DATE: November 30, 2007

CONTACT: Brian O'Rourke, (864) 656-5658
orourke@clemson.edu

WRITER: Angela Nixon, (864) 656-0382
anixon@clemson.edu

EXPERT: Brian O'Rourke

Clemson hires three development officers

CLEMSON – Clemson University has expanded its fund-raising staff with the addition of three development officers.

Ryan Slinkard is the regional development officer for the Atlanta area. His focus is to enhance Clemson’s presence in the Atlanta region through connecting alumni, parents and friends to Clemson and each other.  Slinkard came to Clemson from Accenture in Atlanta where he worked for eight years specializing in incentive compensation management consulting. Slinkard graduated from Clemson in 1998 with a degree in mechanical engineering.

“Clemson has such a strong alumni base in Altanta it is essential that we begin to inform and involve this constituency as the university moves into the future,” said Brian O’Rourke, director of development and alumni affairs.

Corrine Grant is the development officer for university libraries. Prior to joining the development staff, Grant worked at Clemson’s BB&T Center for Economic Education and Policy Analysis as the assistant director of the BB&T Economics Summer Program and graduate placement coordinator. She also held positions with Grant’s Air Conditioning and Heating in Westminster, as public relations director for Goal Line Stand in Clemson and with the university’s donor relations office. She graduated from Clemson in 1999 with a degree in biological sciences and earned a master's in human resource development from Clemson in 2001.

Missy Ryan is the development officer for the College of Business and Behavioral Science. She came to Clemson from Atlanta where she worked on the senior staff for FundraisingINFO.com. Her clients there included United Way of Atlanta, the Kinkaid School in Houston and the Hospital of Central Connecticut. She also worked as a trainer for the company’s workshops around the country.

Ryan has worked as a researcher with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Michigan and served as the volunteer Giving U.S.A coordinator for the ePhilanthropy Foundation in Washington, D.C. She previously worked in development with EARTH University Foundation. She is the president of the Greater Atlanta Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and serves on the committee on directorship and the membership committee of the International Association of Fundraising Professionals. Ryan is a certified fund raising executive and has a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan College and a master's of public administration with a concentration in nonprofit management from Georgia State University.