December 17, 2007
La Jolla, CA – The Salk Institute for Biological Studies today announced the appointment of Rebecca Newman to the position of Vice President of Development. She will oversee the Institute’s entire fundraising program and will lead all related strategic planning and donor relation activities. Newman officially starts in February.
“We are very happy and fortunate to bring Rebecca Newman to the Institute,” said Salk Interim President Roger Guillemin, M.D., Ph.D. “She brings more than 25 years of financial endowment development, and campaign and strategic planning experience from the business and nonprofit industries. Her ability to establish strong relationships with leading philanthropists and some of San Diego’s biggest employers in the biotech industry has been key to Rebecca’s success as a fundraiser.”
Newman joins Salk after serving for six years at UCSD, most recently as Associate Vice Chancellor, Development – a capacity in which she successfully led the university’s capital campaign and exceeded its $1 billion goal.
She joined UCSD as Associate Vice Chancellor, Health Sciences Development in 2001 and oversaw what equates to about 50 percent of the campus, including the School of Medicine, the School of Pharmacy, the Cancer Center, the Cardiovascular Center, the Shiley Eye Center, two hospitals and numerous research and clinical programs. Her efforts and that of her team led to increasing the annual fundraising achievement of the Health Sciences from $25-30 million to an average of $60-70 million and successfully raising $450 million of the university’s $1 billion fundraising goal.
In the spring of 2005, Newman assumed oversight of the fundraising program for the entire university, leading her team to a successful conclusion of the campaign. During her tenure, Newman made numerous contributions to the university’s fundraising program, personally securing more than $100 million in gifts – among them the naming gifts for new schools and facilities. She led efforts to enhance the relationships of faculty with the donor community through a philanthropy training program, the creation of salon events, and the establishment of numerous advisory boards.
“It is a privilege for me to be given the opportunity to join the leadership team of the Salk Institute and to work with Interim President Roger Guillemin and Executive Vice President Marsha Chandler,” Newman said. “The beautiful architecture of the campus is the physical embodiment of the sheer excellence of the research being conducted by the world-renowned Salk faculty. I look forward to working with my colleagues and with the Board of Trustees to enhance the philanthropic base of support and to raise awareness of the tremendous impact of the Salk Institute locally, nationally, and internationally.”
In addition to her professional career, Newman has a long history of volunteerism in the philanthropic community. She has served as National President of the United Jewish Communities and National Chair for the United Jewish Appeal Women’s Campaign. Locally, she was Campaign Chair and President of the United Jewish Federation of San Diego, and a former Board member of the Jewish Community Foundation, and the San Diego National Bank Business Advisory Council.
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to fundamental discoveries in the life sciences, the improvement of human health and the training of future generations of researchers. Jonas Salk, M.D., whose polio vaccine all but eradicated the crippling disease poliomyelitis in 1955, opened the Institute in 1965 with a gift of land from the City of San Diego and the financial support of the March of Dimes.
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