Newsline  

Fort Appointed Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Hilbert

Release Date:
June 8, 2012
Contact:
Matt Heidt,
716-926-8792

HAMBURG, N.Y. – Gregg Fort, assistant vice president for university advancement at DePaul University in Chicago, has been named vice president for institutional advancement at Hilbert College, announced President Cynthia Zane, Ed.D. His appointment is effective July 9.

In his new role, Fort will lead all aspects of Hilbert’s fundraising efforts and the college’s government relations and alumni affairs programs and activities. He also will oversee comprehensive strategies to seek private support through major gifts, the Hilbert Fund, and private and public grants.
 
In making the appointment, Zane said, “With Gregg’s nearly 25 years of experience in higher education fundraising, we are pleased to have a leader of his caliber to serve as Hilbert’s vice president for institutional advancement. His extensive background will be tremendously valuable in building on the college’s philanthropic efforts and creating the framework to foster a strong major gifts program.”
 
As assistant vice president at DePaul for the past five years, Fort has led the university’s corporate relations office where he developed a campus partnership initiative that was instrumental in supporting “Many Dreams, One Mission: The Campaign for DePaul University,” the institution’s $250 million capital campaign. During his tenure, he also initiated new strategies for DePaul’s President’s Club that resulted in all-time membership records, and created a new corporate giving campaign program that increased giving in this area by more than 50 percent. In addition, he coordinated strategic planning for DePaul’s Office of Advancement, and developed and supervised the division’s prospect development and central major giving program, as well as served as campaign director for Catholic initiatives.
 
Prior to this, Fort was executive director of the Big Red Fund at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and was associate athletic director for external relations at Florida International University in Miami. He also held positions at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas where he was associate athletic director for external affairs/capital campaign director and previously was director of sports information.
 
Fort is a graduate of Austin College where he recently completed a three-year term on the college’s alumni board.
 
A native of McKinney, Texas, Fort will reside in Buffalo. His wife, Nicci Hays Fort, is head women’s basketball coach at Colgate University.

Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With nearly 1,100 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college’s engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college’s first graduate programs, one a master’s in criminal justice administration and the other a master’s in public administration, and new Accelerated Degree Programs geared to adult learners.