GG+A is proud to announce the addition of Elizabeth Smith to the firm as Vice President.

Liz brings to the firm more than 30 years' experience in major gifts fundraising and a reputation as a pioneer in fundraising practice across the UK educational sector. She most recently served as Director of Development and Alumni Relations at the University of Exeter, where she led the re-organisation of the Development function, combining fundraising, alumni relations, campaign marketing, development services, and events into an integrated team of 22 staff.  She also created a comprehensive multi-national Alumni Relations Programme and positioned the University for a multi-billion pound campaign.

Prior to her role at Exeter, Liz was Director of Development and Alumni Relations at the University of Nottingham for 15 years, where she designed and led the University's first full-scale fundraising programme.  While there, she pioneered a number of best practice strategies that at the time were new to UK universities, and she led one of the first major gift campaigns in the UK to have a publicly announced goal and timescale.

Earlier in her career, she held development and external relations positions with the University of Leicester, the London School of Economics and Political Science, The University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Malaysian Cultural Association (affiliated with the University of Malaysia), and the Thai Cultural Association (affiliated with the National Museum in Bangkok).

Liz was a member of the Ross Group of development directors, and she authored the chapter on fundraising in "Managing External Relations," published by the Open University in 2001.

Liz holds a BA Hons in sociology from The University of Reading.