March 16, Mr. Neil Stein Vice President R.H. Perry & Associates st Street, N.W. Washington, D.C Dear Mr.

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1 March 16, 2015 Mr. Neil Stein Vice President R.H. Perry & Associates st Street, N.W. Washington, D.C Dear Mr. Stein: Having spent my career in higher education, I share the conclusion of San Jose State President Mohammad Qayoumi and entrepreneur Kim Polese, in their white paper, Reinventing Public Higher Education: A Call to Action, that our institutions are in crisis and need a radical shift in their approach to instruction, assessment, and connection to real-world problems in order to adequately prepare students to meet these challenges upon graduation. As San Jose State has demonstrated, this requires public-private partnerships and openness to innovation and experimentation. As a sympathizer of the reform movement, I have had success in creating such connections at the institutions I have served. Under the leadership of President Quayoumi and with the partnerships already forged in the region, I know that I would be able to secure the support necessary to propel SJSU forward in leading this educational revolution and in serving its students. I, therefore, request your consideration as a candidate for the position of Vice President of University Advancement of San Jose State University. Over the course of my career, I have developed and enhanced advancement programs that included principal and major gifts, planned giving, corporate and foundation relations, alumni and parent relations, annual giving, communications, special events, and volunteer boards. These efforts have resulted in a culture of philanthropy at the institutions I represented as demonstrated by increased alumni and parent giving and volunteerism, corporate giving and partnerships, foundation support, robust volunteer councils, successful campaigns, and effective communications. I have a personal track record of successful principal gifts fund raising and have also partnered with presidents, deans and faculty, trustees, and other volunteers to secure transformative gifts. Equally critical to San Jose State is my ability to plan strategically and organize the infrastructure of a healthy advancement program. This means attention to gift administration, endowment investment and management, research and prospect management, donor relations and stewardship, and effective special events. I bring this business knowledge to SJSU through the completion of an MBA and experience working with institutional financial officers to create appropriate processes and procedures to meet fiscal reporting requirements and budget management critical to the functioning of The Tower Foundation. In addition, I have successful experience working with entrepreneurial executive teams on a wide variety of institutional issues including strategic planning, marketing and communications, career services, and co-curricular student programs. I also possess the ability to think strategically at the organizational level while attending to details. I believe these skills would enable me to serve as valuable resource to President Qayoumi and for the University Advancement team. I welcome the opportunity to speak with you about my credentials and how I might benefit San Jose State. Sincerely,

2 Joanne Ferchland-Parella

3 Joanne Ferchland-Parella SUMMARY: Over twenty five years of development experience that include significant management expertise in strategy, program planning, implementation and budgeting of comprehensive advancement efforts including alumni relations, annual fund, corporate and foundation relations, planned giving, and capital campaigns; Particular strength in program building and turnaround; Extensive experience in personnel recruitment, training and team building; Highly effective interdepartmental and cross-campus relationship building for mutually beneficial collaborations, especially in corporate relations and alumni relations; Staffing of presidents, dean, trustees and executive-level alumni volunteers towards successful prospect cultivation and solicitation resulting in 7- and 8-figure gifts; Outstanding lifetime record of prospect cultivation leading to major and principal gift commitments from individuals, corporations and foundations. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Associate Vice President 2012 to 2014 San Diego State University Position reports to Vice President for University Relations and Development. Led a team of 42 professional and support staff responsible for raising $515 million in SDSU s first comprehensive campaign. Campaign currently extended to $750 million goal by 2017; assisted in planning of extension including goal setting, prospect identification and strategy. Worked closely with other University executive leadership, college deans and directors. Staff liaison to National Campaign Council and Secretary for The Campanile Foundation. Conducted prospect base analysis and implemented regional outreach program that has resulted in over $150 million in anticipated gift solicitations from newly identified prospects. Developed and implemented ongoing staff and volunteer training programs. Managed prospect pool of 100 newly identified major gift prospects. Staff liaison to Los Angeles Regional Council and Desert Regional Council. Program has won CASE National Awards for Most Improved Program, 2013 & Under my leadership, development team has secured 91 $1million+ gifts in campaign. Vice President of Institutional Advancement 2008 to 2012 Nova Southeastern University Position reports to the President of NSU. Member of President s Executive Council. Led a team of 42 professional and support staff in alumni relations, annual giving, special events, research, advancement services, corporate and foundation relations, planned giving and major gift fund raising. Managed budget of $5.3 million.

