Wendy Johns-Lauderdale named vice president for university advancement
Contact: Christina Chapple
3/10/09
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HAMMOND – Wendy Johns-Lauderdale has been named vice president for university advancement at Southeastern Louisiana University, pending approval by the University of the Louisiana System Board of Supervisors.
As assistant vice president, Johns-Lauderdale has been in charge of the university’s development and fund raising programs since the retirement of former Vice President Joseph Miller last June. Her appointment is set to take effect March 27.
“Ms. Johns-Lauderdale brings much talent, experience and understanding of the region to this position,” said President John L. Crain. “We are pleased she will be charting the course for Southeastern’s future development endeavors.”
“I am very blessed to have the opportunity to work with wonderful students, faculty and staff under the leadership of Dr. Crain,” Johns-Lauderdale said. “In addition, our alumni and friends are the best in the world and are generously committed to the mission of Southeastern. Great things are on the horizon.”
Johns-Lauderdale joined the Southeastern staff in 2002 as director of development/planned giving for the Southeastern Development Foundation. She has more than 20 years experience in non-profit fundraising endeavors as a senior director, employee and volunteer. She was named assistant vice president in 2007.
At Southeastern she has implemented a new planned giving program which currently maintains documented planned gifts of more than $10 million. She also co-directed a capital campaign that raised $2.7 million for the visual and performing arts and has played an instrumental role in campaigns that reestablished Southeastern’s football program and raised more than $20 million in academic scholarships and endowed professorships and chairs.
Johns-Lauderdale said her goals include upgrading technology in order to maximize the large data base of donors built by her predecessor, enhancing Southeastern’s development efforts with a regional emphasis, coordinating the creation of new marketing materials, and planning for a new capital campaign as early as 2010.
Before joining the university development staff Johns-Lauderdale was director of development at Hammond’s St. Thomas Aquinas High School. She has also been a civic volunteer and fundraiser for non-profits including Special Olympics, Mississippi Theatre Group, and the Catholic Dioceses of Baton Rouge, Jackson, Miss., and St. Louis, Mo.
Johns-Lauderdale earned her bachelor’s degree in communication from Southeastern in 1993 and master’s degree in philanthropy from St. Mary’s University in 2005. Active in the community, she is president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Greater Northshore Chapter. In 2008, she obtained certification as a Certified Fund Raising Executive from CFRE International.
She is a member of the National Council on Planned Giving, the National Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Hammond Chamber of Commerce.
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