Michael Kiefer has been appointed vice president for presidential initiatives and principal gifts at Dartmouth. In this new position, he will provide strategic leadership and counsel for fundraising in support of the institutional initiatives of President Phil Hanlon ’77 and the Board of Trustees.
“Michael will bring his experience working with academic leaders to the design and articulation of philanthropic opportunities that expand Dartmouth’s impact in the world,” says Senior Vice President for Advancement Bob Lasher ’88. “We seek to inspire support from both alumni and non-alumni who care about societal issues and the difference that Dartmouth faculty and students can make in advancing solutions through ground-breaking scholarship.”
Kiefer will serve on the Senior Leadership Team within the Advancement Division and work with Lasher as key adviser to the president, provost, and deans to cultivate, solicit, and steward gifts in support of Dartmouth. He brings to Dartmouth a depth of experience in both large, complex research institutions and premier liberal arts colleges with enduring commitments to teaching and learning.
He has more than two decades of experience leading advancement programs in support of institutional expansion and capacity building, and recently served for more than five years as Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Haverford College, and prior to that had similar roles at Amherst College and McGill University.
The new vice president says he has a deep appreciation of the clarity and consistency of President Hanlon’s vision for Dartmouth. “President Hanlon has made great headway in articulating and building consensus around a compelling and clear set of emerging institutional priorities,” he says. “I feel very privileged to have a mandate to help members of the philanthropic community see what a significant impact is available to them as investors in the people of Dartmouth and their ideas.”
A citizen of both the U.S. and Canada, Kiefer holds a BA in English and religion from LaSalle College and an MA in theology from Boston College. He will start work at Dartmouth on September 2 and plans to reside in Hanover with his wife, Carol Solomon, an art historian and curator. They have two grown children, Zoe, a chief resident in obstetrics and gynecology at Tufts University, and Andrew, a backcountry ski guide and avalanche forecaster.
