UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As Penn State begins planning for its next comprehensive fundraising campaign, the Division of Development and Alumni Relations (DDAR) has appointed top fundraisers and experts Tina Hennessey, Jim Krogmeier, Geoff Halberstadt and Michelle Houser to both newly created and established roles. These roles are aimed at providing the University’s top supporters with an even greater level of impact and satisfaction and assisting Penn State’s colleges and campuses in achieving their ambitions through philanthropy, according to David J. Lieb, interim vice president for development and alumni relations.
“Our next campaign will be our most ambitious yet, and we are fine-tuning our fundraising operation to ensure that both donors and DDAR staff have the support they need to contribute meaningfully to our success,” Lieb said. “The collective experience and expertise of our development leaders, including these accomplished individuals, and the remarkable generosity and loyalty of the Penn State community give me great confidence as we plan for the campaign and welcome alumni and friends as partners in shaping our institution’s future."
The appointments include a new role focused on securing transformative support for the University. Tina Hennessey is now the senior assistant vice president for principal gifts, leading a team that engages donors in supporting campaign initiatives and top programmatic priorities at the University. Since joining Penn State’s fundraising operation in 2009, she has held roles in the College of Engineering, the Office of Gift Planning, and the College of the Liberal Arts, and she most recently served as assistant vice president for University Development, overseeing fundraising for 14 colleges, campuses and special mission units.
Hennessey began her career in higher education development at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania, after working in the Philadelphia-area newspaper industry as a writer, editor and company executive. She is the 2018 recipient of the Patrick Scholl Mentor Award in the Division of Development and Alumni Relations, and she has led the division’s strategic planning efforts around diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. She holds an MBA from Arcadia University and a bachelor of arts degree in journalism with honors and distinction from Penn State.
“I am excited about the opportunity to support University leadership, including President Neeli Bendapudi, in engaging our supporters in conversations about gifts that will have tremendous impact, on our students, our University, and ultimately the world,” said Hennessey. “This is a new role, offering me the chance to work with talented staff members and to collaborate across the University, building a framework for success that will carry us through our next campaign and into the future.”
The remaining appointments fill important openings on the DDAR leadership team. The University has welcomed Jim Krogmeier as assistant vice president of gift planning. In this role, Krogmeier will guide the Office of Gift Planning in partnering with other DDAR staff and college and campus leadership to assist donors in creating their legacies at the University.
Krogmeier brings 21 years of experience in planned giving, estate and tax planning and wealth management to Penn State, with the last 14 years dedicated to planned giving in higher education. For nearly seven years, Krogmeier served as the University of Arizona Foundation’s associate vice president of gift planning, and he came to the foundation after more than seven years with Marquette University and a previous career in estate planning and as a trust adviser. Krogmeier earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Northwestern University, and a juris doctorate with high distinction from the University of Iowa College of Law.
“I am very excited to be at Penn State,” said Krogmeier. “The University has a very strong Office of Planned Giving, and the team has a history of working with donors in making impactful charitable gifts. Planned giving is about finding creative ways to make gifts, utilizing tax strategies, and working with complex assets. For many donors it is the largest gift they will make, and it is very rewarding professionally to help people achieve the goals that are important to them.”
Two longtime leaders within the Division of Development and Alumni Relations have recently been promoted into open positions as assistant vice presidents for University development.
Geoff Halberstadt has been the senior director of development and alumni relations for the College of the Liberal Arts. Halberstadt has led the college’s advancement team since 2017, first in an interim capacity and since 2019 as senior director, and he guided the college to a record-breaking $136 million in commitments during the University’s most recent campaign, “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence.” During Halberstadt’s tenure, the Liberal Arts team surpassed its commitment goal in each year of the campaign and has made marked progress in expanding the population of engaged alumni from historically marginalized communities.
A product of the University’s DDAR summer internship program, Halberstadt began his fundraising career in the College of Engineering, first as an assistant director of development and subsequently as an associate director of development, contributing to the team surpassing its commitment goal in the “For the Future” campaign. In 2023, he received the Alumni Achievement Award from the Penn State Alumni Association. Halberstadt earned bachelor of arts degrees in history and political science and a master of education in higher education, all from Penn State.
“Serving the University in this role is deeply humbling,” said Halberstadt. “As a Penn Stater and as a product of the DDAR Summer Internship Program, I genuinely care about our work and how our terrific team members continue to advance our mission. I look forward to working with colleagues across the division and throughout the commonwealth to help our institutional priorities come to fruition.”
Over the past nine years, Michelle Houser served as the senior director of development and alumni relations at the Smeal College of Business, where she led the team to break multiple fundraising records, including raising $116 million in the “Greater Penn State” campaign. She personally raised over $56 million to support naming professorships, chairs, scholarships, programs and centers during her tenure.
Before that, Houser served for five years as the director of development for the College of Education, where she led the team to raise a record $32.8 million in the “For the Future” campaign. Her 23 years of diverse experience in higher education also includes fundraising roles to support medicine, business, annual giving and liberal arts at the University of Pittsburgh Medical and Health Sciences Foundation and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Allegheny College. She is the recipient of the 2017 Patrick Scholl Mentor Award. Houser holds a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from Penn State and a certificate in Nonprofit Executive Leadership from the O’Neil School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University and IUPUI.
"As a second-generation Penn State graduate, I'm honored to continue serving my alma mater and its land grant mission in this new role,” Houser said. “I’ve seen how philanthropy can transform lives and I'm excited to utilize my diverse experience in higher education to support the colleges, campuses and units in my portfolio to strengthen Penn State’s commitment to excellence and impact on the commonwealth and worldwide."
Penn State donors advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients, and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.