Bennington College is pleased to announce the placement of Elizabeth Breidinger as Executive Director of Development (EDOD). Previously the Director of Major and Leadership Giving at Brown University, her alma mater, Elizabeth enters this role with over a decade of deep development and campaign experience at higher education institutions. During her eight years at Brown, Elizabeth built a donor-centric leadership giving program and a high-functioning Major and Leadership Gift Team to propel the University’s $3 billion campaign, BrownTogether. Prior to joining Brown, Elizabeth served as Associate Director, East Coast Regional Programs at the University of Chicago; Major Gifts Officer at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund; and Manager of Member Services and Marketing Associate and Senior Marketing Associate at The Advisory Board Company in Washington, D.C.
As EDOD, Elizabeth will partner with the Vice President for Institutional Advancement (VPIA) in preparing Bennington for a campaign that will pivot the institution toward its second century as a trailblazer in higher education. She will oversee the activities and expansion of all front-line fundraising units while managing a select principal gift portfolio and moving the development team toward achieving audacious goals that align with Bennington’s ethos of innovation and renewal. In close collaboration with board members, senior leadership, faculty, staff, students, parents, and alumni, Elizabeth will assist the VPIA in driving an on-going institution-wide conversation about vision, strategy, and goals for development.
Founded in 1932, Bennington holds a distinguished place among American colleges and universities as the first to include the visual and performing arts in a liberal arts education. The College is situated on 440 breathtaking acres in Bennington, Vermont, and currently enrolls 801 students (704 undergraduate and 97 graduate), offering an enviable student to faculty ratio of 10:1. Rooted in an abiding faith in the talent, imagination, and responsibility of the individual, Bennington invites students to pursue and shape their own intellectual inquiries, and in doing so to discover the interconnection of things. To support this rich journey, the College requires that students spend a term—every year—at work in the world. Bennington’s unique innovations in curricula continuously challenge yet sustain its students (and faculty) to graduate small classes of tested students, regardless of chosen field, notably confident in their capacity to engage and succeed in the world in a manner advanced and distinct among peers.
