Shaun Keister

Shaun B. Keister, a veteran fundraiser with experience in higher education, arts and conservation philanthropy, became UC Davis’ first vice chancellor for development and alumni relations in 2011.

Keister functions as the campus’s chief fundraising officer and serves as president of the UC Davis Foundation. He led UC Davis in successfully completing its first comprehensive fundraising campaign, The Campaign for UC Davis, raising more than $1.1 billion from nearly 110,000 donors. Under his leadership, UC Davis became one of the top 2% of fundraising programs in the U.S. according to the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Previously, Keister served in a series of high-level development posts at Florida State, Iowa State and Penn State universities.

Keister is a nationally renowned fundraising expert having been quoted in local and national media outlets including CNN Money, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, CASE Currents magazine, The Sacramento Bee, and Fox 40 News. Additionally, he has nearly twenty years as an independent fundraising consultant serving clients including the San Francisco Opera, Steppenwolf Theatre, World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy, and more than sixty public and private universities.