EPISODE · Sep 15, 2022 · 51 MIN
127: Armin Afsahi, Harvard University
from RAISE Podcast
Armin Afsahi was appointed Associate Vice President of Alumni Affairs and Development (AA&D) and Dean of Development for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) by Edgerley Family Dean Claudine Gay in August 2019. In this key executive leadership role, Afsahi is responsible for designing and executing a fundraising vision that advances FAS’s mission and diverse academic priorities. In this capacity, Afsahi leads a fundraising enterprise that works collaboratively to generate annual philanthropic resources in excess of $1 Billion, and contributes to strategies to engage alumni, parents and friends with Harvard through creative and meaningful engagement.An accomplished and respected advancement leader with nearly 30 years of experience, Afsahi brings a wide range of expertise in institutional advancement, strategic management, business development, leadership, and operations. Prior to joining AA&D, he served as the vice chancellor for advancement at the University of Denver. Previously, he held senior roles in advancement for the University of California San Diego and Georgetown University. Afsahi has served on national and local boards and held volunteer leadership roles for both nonprofit and professional organizations. He holds a BA in communications from UC San Diego and an MBA from the University of San Diego. Afsahi lives in Boston with his husband, Joe Eklund, and enjoy outdoors, travel, playing tennis and enjoying sports.
What this episode covers
If you’re “a risk taker, a hope seeker, and if your heart needs to be filled with joy and abundance of opportunity and optimism,” you should get to know Armin Afsahi, Associate Vice President of Alumni Affairs and Development and Dean of Development for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. Armin is an entrepreneur (he worked in fast-growth startups in his early career), and he’s what we like to call an “intrapreneur.” Armin partnered with Jim Langley to launch the Discovery Initiative at Georgetown, a program that employed current students to conduct face-to-face interviews with alumni around the world. He orchestrated the vertical integration of alumni relations, annual giving, regional advancement, donor development and the career and professional development center at the University of California, San Diego. He has overseen fast growth programs within large and complex organizations like the University of Denver. Armin is a silo-buster, a pioneer of for-profit strategies in the higher ed advancement world, and a leader who has deep dedication to the “whole people” on his team. On this episode of the RAISE Podcast, Brent and Armin talk about truths like… You can have a really cool office and still have a terrible culture. People and culture are what matter. Being a mature and stable institution doesn’t have to be synonymous with being rigid and slow-moving. If your enrollment marketing materials share job placement stats, but the career services team claims that student job placement is not their #1 goal, that’s a very big (and costly) inconsistency. Agility. Failing fast. Acceleration. These terms are popular in the vernacular of advancement leaders. Armin Afsahi started his career in fast-growth startups. He has experienced these words first-hand and he brings the startup mindset to his advancement work every day. Keep up with Armin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/aafsahi/
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127: Armin Afsahi, Harvard University
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