Suzanne Hilser-Wiles

Suzanne has more than 30 years of experience in advancement, program building, and campaign planning and implementation. She collaborates with institutions around the globe to help them elevate their fundraising.

By creating sustainable philanthropic growth, organizations can ensure that they have the resources they need to deliver on their missions fully.”

About Suzanne

Suzanne helps design, rebuild, and transform programs by applying her experience with a wide range of advancement programs and institutions. Her extensive previous professional experience includes fundraising, volunteer leadership, engagement, communications, and marketing.

Across her career, she has:

• Directed a multiyear project for a leading public university to assess its ability to execute a $5 billion fundraising campaign. She worked alongside leadership to develop staffing models, volunteer trainings, and coaching of academic leaders to ensure the campaign ultimately exceeded that goal.
• Led a yearlong training and coaching effort for major gifts officers at a top-tier liberal arts college, helping them drive increased proposal activity. At the end of the first year, fundraising had grown by over 20% at this institution.
• Directed a project for the private foundation of a flagship public university to assess the organizational model for the foundation and the staffing and management model for advancement across the university. Proposal activity across the fundraising team increased by 40% in the first year of the new management model.
• Served as lead consultant for a premier art museum throughout its seven-year comprehensive campaign, including a study to assess the feasibility of the campaign goal; workshops for curators, volunteer leaders, and staff on their roles to drive philanthropic growth; and support throughout the campaign to ensure activity was aligned to achieve philanthropic goals. Ultimately, this museum raised over 120% of its original campaign goal.

Prior to joining Huron, Suzanne served as president at GG+A, which was acquired by Huron in 2024. She has also held the role of chief advancement officer at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, director of external affairs at CancerCare, senior development officer for corporate giving at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and associate director for leadership and annual giving at The Museum of Modern Art.

Suzanne earned a Bachelor of Arts in art history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed the Certificate Program in Leading Professional Services Firms from Harvard Business School.

Suzanne serves on the board of the Giving Institute Foundation and the CASE Industry Advisory Council.