Karen Paciero Named Vice President for Advancement

August 22, 2019

Dear Loyola Community,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Karen Paciero as vice president for advancement at Loyola University Chicago. Karen has a successful record as a development professional facilitating philanthropic investments and building strong and innovative partnerships with those who share the goals of advancing excellence in research, education, social justice, and patient care in a variety of settings.

Karen understands the art and the science of alumni and benefactor engagement, hiring for mission, and leading successful teams. She brings deep listening skills, a collaborative approach, and a strong background in public policy and human services to Loyola. She began her professional life as a social worker helping children and families navigate the juvenile justice, child protection, and social welfare systems. Her grounding in service to the marginalized is a primary motivation for joining Loyola’s mission to advance Jesuit education, social justice, and collaboration with communities. She will help build and reinvigorate our advancement office in accordance with industry standards and best practices to address Loyola’s immediate needs and build for the future.

She has served with a number of exceptional organizations, including Feeding America, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and a community-based human service agency in the Detroit metropolitan area, Starfish Family Services. For the past nine years, as associate vice president for development at University of Chicago Medicine, she has helped realize innovative major gifts for research and patient care and for significant university-community partnerships to holistically address health disparities and trauma related to poverty and violence. Karen earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and a Master of Social Work in public policy and administration from the University of Michigan.

Philanthropy fuels creative thinking and innovation, and Karen’s leadership will help Loyola match resources to our strategic aspirations. Her philosophy on philanthropy centers on building a community of volunteers and supporters from diverse backgrounds to develop innovative ideas and practices for a common goal. She is passionate about the pivotal role philanthropy plays in solving complex problems, educating future leaders, and transforming lives and communities.

I am grateful to the entire advancement team for their dedicated work during this transition and for the interim advancement leadership of Dan Macaluso who has begun working to implement steps identified by Marts & Lundy to establish a highly effective advancement unit. The Marts & Lundy team that includes Dan will continue to work with Karen and the advancement team as part of the ongoing consulting support they are currently providing. This support enables our new vice president to engage, immediately, on working with our community to identify opportunities for support of our strategic plan priorities and further our Jesuit, Catholic mission.

This is an exciting moment in our University’s history. We enter into our 150th anniversary energized by the Mission Priority Examen conversations about our legacy, current work, and future priorities leading into a new strategic plan for 2020 and beyond. Karen and the advancement team will help to provide the insight, leadership, and resources to support and strengthen our mission for the next 150 years. Karen officially joins Loyola on October 1 and will be on campus full time beginning October 8.

As always, I am deeply grateful to everyone in the Loyola community for their commitment to the work we do to provide an excellent education that does justice and which transforms lives.

Sincerely,

Jo Ann Rooney, JD, LLM, EdD
President