Syracuse University's Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations has split into two individual units -- the Office of Foundation Relations and the Office of Corporate Relations -- responding to significant growth and need for concentrated attention in both areas and reflecting best practices industry-wide. Both offices will remain a part of SU's Division of Institutional Advancement.
"As we advance our ambitious fundraising goals and initiatives, fine-tuning our operations and implementing cutting-edge best practices becomes increasingly important," says Lil Breul O'Rourke, vice president for development. "Foundation program support and corporate partnerships are a critical part of our future success. Recognizing the complexities and sheer volume of our foundation and corporate initiatives, we have determined that we would be best served with the appointment of two senior professionals to manage separately these two constituencies."
Sara Wason G'00 will focus her efforts on increasingly active foundation outreach as executive director of the Office of Foundation Relations. A published author on grant writing, as well as speaker at national conferences on foundation fundraising and best practices for not-for-profit management, Wason has been a member of SU's Institutional Advancement team since 1994. Wason earned a master's degree in public administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, is a graduate of Leadership Greater Syracuse, and serves on the boards of Syracuse Stage and the Women's Fund of Central New York. The Office of Foundation Relations will report jointly to O'Rourke and Eric Spina, interim vice chancellor and provost.
Mark Weldon G'80 has been appointed executive director of the Office of Corporate Relations. Weldon currently serves as SU's director of technology transfer and industrial development, managing the University's diverse portfolio of intellectual property, licensed technology to existing companies, and formed technology-based spinouts. Before joining SU in 2002, Weldon spent 12 years as a serial entrepreneur of high-tech ventures in Central New York. Prior to that, he ran a consumer products division in a Fortune 100 company with global research and development, manufacturing, sales and distribution. Weldon received a dual J.D./M.B.A. degree from Syracuse University College of Law and SU's Martin J. Whitman School of Management. The Office of Corporate Relations will report jointly to O'Rourke and Ben Ware, vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School.