4 Led the reorganization of fund raising and alumni relations programs from decentralized to centralized structure. Developed University s first Institutional Advancement strategic plan. Conducting its first comprehensive fund raising campaign with a goal of $100 million. Since its inception in July 2008, have raised over $47 million. Developed training and mentoring program to counter existing silo mentality and build camaraderie among deans, center directors, and Institutional Advancement staff throughout the University. Conducted assessment of staff skills and made numerous changes in responsibilities to ensure that all staff were positioned for success with responsibilities that matched their strengths. Oversaw prospect screening to identify and assign major gift prospective donors to officers for cultivation and solicitation. Worked with NSU executive leadership and academic deans to evaluate and strengthen volunteer boards to support friend raising and fund raising for the University. Increased total giving to NSU from $5 million annually to $12.3 million in FY2011, an increase of 146%. Worked with president and trustee volunteer to secure $10 million gift, largest single gift in NSU history. Participated in strategy and solicitations of Board of Trustees members that has resulted in over $14 million in commitments to date. Intensified outreach to NSU alumni, increasing alumni chapters to over 20 active groups in U.S. Special Events and Alumni Relations conducted over 100 cultivation/friend raising events in FY2011. Assistant Dean for External Relations 2003 to 2008 Executive Director of Development Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland College Park Position directly reported to the University of Maryland College Park Campaign Director and dot-line reported to the Dean of the Smith School. Member of Dean s executive management team. Staffed University President, Dean, trustees and volunteers on prospect visits. Responsible for $2.14 million annual budget. Initial responsibilities as Executive Director included Development and Alumni Relations. As Assistant Dean, responsibilities expanded to include Special Events for the Smith School and elevation to Dean s executive management team, participating in re-design of Smith School s Office of Career Management; development of Smith School corporate relationship management database and oversight of school-wide corporate strategies; development of Smith School marketing and branding themes and vehicles. Building staff, volunteer and cultivation opportunities and prospect pipeline was initial focus of External Relations program in preparation for $90 million capital campaign (of $1 billion University-wide campaign). Total giving in Fiscal Year 2001 was $1.8 million. Beginning in FY2005 silent phase, secured over $48 million in gifts and pledges towards $90 million goal. Worked with dean, president, and vice president to secure $30 million gift benefiting Business School and Performing Arts Center.

5 Oversaw staff expansion from 4.5 FTE in Fiscal Year 2001 to 23 in Fiscal Year 2008 this included five additional positions dedicated to full-time fund raising. Significant efforts placed on mentoring, team building and communications to develop cohesive and goal-focused team. Pool of actively-managed, major gift ($50,000+) individual prospects grew from 200 prospects in Fiscal Year 2001 to 1500 by Fiscal Year Pool of major gift corporate prospects grew from 10 in Fiscal Year 2001 to 80 as of Fiscal Year Recruited two new volunteer boards Board of Visitors, 50-member senior VP and C-level executives assisting with corporate relationship building; and Dean s Advisory Council, 45-member mid-and upper-management alumni charged with building alumni network (emphasis on potential major gift prospects). External Relations department provided leads for placement of over 100 MBA interns; 50 MBA fulltime hires; $2,800,000 in Executive Education custom programming in three years. Personal fund raising responsibilities center on leadership and principal gift prospect strategy, cultivation and solicitation, resulted in $17.2 million between FY2005-FY2008. Executive Director of Development 1997 to 2001 Bryant University Responsible for the day-to-day management and evaluation of Bryant University s 31-member development team of professionals and support staff and their assigned programs. Worked in concert with Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Campaign Director to plan and implement University s first major campaign, $50 million working goal. In 18 months, screened, interviewed and hired fifteen professional and support staff, building a campaign-ready staff. Fiscal Year 1998 resulted in $1.8 million or 37% over previous year; $3.3 million in Fiscal Year 1999 or 55% increase over previous years; both set records for giving to the University. Fiscal Year 1999 exceeded unrestricted operating goal by 111% raising $918,000; Fiscal Year 2000 achieved 111% of unrestricted goal and exceeded $4 million total giving. Worked closely with major gift and corporation and foundation officers on prospect strategies and proposals that resulted in $6 million of total of $14.7 million in commitments as of April Worked intensively with prospect research and major gift staff through use of electronic databases, proactive research and prospect screening to identify 2,200 campaign prospects (alumni prospect pool of 36,000) with a total capacity of $150 million. As of 2001, fifty percent were confirmed as major gift prospects through personal visits and 33% were involved or had a request pending. Worked closely with organizational management consultant to develop and execute team building training for all Development staff that focused on quality improvement and group problem solving; resulting in comprehensive policies and procedures for all aspects of Development program and continued efforts on spot problem areas. Worked with advancement services staff to design of processes and procedures to improve accuracy of data entry; reporting and analysis of fund raising results; development of prospect tracking systems to record and monitor cultivation strategy implementation and officer productivity. Associate Vice President for Development

