SALISBURY – Livingstone College President Jimmy R. Jenkins announced last week that alumnus and a former vice president of Livingstone, Anthony J. Davis, is returning to serve his alma mater as senior vice president for institutional advancement and chief operating officer.

Davis will be chief fundraiser of the college.

“Additionally, he has been tasked with providing strategic oversight in key areas on the campus as we seek to create a campuswide synergy that promotes a high performance culture, which will promote economic growth and sustained revenue generation,” Jenkins said.

Davis will serve as the day-to-day operations supervisor and represent the president both on and off campus.

He will also coordinate the work of the senior staff and develop procedures to promote efficacy and excellent execution in support of the college’s mission.

Before his appointment, Davis served the college as a consultant for philanthropy and development and led the college’s Tom Joyner Foundation School of the Month campaign in February. As a result, the college raised $3.3 million, with $200,000 earmarked for scholarships.

He has spent the past 11 years as vice president for development with the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, the nation’s oldest diversity pipeline organization. The consortium secures and provides scholarship support for underrepresented minorities (African-Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans) to attend 20 of the nation’s top graduate business schools.

While with the consortium, he managed its development program, providing leadership and strategic direction for corporate philanthropy, foundation relations, individual giving and student and alumni relations, which supported the organization’s $42 million economic model.

Davis also secured the largest gift from an individual donor in the organization’s 54-year history – a $1 million contribution.

He played an integral role in the growth and upward trajectory of the consortium’s development program. His collective body of work resulted in more than 120 new corporate and nonprofit partnerships, securing more than $240 million in support of student scholarships. Some of those partners included Google, Facebook, Apple, Bain, McKinsey, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citi and General Mills.

A member of the Livingstone College Class of 2001, Davis graduated magna cum laude. He earned his master of arts degree in philanthropy and development from St. Mary’s University in Minnesota, one of the only advanced degrees offered in this field.

He attended the Fundraising School of Indiana University at Bloomington’s Center of Philanthropy (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) and completed his doctoral work at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, where he earned a doctor of ministry degree.

His doctoral project, “Beyond the Plate: Economic Sufficiency for an Aging Congregation,” was a research project designed to determine if an aging congregation can be equipped and empowered to realize economic sufficiency by leveraging asset-based stewardship models.

One of his favorite quotes is from John Maxwell: “There are many things we can accomplish together, and very few we can accomplish alone.”

“Davis is committed to best practices and is an effective development professional,” Jenkins said. “He is a successful paradigm of the college’s mission, which is to develop leaders who command their rightful place in the global society. We proudly welcome him back home.”