Faculty

Lynette provides leadership to several national groups, including the Association of Governing Boards, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), and the CASE 50 Steering Committee. She also currently serves as dean of the Big Ten Fund Raisers Institute. In 2017, she received the CASE Commonfund Award, which recognizes individuals who have made valuable contributions to the field through best practices, distinguished service, and volunteer leadership. In 2020, CASE honored her with the Frank L. Ashmore Award for Service to CASE and the Advancement Profession.

Lynette came to Iowa in 2006 after 25 years in fundraising at her alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, including two years as associate chancellor for development. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural science and a master’s in educational policy studies. Lynette grew up on a fifth-generation family farm near Peoria, Illinois. She and her husband, Jeffery Ford, have two adult children, Michael and Katharine.

For the past thirty years, Flessner has consulted with colleges, universities, and academic medical centers in Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America. He has worked with hundreds of clients, including the largest public university campaigns in the nation. 

Flessner is a recognized expert on new wealth philanthropy and has been quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Star Tribune, Dallas Star, Detroit Free Press, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Chronicle of Higher Education, and many other major newspapers. He has served on the board of the Council on Foundation’s New Ventures in Philanthropy. He is the first male to ever serve on the council of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Lilly School of Philanthropy.

Rod currently holds the title of Senior Vice President Emeritus for Development and Alumni Relations at The Pennsylvania State University, after serving as its Senior Vice President for 20 years. Rare in length of tenure and record of accomplishment at one institution, he led from start to finish two seven-year, billion-dollar-plus capital campaigns. Under his leadership, Penn State’s endowment sextupled, its annual donor base increased from 125,000 to 193,000, and the Penn State Alumni Association grew to 177,000 members, the largest of any dues-paying university association in the country.

He previously served as Senior Vice President for Development at the Indiana University Foundation, Executive Director, Capital Campaign at the University of California at Berkeley, Director of Annual Giving at Drake University, and Director of Undergraduate Chapter Services at Delta Upsilon International Fraternity.

Rod served as a faculty member of the Big Ten Fundraisers Institute, a premier educational seminar for senior development professionals, for 15 years, in addition to frequent speaking engagements at CASE seminars. He is also a board member of Nurturing Minds In Africa, a non-profit working to educate girls in Tanzania.

Rod is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the School of Education at Indiana University. In 2014, the Penn State Alumni Association granted him Honorary Alumnus status, and in 2016 he was recognized by Penn State as its Renaissance Honoree of the Year.

A native of North Dakota, Rod holds a Master of Science in Higher Education from Indiana University Bloomington and a Bachelor of Arts in English with Phi Beta Kappa honors from the University of North Dakota.

Prior to joining Northwestern, Lively served as vice president of development at DePaul University. During his nine-year tenure at DePaul, Lively held several positions, including senior director of development at the Driehaus College of Business. Before moving to DePaul, he worked as director of annual giving and director of law development at the University of Denver.  

Lively previously worked at Northwestern in the late-1990s, serving as associate director of development at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law during the University’s previous campaign. He began his development career in 1994 at the University of Colorado Foundation, Inc. as the assistant phone-a-thon director in the office of annual giving.  

Lively earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Southern Methodist University (SMU), a master’s degree in history from Colorado State University, an MBA from the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, and a certificate from the Management Development Program (MDP) at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. In April 2017, he authored Managing Major Gift Fundraisers: A Contrarian’s Guide (published by CASE). 

Alison has worked in education development for 30 years and previously has held senior roles in the USA.  Alison led a $3bn campaign for the University of Virginia where she was Associate Vice-President for Development.  Prior to this she completed a $25m six-year campaign two years ahead of schedule as Director of Development for the Brady Urological Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where she oversaw an increase in giving from $1m to $11m annually.

Rhea has served UCLA since and has had management responsibility for one of the most dynamic development programs of its kind. Campaign UCLA, completed in 2005, generated a record-setting $3.052 billion. In the course of UCLA’s Centennial Campaign, the campus has averaged more than $651 million in annual private support.