Butler University has announced the hiring of two new Vice Presidents—Jaci Thiede, Vice President for Advancement, and Lori Greene, Vice President for Enrollment Management.

Thiede comes to Butler from Northwestern University, where she is Associate Dean for Alumni Relations and Development at the law school. Greene is currently Director of Undergraduate Admission at Loyola University Chicago.

“Jaci and Lori bring significant talent and experience to Butler, and I am confident they will help lead their divisions and our University to great success in the years to come,” President James M. Danko said.

 Thiede (whose first name is pronounced “Jackie”) has worked in advancement—essentially, advancing the university’s mission, with an emphasis on fundraising and alumni relations—for a little more than 20 years.

Thiede grew up in Rockford, Illinois, and earned her bachelor’s degree from Indiana University-Bloomington.

“My time at IU fundamentally changed my life,” she said. “I was extremely lucky because my parents sent me to school, and I didn’t graduate with debt. A few years after college I realized that I wanted to help as many other people as possible have that same opportunity.”

She lived in Colorado for two years following college, working for Keystone Resort and falling in love with skiing, then joined a fundraising consulting firm. After earning her MBA from the College of William and Mary, she worked for the IU Foundation for 10 years—three in Bloomington and seven in Chicago. She joined Northwestern in 2009.

Thiede said she wasn’t looking for a job when Butler President James M. Danko approached her. She said she appreciated his “entrepreneurial spirit.” What she heard about Butler from Jamie Phillippe, the Chair of the Butler Board of Trustees’ Advancement Committee, cemented her interest.

Thiede is a big sports fan (Chicago Cubs and Bears, and Indiana University basketball and football). She said she is looking forward to her first game at Hinkle Fieldhouse and embracing Bulldog Nation.

She starts at Butler on March 2.

“I’m excited to join Butler,” she said. “It seems like there’s all kinds of opportunity here. With a strong Advancement team already in place, I’m looking forward to helping take Butler to the next level.”

Greene, who has been at Loyola for six years, had become familiar with Butler by bumping into University representatives at various events in the Chicago area. And through basketball.

“When I saw the position advertised, it caught my attention,” she said.

Greene brings more than 20 years of experience to Butler, starting with six years at her undergraduate alma mater, Spring Hill College, in Mobile, Alabama.

She worked there as a tour guide while a student and, in 1994, as she was getting ready to graduate, someone told her there were openings in the Admission Office.

Within a month, she started there as an Admission Counselor. She worked her way up to Associate Director of Admissions (and earned an MBA at the University of South Alabama) before moving to Loyola University New Orleans, where she spent eight years. In 2008, she joined the administration at Loyola in Chicago.

“I found something I love doing,” she said.

Greene and her husband, Greg, have a 2-year-old daughter, Gillian. She starts at Butler on April 1 and said she sees the University as “a really good setting with a strong community.”

“That was one of the big attractions—the size of the institution,” she said. “And all the people I encountered were just so gracious with their time and the information they shared. That really spoke to me about the type of community that it is. I’m really excited about the opportunity to join this group of professionals, who are working together to move Butler forward.”

 

Media contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822