Greg Willems
President and CEO,
Kansas State University Foundation
Greg Willems assumed the role of president and chief executive officer of the Kansas State University Foundation on Feb. 27, 2015. He is the sixth individual to lead the foundation, which was founded in 1944 as the official fundraising organization for Kansas State University.
Before joining the KSU Foundation, Willems served as the vice president for development at the University of Hawaii Foundation and was responsible for the planning and execution of all campaigns and managed all of the fundraising programs for the 10 campuses in the University of Hawaii System. Additional duties included executive staffing of several foundation board subcommittees, including: strategic planning, planned giving and community colleges.
Willems also has served executive director of development at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. In this capacity, he served on the vice president for development and alumni engagement's executive team and co-managed the constituency based fundraising division. This division generated in excess of $130 million annually for the benefit of the university and included 19 faculties and units, more than 100 development professionals and support staff, and a $5 million-plus annual budget. He was part of the leadership team that developed the planning and strategy for execution of the $1.5 billion University of British Columbia "Start an Evolution" campaign.
Before joining the Canadian university, Willems was a senior director of development for the Texas A&M Foundation and served in a leadership role for Texas A&M University's successful $1.5 billion "One Spirit One Vision Campaign." During the campaign, his dual role included national major gift work for the entire university as well as serving on the senior leadership team for the vice chancellor and dean of engineering. Further responsibilities included management of nine professional staff and all strategic development operations for the Dwight Look College of Engineering. At the conclusion of its recent seven-year "One Spirit One Vision Campaign" in 2008, the engineering development office generated more than $282 million in gifts, pledges, planned gifts and private grants for the engineering program.
Willems career has also included private sector management, sales and marketing in the construction and insurance industries. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University with Bachelor of Business Administration in management.
