The American Academy in Rome is pleased to announce its selection for a new vice president for development, Kathleen Heins, who will start on August 13, 2018. Heins joins the Academy after serving as director of philanthropy for the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), where she established a Department of Philanthropy to focus on individual giving and family foundations and launched a comprehensive $125 million campaign.
Kathleen Heins brings with her deep experience as a development professional in multiple academic and cultural settings. She has a demonstrated record of success with the strategic planning of development activities, including annual fundraising programs and capital campaigns, as well as working with grant-making institutions. The American Academy in Rome was impressed with Heins’s record of closing major gifts and building philanthropic support for the arts and humanities. Her previous experience confirms her abilities in external work with donors and boards and within the office, cultivating staff and implementing organizational systems.
Prior to ACLS, Heins was director of individual giving at the Rainforest Alliance, where she was charged with significantly expanding their major gifts program. She also served for nine years as director of development at New York University (NYU), where she created and executed strategies to raise more than $27 million in unrestricted, endowment, and planned gifts for the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and for the Institute of Fine Arts. Earlier development positions include those at the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Theatre for a New Audience.
Heins began her career in philanthropy at the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation after completing coursework for a PhD in Italian Renaissance art history at the Institute of Fine Arts. She earned her MA in the history of art from Washington University in St. Louis, and her BA in history from Dartmouth College.