Berkeleyan

Berkeley alumnus to lead campus fundraising operations
Wellesley College administrator David Blinder selected as University Relations AVC

11 July 2007

David Blinder, vice president for resources and public affairs at Wellesley College, has been named the new chief development officer for the Berkeley campus, succeeding Scott Biddy, who became vice chancellor for University Relations in December 2006.

David Blinder (Peg Skorpinski photo)

Blinder, who holds master's and doctoral degrees in philosophy from Berkeley, will return to his alma mater as associate vice chancellor for University Relations, starting Aug. 13.

He has served at Wellesley since 1995. Prior to that, he held fundraising leadership posts at Princeton University from 1987 to 1995.

Blinder will lead diverse areas of the university's development enterprise - spanning all aspects of fundraising, including corporate and foundation relations, communications, operations, and events - as well as coordinate all fundraising activities across the campus's academic and administrative units.

"His impressive record of achievement in higher education makes David Blinder a great fit to lead our ongoing efforts to broaden the base of philanthropic support for Berkeley," says Vice Chancellor Biddy. "His colleagues at Wellesley speak not only of his transformational leadership but of his remarkable expertise. I cannot imagine our having found a better individual to join us in this important role. We all look forward to welcoming David back home to Berkeley."

Blinder will also serve as vice president of the UC Berkeley Foundation, the campus's primary vehicle for enlisting fundraising volunteers from the university's broader community. In 2005-06 the campus raised $347.6 million in gifts and pledges.

At Wellesley, Blinder managed the largest liberal-arts-college fundraising campaign to date, raising more than $472 million in seven years. Since the close of that campaign in 2005, Wellesley has raised over $55 million annually in private gifts.

"I am delighted to have the opportunity to return to Berkeley at this exciting moment in its history, and to do my part to maintain its place as the nation's preeminent public university," says Blinder.

Blinder's career also includes academic experience, starting as a teaching assistant in philosophy while he was a graduate student at Berkeley. From there he held successive faculty positions at UC Irvine, Yale, and Princeton.

In addition to his graduate degrees from Berkeley - earned in 1977 and 1981 - Blinder holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy (1972) from Princeton.