We are excited to announce that Jennifer Hanes Sullivan has joined the CapDev team as a Senior Counsel.
We got to know Jennifer when she served as Director of Advancement for Cape Fear Academy and successfully completed a $4 million comprehensive campaign. Having served in that role for seven years, Jennifer was ready for her next career opportunity and was attracted to sharing her skills through consulting.
She says that “the privilege I find in doing this work is the true joy of getting to know new people and learning about their lives, families, interests and passions.” Her career in the nonprofit sector has meant not only getting to raise funds to build buildings, create scholarships, and grow endowments, but also meeting the most amazing people who want to leave this world better than they found it.
CapDev CEO, Allan Burrows, said of Jennifer joining the team, “Jennifer brings a wonderful depth of knowledge and experience coupled with a genuine love of this work. Her remarkable affability and confidence connect with clients and embolden them to accomplish amazing things!”
A Greensboro, North Carolina native and graduate of NC State University, Jennifer was elected class president, a position that placed her on the Board of Directors for the NCSU Alumni Association. That experience exposed her to the world of fundraising, and she never looked back! She started her career in Admissions at NC State University and took her first fundraising role with the Georgia Tech Alumni Association assisting with the Annual Fund. She was then recruited back to her alma mater to serve as the Director of Alumni Clubs with the NC State Alumni Association where she managed geographic alumni clubs, major school events, and volunteer engagement.
Finding her passion for nonprofit work, she pursued her Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in nonprofit management from UNC Wilmington and finished first in her class. During her time there, she also worked with the Alumni Association and Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo on fundraising for special projects such as a summer arts series and diversity scholarships. Following graduate school, she moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina to manage The Campaign for Natural Growth, a $10 million campaign for the Cape Fear Botanical Garden to build a 33,000 square foot visitors’ pavilion. During her tenure, she was promoted to Executive Director and managed construction of that expansion project. She has also raised funds for the Duke Cancer Center where she was responsible for the operations of a 15-person fundraising team that raised more than $22 million annually.
Jennifer lives in Wilmington, North Carolina and shares her 103-year-old historic home with an orange tabby cat. In her spare time, she loves to travel (including a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro), spend time with friends, garden, exercise, and read.
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