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Home > Office of Institutional Advancement > Office of Institutional Advancement Staff

Office of Institutional Advancement Staff  
 

 

Jerry Thomas
Vice President for Institutional Advancement
618-537-6826
Jerry graduated from McKendree College in May of 1975.  After teaching in southern Illinois, he graduated from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 1981.
 
In 2005 Jerry returned to Lebanon to serve as Vice President for Institutional Advancement.  His office supervises all development and advancement activities for McKendree University.  In addition, the Office of Alumni Affairs and the Office of Church Relations report to him.
 
Jerry and his wife, Diane, a teacher in the Sparta School District, reside in Lebanon.  Their son, Kevin, works for Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  Their daughter, Christine ’05, works with transfer and international students in the McKendree University Office of Admission and Financial Aid.
   
       

 

Scott Billhartz
Director of Advancement Services
618-537-6869
Scott is a 1985 graduate of McKendree College with a B.A. in mathematics and computer science. Following graduation, Scott worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone in St. Louis, Missouri for 13 years in corporate books and financial accounting.. While working at Southwestern Bell, he received an M.B.A. from Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville in 1988. In 1998, Scott moved on to Illinois-American Water Company in Belleville, Illinois where he was the Director of Information Technology for three years. 
 
In April of 2001, Scott returned to McKendree in his current position as Director of Advancement Services. His primary responsibilities include database administration of the Institutional Advancement computer system (Raiser’s Edge), endowed scholarship stewardship, prospect research, estate gift management and planned giving.
 
Scott is a member of McKendree’s Technology Advisory Committee and was inducted into McKendree’s Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi in April of 2007. He and his wife, Meg, reside in New Baden with their two daughters.
 

 

       
 
Administrative Assistant to the V.P. of Institutional Advancement
618-537-6443
Beth joined the Office of Institutional Advancement in January 2004. Her responsibilities include clerical support to the Vice President of Institutional Advancement along with managing daily responsibilities of the office. Before arriving at McKendree, Beth worked as an administrative assistant for an engineering and manufacturing company.
 
Beth and her husband, Jeff, reside in Smithton and have two children, Jeremy and Kari.
   
       
 
Director of Alumni Relations
618-537-6813
Jeff Campbell, Class of 1987, joined the staff in July, 2005.  His primary responsibilities include the development of the alumni program and publications, alumni board, homecoming activities and advisor of the yearbook.  He is also an Associate Faculty member, teaching Business courses in the AiM program at McKendree.  He has volunteer recruitment and management experience having served 11 years as the Director of Volunteers for the St. Louis Area Chapter of the American Red Cross.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communication from McKendree and a Master of Public Administration degree from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.  He is also the Choir Director at the Trenton, Illinois First United Methodist Church.
 
To view the Alumni page click here.
   
       
 
Director of Development 
618-537-6456
Sarah graduated from Boston University in 1992 with a BA in Art History and in 1996 received an AAS in Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales University.  While cooking in fine dining restaurants in San Francisco, Sarah began volunteering for non-profit orgainizations and decided to leave the culinary world for a career in fundraising.  She worked in the development department of the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Art Institute, was the founding development director for Alice Water's Chez Panisse Foundation and the director of the San Francisco office for Human Rights Watch.
 
Sarah was hired as the Director of Development for McKendree University in July 2008.  Her primary responsibilities inculde implementing and updating the development plan for the university and cultivation and solicitation of major donors and prospects.
 
Sarah's husband, Peter, is the director of The Hettenhausen Center for the Arts.  They live in Lebanon and have two children, Charles and Tessa.
 
To view the Major Gifts page click here.
     

   
       
 
Chaplain / Director of Church Relations
618-537-6962
Tim graduated from Bethany College in May of 1984. After four years teaching special education in the public schools, he entered Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Tim then graduated in May of 1990 with a Masters of Divinity. Following seminary, Tim spent a year studying in Germany. He served various United Methodist Churches as pastor-in-charge and as an associate during the years 1991-1992 and 1995-1998. In between, Tim served at Reinhardt College, a United Methodist institution, as an associate minister and campus minister from 1992-1995. In May of 2007, Tim graduated from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. with a Doctorate of Ministry degree in the Campus Ministry tract.
 
In 1998, Tim came to McKendree to serve as Chaplain and Director of Church Relations. He is responsible for religious life programming on campus and continued development of relations with churches and religious bodies in the region. 
 
Tim and his three children, Elana, Lukas, and Alexander reside in Lebanon.  To view the McKendree Campus Ministries page click here.
   
       
 
Sean Taylor
Coordinator of Gift Entry  
618-537-6820

Sean graduated from Blackburn College in December 2007 with a B.A. in Business Management and Marketing.  During his years at Blackburn, Sean worked in the Alumni Development Office.  Some of his duties included: recording of gifts and maintenance of the college gift database; generation of gift receipts and follow-up correspondence; supervised stewardship process of thank you notes from students to endowment donors; and, the research and compilation of a comprehensive list of all college scholarships. 

 
Sean joined the Office of Institutional Advancement on January 2, 2008.  His primary responsibilities include receipting all gifts to McKendree University, managing the alumni datebase and extracting data for mailing lists and various in-house reports.
   
       
 
Director of the Annual Fund
618-537-6500
Allison is a 2007 graduate from Elon University located in Elon, North Carolina with a B.A. in Corporate Communications. During her time at Elon, Allison worked in the Alumni and Parent Relations department planning events, directing the Senior Class Gift and producing marketing materials for the Alumni and Advancement Offices. Allison joined McKendree's Office of Institutional Advancement in the beginning of 2008. Her primary responsibilities include raising and sustaining the institution's annual fund through programs such as the William McKendree Society, the Cornerstone Circle, phone-a-thons and Senior Class gift drives. She also oversees the Student Advancement Organization. 
 
Allison and her husband, Nick, the Director of Student Ministries for Christ UMC Church, reside in Fairview Heights. 
 
For more information about the McKendree University Annual Fund, please click here.

   
       
 
McKendree University
Office of Institutional Advancement
701 College Road
Lebanon, Illinois 62254
618-537-6826