173: Barry Benson, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Barry Benson, Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement, is the senior fundraiser and responsible for managing frontline advancement efforts for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Serving on the Chancellor’s Executive Leadership Council, Vice Chancellor Benson, who also holds a Senior Vice President title at the University of Illinois Foundation, leads a team of approximately 275 advancement professionals both centrally and within over 20 colleges/units.Benson is an experienced advancement professional who relocated with his wife and three daughters (two of whom attend UIUC while the youngest is a senior in high school) to Urbana-Champaign from the University of Arizona in March 2017. In Tucson, AZ, he served for nearly a decade in escalating capacities culminating in the role of Senior Vice President for Development where he was responsible for successfully achieving a $1.5 billion campaign goal two years ahead of schedule and while overseeing all central campaign activities, marketing and communications, planned giving and regional development for the University of Arizona Foundation. Benson also has extensive experience leading successful college-based advancement programs in business and engineering. Vice Chancellor Benson is active in the advancement industry participating in various leadership capacities and speaking engagements. In addition to his higher education experience, Benson also is an active civil servant having served on various nonprofit community boards.A finance graduate and former collegiate baseball letterman from the University of Northern Colorado (Greeley, CO), Benson also holds a Master of Business Administration from Colorado State University (Ft. Collins, CO) and is a former Certified Financial Planner practitioner who values spending time with family and friends while also enjoying the outdoors golfing, skiing, and doing yardwork (yes, it’s true).