Dear AU Community,
I am excited to announce the appointment of Matthew Eynon as our next vice president of university advancement. Matthew will join American University on June 1, 2025.
Matthew comes to AU and our university advancement team at a moment of great opportunity. Last year’s successful completion of the historic Change Can’t Wait campaign demonstrated the generosity and philanthropic strength of the AU community and the incredible potential to further support our mission, our students, our faculty scholarship, and our campus moving forward. As we develop our strategic plan this year, charting how fundraising will support and advance the strategy is critical. We are also rapidly expanding our alumni engagement, and Matthew’s experience energizing and activating diverse alumni communities will greatly benefit our more than 150,000 Eagles around the world.
Throughout the search process, Matthew demonstrated enthusiasm, visionary approaches, and a track record of collaboration that will make him an effective leader and strong advocate for our community. Matthew joins AU from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he served as associate vice president and chief operating officer of that institution’s Office of Resource Development. As deputy to the vice president, Matthew provided leadership for MIT’s next comprehensive campaign; oversaw strategy and operations, managed units responsible for analytics and information technology, prospect research and management, initiative and volunteer management, finance, and human resources; and he supported the Office of Resource Development’s engagement with MIT senior leaders. Matthew provided partnership to the MIT Alumni Association, the institution’s annual giving team, and the assistant deans for development across the university.
Previously, Matthew was the vice president for college advancement at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania. He directed Franklin & Marshall’s most successful fundraising campaign to date and increased annual fundraising productivity by 42 percent and commitments to the institution’s endowment by 40 percent. Earlier in his career, he held fundraising and advancement leadership positions at Boston College, Suffolk University, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Matthew is an active leader for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). He has served as a member of the CASE board of trustees, as chair of CASE’s Global Commission on Philanthropy, and as co-chair of the CASE Global Reporting Standards and Management Guidelines Working Group. Matthew received a B.A. in English from Dickinson College.
I want to thank Dan Luperchio for his many contributions as the interim vice president over the past nine months. Under his steady guidance, our philanthropic efforts continued at a strong pace as we transitioned from the Change Can’t Wait campaign. Dan was crucial to the recently announced transformative gift from Kent Baker to name the School of Education. Both Courtney Surls, our previous vice president, and Dan built a strong foundation that Matthew will enhance as we create the next chapter of philanthropic giving and alumni engagement at American University. I look forward to continued work with Dan as he supports Matthew and the UA team.
My gratitude as well to the search committee who identified a strong pool of candidates from which Matthew rose to the top. He also met with numerous campus stakeholders, including faculty members, trustees, and members of the AU Alumni Board during his interviews. This thorough, community-based process provided valuable insights that helped us reach today’s important announcement.
Please join me in congratulating Matthew and welcoming him to American University.
Sincerely,
