Dear Rice Community,
I hope you are having an enjoyable summer and are looking forward to the upcoming semester.
Over the past year, several new vice presidents have been hired, and I’m excited to announce today that another strong and talented leader is joining the leadership team.
Stephen Bayer, a seasoned fundraiser with over 22 years of leadership experience in higher education development and alumni relations, has been named Rice’s next vice president for development and alumni relations. Stephen will provide strategic leadership for the university’s ambitious fundraising and alumni engagement goals as well as promote Rice externally, developing strategic partnerships across campus and throughout the donor community.
The eight-member search committee of faculty, staff and Rice Board of Trustees members selected Stephen after a nationwide search was launched in February by Russell Reynolds, one of the country’s premier executive search firms. The committee was led by Lynette S. Autrey Dean of Music Matthew Loden. Stephen will assume the vice president for development and alumni relations role Sept. 26.
Stephen has a track record of building and managing large teams of fundraisers and advancement professionals, driving innovative strategies and consistently exceeding goals. He comes to Rice from Duke University, where he was the senior associate vice president of alumni engagement and development. In that role, he managed the central frontline fundraising staff, including major and leadership gifts, gift planning, international development and foundation relations. While raising philanthropic support for Duke’s highest priorities, he also coordinated fundraising strategies with senior administrators and with development leaders of Duke’s schools and units.
Stephen joined Duke in 2011 as associate vice president for development. He was promoted to the senior associate vice president of alumni engagement and development in 2019. Prior to that, Stephen was at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, where he began his development career in 2001 as associate director of planned giving and left in 2011 after spending three years as the college’s vice president for development and alumni relations.
During his time at Swarthmore, Stephen led a staff of 50 and a goal-breaking $245 million campaign, the largest in the college’s history. At Duke, Stephen managed a staff of 180 and played a critical leadership role in the design, strategy and management of the Duke Forward Campaign, which raised $2.85 billion, exceeding the campaign’s goal by $600 million. Stephen also boosted major gifts fundraising results from $45 million to $130 million over the past decade, and during the same time frame, increased the gift planning team’s total impact of revocable, irrevocable and cash gifts from $36 million to $121 million.
Prior to his work in development, Stephen practiced commercial litigation in Philadelphia and spent five years in personal investment banking working closely with high net-worth entrepreneurs, assisting his clients in diversifying and managing personal investments, growing their businesses through joint venture equity, and transferring generational wealth through creative estate planning and insurance funding.
Stephen earned a Juris Doctor from Emory University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Tufts University.
At Rice, Stephen will collaborate with university leadership on crafting a strategy and execution plan to increase annual fundraising significantly and to grow and diversify charitable support to underpin critical initiatives. He will be responsible for creating multiyear strategies for new donor pipelines, meeting annual fundraising goals, enhancing current systems, recruiting and retaining top talent, and improving alumni outreach and engagement across all schools and programs.
Ronica Smucker, associate vice president for development, has led the development and alumni relations office as interim vice president for development and alumni relations since April. Ronica assumed the role after Kathi Dantley Warren left Rice in March.
Ronica has done a tremendous job over the past three months and will be an important adviser to Stephen as he steps into his new role. I look forward to working with both of them to strengthen Rice’s ability to expand its reach and impact.
Please join me in welcoming Stephen to Rice when he assumes his role with the university in September.
Warm regards,
President Reginald DesRoches