UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — After more than 30 years at the University, including roles in five major Penn State fundraising campaigns, David J. Lieb is stepping down as senior associate vice president for development. During his service as interim vice president for development and alumni relations from March 20, 2023, to Jan. 12, 2025, Lieb led the University through the most successful start of a campaign in the institution’s history, helping to secure more than $700 million during the first 18 months of an effort that will be publicly announced and launched in 2026.
“I am deeply grateful to Dave Lieb for the expertise and experience he has brought to many roles within our advancement operation over a 30-plus-year career at Penn State,” said Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi. “His contributions have been invaluable in helping to build a fundraising operation that has raised billions of dollars for our educational mission. I know I join many across the University in wishing him well in his next chapter.”
Lieb began his higher education fundraising career at Penn State in 1989 before becoming the associate vice president for university advancement at California University of Pennsylvania, where he successfully ran that institution’s first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign. In 1999, Lieb returned to Penn State and rose to his current role as senior associate vice president for development where he has managed the major gift fundraising efforts for all of the University’s academic colleges and campuses (with the exception of Penn State College of Medicine) and Intercollegiate Athletics, and he has overseen the offices of Gift Planning and Principal Gifts, and the Corporate Engagement Center. He is a graduate of the University, holding a master’s degree in higher education from Penn State as well as a bachelor’s degree and magna cum laude honors from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and he completed the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Institute for Educational Management.
“During Dave’s time as a Penn State fundraising leader, the University has gone from securing a total of $352 million in our first modern campaign to the $2.2 billion success of the most recent effort, ‘A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,’ and he has been instrumental in achieving that remarkable growth and success,” said Alyssa M. Wilcox, vice president for development and alumni relations. “As interim vice president for development and alumni relations, he has laid the foundation for what promises to be our most ambitious campaign yet, and I am deeply grateful to him for all that he has done to create a powerhouse team who shares his commitment to making Penn State strong for future generations.”
Beyond his role as a leader and manager, Lieb has personally partnered with Penn State supporters to secure many important commitments to the institution, beginning with the first major gift from longtime donors Jeff and Cindy King, whose daughter and son-in-law Julie and Jason Borrelli are now members of the Campaign Leadership Council. Lieb’s fundraising successes include the $10 million gift from Charles H. “Skip” Smith to launch construction of the Arboretum at Penn State. He also worked with Jeff and Ann Marie Fox on one of the largest gifts to date in the current campaign, a $20 million commitment to name the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School at Penn State.
For Lieb, the most important legacy of his time with Penn State is the relationships that he has built with alumni and friends. He said, “It has been an honor to connect our supporters with opportunities that are meaningful both for them and for the institution, and I’m grateful on a personal level for the trust that they have placed in me and in our team to help them achieve enduring impact at Penn State.”
Lieb continued, “While I’m looking forward to taking on new professional challenges, Penn State has been a part of my life and that of my family’s for more than 30 years. There is no other place or institution that could have provided a more fulfilling experience for me personally or professionally. Ours is one of the premier advancement programs in the country, and being a part of that, alongside valued colleagues, donors, and volunteers, has been both humbling and immensely rewarding. I leave here with the satisfaction of knowing that—together—we have had a meaningful and positive impact on the countless lives which are touched by one of the greatest universities in the world.”
Gifts to Penn State advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients and communities across the Commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.