executive analysis and judgment on the strategies used to close planned gifts.
• Elevate organizational capability by leading education and training initiatives for development colleagues university-wide and shaping the strategy for special events and the marketing of planned giving.
• Drive goal-setting and long-range strategy for the entire Gift Planning team. Partner with Prospect Research, Marketing and Communications, and Stewardship to maintain a cohesive strategic model that builds and sustains a pipeline of donors annually documenting estate plans.
• Maintain a standard for donor engagement documentation, ensuring substantive contacts are captured and reviewed to sharpen team strategy and performance.
• Lead solicitations both personally and in partnership with volunteers and academic leadership, modeling the gift-closing strategy expected across the team.
• Partner with faculty, colleagues, and university staff in strategic prospect research and proposal development.
• Model individual excellence while leading the team, building and carrying a portfolio of prospective donors, and personally closing a minimum of $10M or more in planned gifts.

Qualifications

• Minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in gift planning, major gifts, or complex charitable giving, including significant experience in a higher education or large nonprofit setting.
• Demonstrated success personally soliciting and closing six and seven figure planned and complex gifts.
• Experience managing volunteer leadership structures, such as advisory boards or committees, including board relations and volunteer-driven solicitation strategies.
• Minimum of five years of experience directly supervising, developing, and holding accountable a team of fundraising professionals.
• Demonstrated working knowledge of charitable gift vehicles and estate planning instruments, including wills, trusts, gift annuities, retirement assets, and complex assets.
• Exceptional relationship-management, negotiation, and executive presence with high-net-worth donors, senior academic leadership, and external advisors.
• Proficiency with CRM/fundraising databases and donor pipeline management systems.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.