CLEVELAND – The
National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD) has announced the recipients of its 2023 Awards.
The 2023 NAADD Award recipients are: NAADD Lifetime Achievement Award,
Brian Crockett, former CEO of the VMI Foundation; College Fundraiser of the Year,
Ben Fraser, senior associate athletics director of development, University of St. Thomas; University Fundraiser of the Year,
Aaron Escobar, senior associate athletics director and vice president of athletics development, Oregon State University; and Jason Galaska Rising Star Award,
Jessie Harrison, director of development at the University of Wisconsin.
"On behalf of the NAADD Executive Committee and the members we serve, I would like to congratulate all of the NAADD Award Recipients" said
Dan Cloran, NAADD President and executive associate athletics director of development and sport administration at The Ohio State University. "There are many deserving colleagues in our industry who do incredible work across this country and recognizing these select few is a testament to their hard work. We look forward to celebrating with them and all our colleagues at the NAADD convention in Orlando."
Lifetime Achievement Award - Brian Crockett
Former NAADD President (1999-2000), Brian Crockett began his career in advancement in the early 1990s, after working for nine years as a sales and marketing executive first with Xerox Corporation and then with Digital Equipment Corporation. In those positions, he learned to turn strong client relationships and consistent and thorough customer service into a solid sales record and developed the skills that have been invaluable to his success as a leader in advancement.
In 1993, Brian returned to his alma mater, Rutgers University. For the next eleven years, Brian coordinated development activities for Rutgers' 30 sports programs. He introduced many innovations in cultivation, fundraising, and stewardship that, taken together, promoted a dramatic increase in annual giving. He also secured numerous capital campaign gifts that altered the university's landscape, including the expansion of the Rutgers Stadium and football complex. He created and raised money for scholarships, program improvements, and facility upgrades.
In 2002, the president of the Rutgers University Foundation asked Brian to take on the additional duty of managing the major gifts and development activity for five art institutions and professional and graduate schools within Rutgers. Two years later, Brian accepted the offer to become Rutgers University Foundation's Vice President for External Programs. He implemented a comprehensive strategic plan for fundraising, alumni relations, regional programs, and athletic development; coordinated fundraising efforts directed at Rutgers' 480,000 alumni. He planned and executed the unification of Rutgers' 19 alumni associations into one organization.
In November, 2007, Brian became the first non-alumni and first African American to serve at West Point's Association of Graduates. There, by revitalizing the organization's fundraising efforts, he laid the groundwork for and oversaw the initial stages of West Point's $350 million comprehensive capital campaign, "For Us All" launched in January, 2009.
In June 2009, Brian was named Chief Executive Officer of the VMI Foundation. In this position, he again was the first non-alumni and first African American and was responsible for raising and managing funds to support Virginia Military Institute, the nation's oldest state-supported military college. Brian was instrumental in the planning and execution of Virginia Military Institute's over-whelming successful capital campaign, "Uncommon Purpose; a glorious past, a brilliant future" served as the Campaign Chief Operating Office; engaging, supervising and working tirelessly, which led to the campaign raising more than $335 million, nearly double the initial goal.
Throughout the course of his varied and accomplished almost three decades in business and institutional advancement, Brian approached each challenge and every opportunity with enthusiasm and a determination of achieve excellence. From scholar-athlete to advancement executive, Brian remains deeply committed to advancing higher education with skilled management, strategic planning, and above all, personal integrity.
College Fundraiser of the Year - Ben Fraser
Ben Fraser earned his bachelor's degree from UW-La Crosse and his MS in Sport Administration from Florida State University in 2007.
Fraser serves as senior associate athletics director for development at University of St. Thomas. In his role, Fraser leads all development efforts for Tommie Athletics, including donor and alumni relations, major gifts, and annual giving. Fraser has implemented a comprehensive strategy for athletics fundraising that includes short, medium, and long-term fundraising plans and programs to meet current and future needs of the athletic department. Fraser joined the University of St. Thomas as part of their leadership team in August of 2020 and helped support the historic transition from Division III to Division I. Fraser built and launched the Tommie Athletic Fund in October of 2020. As part of this transition to Division I, Fraser helped build and secure commitments for the University of St. Thomas Summit Club, an advisory board that supports the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. The board consists of 13 members, each who have made at least a $1M contribution to support the transition to Division I. St. Thomas Athletics has raised just over $100M in support since the launch of the Tommie Athletics Fund, including a recent $75M naming gift for the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena.
Fraser joined the Tommies after spending four seasons at the University of Minnesota. While at Minnesota, he served in two different capacities within the athletics development office. Fraser spent two years as the director of annual giving and premium seating before moving into the role of assistant athletics director of annual giving and engagement in September of 2018. As the assistant athletics director of annual giving and engagement, Fraser was responsible for planning, implementing, and evaluating annual giving and preferred seating activities for Gopher athletics. He also developed the Gopher Loyalty Program, then a new annual fund program and a first among NCAA Institutions. Additionally, Fraser managed a portfolio of major gift prospects and had oversight of the annual fund budget, scholarship seating renewals and donor parking, annual scholarship endowment naming process, and served as the liaison to individual sport booster clubs. Fraser was also a member of the External Relations Committee and oversaw external events, including rentals and special events. He co-chaired the Fan Advisory Committee, designed to provide feedback, as well as discuss opportunities and challenges, and collaborate on new ideas for the department.
