UTSA names Karl Miller Lugo vice president for development and alumni relations

Karl Miller Lugo will oversee UTSA's philanthropic enterprise in his new role.

Sept. 30, 2019 -- The University of Texas at San Antonio today named education philanthropy executive Karl Miller Lugo as its vice president for Development and Alumni Relations. Reporting directly to President Taylor Eighmy, Miller Lugo will lead UTSA in securing transformational funding to further advance its ongoing quest to become a model for student success, a great public research university and an exemplar for strategic growth and innovative excellence.

As vice president, Miller Lugo will oversee UTSA’s philanthropic enterprise, which includes principal/major gifts, development, annual giving, planned giving, donor relations, athletics resource management, and operations and talent management. He will also lead the university’s Office of Alumni Relations, which is responsible for building affinity with the university’s 131,000 living alumni.

Miller Lugo will be responsible for developing the strategy and programs to support the university’s next capital campaign, anticipated to formally launch in 2020. The goal of that campaign is to raise half a billion dollars to support the university’s ascent to American Association of Universities recognition, as measured by world-class academic and research programs, student achievement and philanthropy.

“UTSA has big dreams for its future and Karl’s ability to build a high-performing team, to cultivate community and industry leaders to give, and to identify and steward new supporters makes him the ideal person to lead our philanthropic division,” said Eighmy.

Miller Lugo’s career spans 27 years in higher education and includes more than 20 years in higher education advancement and consulting, fundraising, estate planning, public relations, sales and marketing. He holds bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and public relations and an M.B.A. from Western Kentucky University.

Most recently, Miller Lugo has served as a managing associate at Bentz Whaley Flessner, where he has focused on campaign planning and management, major and principal gifts, advancement assessments and building processes for comprehensive fundraising strategy and accountability. While there, he has supported capital campaigns ranging from $10 million to $4 billion for more than a dozen institutions, including Oklahoma State University, the University of Alabama, Clemson University and the University of California, San Diego.

From 2016 to 2018 at Bentz Whaley Flessner he contributed greatly to UC San Diego’s ongoing $2 billion capital campaign as a special assistant for development to the chancellor.

From 2006 to 2016 he served in various fundraising and development leadership roles at UT Austin, where he oversaw principal, major and annual giving programs. While there, he partnered with campus chief development officers to successfully complete the Campaign for Texas, which raised $3.1 billion and was the largest in Texas history at the time.

In December 2018 Miller Lugo began consulting with UTSA as a senior level adviser for development, advancement and alumni operations to help the university prepare for the capital campaign. In March 2019 he was named special assistant to the president for Development and Alumni Relations.

“UTSA is an institution on the rise with tremendous people doing groundbreaking work,” said Miller Lugo. “The chance to share this moving story with alumni, donors and friends in a way that compels them to give is a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m looking forward to working closely—and permanently—with the Roadrunner community.”

Miller Lugo was selected as VPDAR following a national search that was chaired by Interim Vice President for University Relations and Chief of Staff Mary Diaz and included Lindauer, a global search and talent firm that specializes in recruiting nonprofit leaders. The search committee was comprised of faculty, staff, students and external partners.

Miller Lugo will begin his new position on Dec. 1, 2019. He will continue to be engaged as a special assistant to the president until that time.

— Courtney Clevenger

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