6 Gustavus Adolphus College Responsible for the planning, direction, supervision and evaluation of successful $34 million campaign ($32.5 million original goal). Supervised 15 professional and support staff; prepared and administered annual development budget. In addition to management of personal prospect pool, organized the cultivation and solicitation of key prospects by the President, board members, other volunteers and professional staff. Member of President s senior management team; staffed the President in prospect development activities. Addressed a full range of internal and external constituencies to promote both the development and external relation s agendas. Introduction of more comprehensive prospect strategies and work plans leading to doubled productivity in prospect visits and requests by development officers and second highest fund raising year in history of College with over $10 million in gifts and pledges committed. Developed first strategic plan for Development and orchestrated comprehensive planning sessions with all departments in Advancement Division. Oversaw RFP process and rapid implementation of Datatel development software system. This assessment was basis of decision for adoption of campus-wide, integrated database to be fully operational within two years. Developed Campaign case statement and Legacy, campaign newsletter. Director of Development/Major Gifts & Planned Giving Villanova University Managed Philadelphia region of Villanova Campaign ($100 million total goal over five year period). Responsible for raising $3.45 million of $5.5 million goal during my two-year tenure, focusing at $100,000-$250,000 gifts. In addition to personal solicitation responsibilities, identified, recruited and staffed campaign volunteers. Assisted in creation of planned gifts for all campaign prospects where applicable. Managed and provided stewardship for previously identified planned gift prospects and cultivated where possible to convert to outright gifts. Served as mentor to junior Annual Fund officers in developing their solicitation skills. Elected by development office as Quality Improvement Team member for Villanova Quality Improvement (total quality management initiative). Director of Development Polyclinic Medical Center Foundation Responsible for development and implementation of comprehensive fund raising program for the Medical Center. Organized first planned giving program including: Heritage Associates, for cultivation and stewardship of bequests and life income donors through direct mail, seminars and personal visits. Developed Polyclinic Vanguard, a cultivation program for retired PMC physicians, spouses and widows. Resulted in $300,000+ in gifts and $300,000+ in bequests. Grantsmanship for fiscal year 1992 resulted in nearly $1 million in funds for capital improvements and program development. Member of Polyclinic and multi-institutional project team for creation of coordinated services program for chemically dependent, pregnant women. Co-authored grant proposal resulting in $250,000+ state grant in September 1993

7 Director of Annual Fund Mount Saint Mary's University Identified and cultivated lead donor for Seminary Renovation project resulting in $500,000 gift. Doubled MSM Annual Fund yield and alumni participation to 33% and nearly $1 million in two years. Designed and authored all MSM direct mail materials. Developed, recruited and supervised development student intern program. Supervised phonathon coordinator and paid student callers. Member of MSM Executive Planning Council, charged with developing long range plans for College's physical and academic growth. Assistant Director, Johns Hopkins Annual Fund The Johns Hopkins University Managed direct mail program with over 400 class volunteers for schools and colleges of University Recruited and student phonathon program that combined, raised $3.5 million of total $8.2 million annual support in Managed volunteer alumni council and organized a program of direct mail, phonathons, staff and volunteer solicitations which raised capital funds and increased participation of alumni in classes in RELATED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Marketing Coordinator, Johns Hopkins Federal Credit Union Public Relations Officer, SSA Baltimore Federal Credit Union Retail Advertising Copywriter, Hochschild Kohn Department Store 1982 (Company went out of business) PROFESSIONAL TRAINING: John Brown Planned Giving Seminar Winston Smith Marketing of Planned Gifts Robert Sharpe Planned Giving and Marketing Gordon Caswell Planned Gift Marketing EDUCATION: Executive MBA, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland College Park 2006 Master of Liberal Arts, The Johns Hopkins University 1991 Bachelor of Arts, English, Loyola University, Baltimore, Maryland 1981 ARC Broward, ARC Angel KPBS Producers Club Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, Benefactor COMMUNITY SERVICE: