Thomas named WMU vice president for development and alumni relations

By Krystin Nichols
Western Herald

James S. Thomas has been named Western Michigan University’s new vice president for development and alumni relations.

Thomas is from Jackson, Mich. and has been at the University of Michigan for 15 years as a regional development director.

He was also a chief development officer for U of M Health System where he revitalized development and alumni efforts and was an important part of execution and planning. He helped raise $3.2 billion for the Michigan Difference Campaign.

Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University in 1985 and a master’s degree in theological studies from St. John’s Provincial Seminary in 1988. He will be replacing Bud Bender who is retiring after 14 years at WMU as the chief development officer.

Thomas’ plans include but are not limited to:

• Seeing what the strengths and weaknesses of development operations are
• Increase philanthropy support at WMU and to do so in a way that’s sustainable

Thomas said, though he has been brought in to help now that Bender is retiring, he has no plans to come in and tear things apart.

“I think bringing me in is a way of saying ‘what can we do better’ and I wanted everyone to know that at the end of the day, we’re here for the students,” Thomas said.

“WMU has great students and great students equals great faculty and with philanthropy done well, I believe it serves both students and faculty.”

Other goals of Thomas’ are:

• To improve human condition one donor at a time through one student and faculty member at a time.
• Make results of philanthropy real for people and make them realize “we aren’t beggars, we’re people seeking investment”
• Making students, faculty and alumni on campus grateful for everything here at WMU.

“Grateful people make great gifts and if we can develop a system here where students and faculty are grateful, we’ll have great philanthropy,” Thomas said.

Thomas will take his leadership role at WMU beginning on Oct. 5. He was selected for the position through a nationwide search.

His new leadership also will include the role of executive director of the WMU Foundation, a private, non-profit corporation through which all gifts are received.

“I am really excited to be here and it’s quite a gift – all the experiences I’ve had and all the things I’ve done with development and I am excited to bring it to a great place like WMU,” Thomas said.

“I want to do something to help foster more vocal pride and say ‘I’m a Bronco’ in students, faculty and especially in alumni students. I want every Bronco to have a sense of maybe gratitude, and also a little arrogance to stand up and say where they came from. I think it’s going to be a blast working with WMU.”

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Posted by kleonard on Sep 6 2010. Filed under Breaking, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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