Prior to his time at Minnesota, Fraser was a member of the University of Wisconsin athletics department for six seasons. He spent the first four years as the Director of Guest Services for the Badgers before moving into the role of Director of External Engagement. During his time in Madison, he played a key role in enhancing the fan experience through the use of mobile applications, oversaw fan experience programming in a number of different venues, as well as training and developing staff.
University Fundraiser of the Year - Aaron Escobar
Aaron Escobar serves as senior associate athletics director and vice president for athletics development for the Oregon State University Foundation. He is the lead fundraiser for Oregon State Athletics and provides leadership to Our Beaver Nation, which generates support for the university's student-athletes, athletics programs and facilities.
Under Escobar's leadership, OSU has achieved record-setting fundraising results for athletics in the last two years. Oregon State now has the second highest five-year fundraising average in the Pac-12, of nine reporting institutions. Escobar was the chief architect of the Completing Reser Stadium initiative, which deployed a leadership giving strategy to surpass the renovation project's $85 million fundraising goal in less than 12 months, all through gifts of $1 million or more. Ultimately, donors made 23 gifts totaling $93.6 million to the initiative. In spring 2022, the project's premium seat offerings reached capacity, adding $8 million in capital support in addition to the $3.2 million due annually through seat contributions.
Following a comprehensive market study in summer 2022, Escobar's team rightsized annual seat contribution requirements throughout the stadium and launched programs to modernize the giving experience. Seat contributions are no longer covered under one plan, but rather separate for football, men's basketball and women's basketball. Annual fund contributions are projected to now surpass $12 million annually, a $4 million increase. Escobar's team also is attracting substantial gifts for athletic endowments, specific sports and other facility improvements, such as track and field grandstands, a softball video board and a baseball hitting facility.
Since he joined the OSU Foundation in 2002, Escobar has held various leadership positions, most recently as associate vice president of development, where he had fundraising responsibility for the divisions of business, engineering and health sciences as well as OSU-Cascades. He previously had assignments with OSU's Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon 4-H, Extension and the Honors College. While in his current role supporting OSU Athletics, he continues to partner with development colleagues to secure principal gifts ($5+ million) for academic programs including business and engineering.
As a member of the OSU Foundation's senior leadership team, Escobar plays a significant role in Believe It: The Campaign for Oregon State University. Donors have already committed more than $1 billion to the campaign that seeks to raise $1.75 billion to support university priority initiatives.
Jason Galaska Rising Star Award - Jessie Harrison
Jessie Harrison holds a Master's Degree in Higher Education from Purdue University Global ('20). She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Strategic Communication and Digital Media from Liberty University ('16), where she was also a 4-time track & field letterwinner. Today she works for Wisconsin athletics and the Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association as the director of development for major gifts. In this position, she plays a key role in major gift identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship for facility projects, endowments and annual donors.
Since joining the Badgers in 2021, Harrison has served as the athletics development team lead on a multitude of fundraising initiatives and programs including: The Title IX 50 for 50 Campaign. This campaign was launched in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX to garner major gift commitments in the support of UW-Madison's 13 women's sports programs. Under Harrison's leadership, Wisconsin athletics secured 37 gift commitments totaling $3.64 million in support of our women student-athletes and coaches in the calendar year. The Forever Badgers Planned Giving Program, Harrison has been instrumental in the planning and implementation of UW-Madison's first-ever planned giving program. Wisconsin athletics has used this program to confirm 21 new planned gifts in the 2022 calendar year which totaled $10.75 million, both records for Wisconsin Athletics.
In addition to planned giving, Harrison also serves as the team lead for the endowment program for Wisconsin athletics. Under her guidance, the department established 15 new endowed funds which accounted for nearly $1.74 million in student-athlete scholarship support across multiple programs. Along with providing strategy for endowed fund solicitations, Harrison managed the tedious task of pairing nearly 300 scholarship fund recipients with their endowed fund donors while working with all 23 varsity sports directors to make it a success. Her leadership in this role has elevated the process in which Wisconsin Athletics makes meaningful connections with donors and student-athletes. In addition to the initiatives she manages, Harrison has raised support for multiple facility projects and other important projects.
Prior to coming to Wisconsin, Harrison was the director of development for the Purdue University College of Pharmacy. In this role, she worked with alumni and friends to raise funds for scholarships, capital projects and special initiatives. Before working with the College of Pharmacy, Harrison served as the associate director of development events for Purdue University athletics where she planned development events, executed stewardship and managed the letterwinner's organization.
About NAADD: NAADD is the first organization of its kind to provide educational and networking opportunities, enhancement of acceptable operating standards and ethics, and establishment of the overall prestige and understanding of the profession of athletics development and fund raising. For more information about NAADD, please visit www.naadd.com. NAADD is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), which is in its 58
th year. For more information on NACDA and the 18 professional associations that fall under its umbrella, please visit www.nacda.com.
