UNH Names New President of the Foundation
Wendy Scott Keeney arrives mid-September

By Kim Billings, Media Relations

UNH President Ann Weaver Hart and Roger Thomas, chairman of the UNH Foundation Board of Directors, announced this week the appointment of Wendy Scott Keeney as president of the UNH Foundation. Prior to joining UNH, Keeney was executive director for development, East Coast region, for the University of Michigan. She begins at UNH in mid-September.

"Wendy Keeney brings strong and energetic leadership to this important position," Hart said. "In addition to her years of experience in fundraising for a large public research university, she has planned and directed comprehensive major gift and personal solicitation programs. She also has a rich and varied background in and out of academe, with a global perspective in her work and life."

“Wendy Keeney has the talents and experience that we were looking for in a new president,” Thomas said. “I have confidence that the leader we have chosen will carry the UNH Foundation forward to greater fund raising success on behalf of the university.”

Keeney also served as assistant dean of development and external relations for the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, at the University of Michigan. "UNH, already a fine institution, is on the brink of tremendous growth and change," Keeney said. "I'm thrilled by this opportunity and ready for the challenge of taking a unique institution to the next level of success in philanthropy."

During her tenure at the University of Michigan, Keeney established the East Coast regional office where she coordinated all university fundraising programs in the eastern United States at the major gift level, and managed a portfolio of principal gift donors. She increased giving in the New York City Tri-state area after Sept. 11, 2001, and closed the largest gift ever given to the University of Michigan -- also the largest gift given in the United States to any business school. Keeney was closely involved with Michigan’s first major fundraising campaign in the 1990s, with a goal of $850 million. By the campaign’s conclusion, $1.34 billion had been raised.

Diana D. Koski, vice president and director of planned giving, served as interim leader of the UNH Foundation while the nationwide search for a president was underway.