This week the University of Dallas welcomes President Thomas W. Keefe, J.D., the eighth president to lead the Catholic university in its 54-year history.

 

With a Juris Doctor from the University of Kansas College of Law and Bachelor of Arts from Benedictine College, Keefe has spent more than 20 years in higher education. He most recently served as vice president of advancement at Saint Louis University where he was responsible for substantially increasing the annual giving, heading fundraising efforts for a new building and sports arena, a $300 million capital campaign, and restructuring the alumni, development and university relations areas to better support the university’s needs.

 

Keefe has also served as the president of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Foundation as well as the executive director of the school’s Advancement department and has worked with the Catholic Aid Association Foundation in Saint Paul, Minn., the University of St. Thomas’ Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity, Francis Marion Drake Society at Drake University, and practiced law with Children’s Legal Rights in Washington, D.C.

 

He is a nationally recognized expert and speaker in the field of donor cultivation having direct involvement and/or a leadership role in generating more than $500 million in gifts and grants for institutions he has served. He has also published numerous articles on legal and social justice issues, fundraising and donor cultivation.