Smith, Ruggiero join development
Julie Smith (left), Karla Ruggiero (right)
The Rollins development team has welcomed two new members.
Julie Smith joined as director of development and Karla Ruggiero as director of annual giving and stewardship.
Smith comes to Rollins from Georgia State University where she led the school’s corporate and foundation fundraising efforts as senior director of corporate and foundation relations. Prior to that, she served as the first director of development for Georgia State’s new school of public health.
Before her stint at Georgia State, Smith spent 10 years at the CDC Foundation as director of public-private partnerships.
An Atlanta native, Smith holds a Master of Science in Urban Policy Studies from Georgia State University.
At Rollins, Smith focuses on foundation and corporate giving and has responsibility for a portfolio of individual donors. "My skill set is not being in a lab or in the field, but what I can do is make connections around resources so people who have those skills have the funding to do what they do best," says Smith.
Ruggiero comes to her new post from the Center for the Visually Impaired, where she served first as business development director and more recently as a member of the CVI development team.
Prior to CVI, Ruggiero spent nine years with the Arthritis Foundation as development director, manager of cultivation and stewardship, manager of membership and the mid-level donor program, and manager of customer service and direct marketing.
Ruggiero also spent nine years at Georgia Institute of Technology, where her positions included director of academic relations and manager of student programs.
Ruggiero holds a Master of Science in Education from Indiana University.
At Rollins, Ruggiero focuses on the Annual Fund and on stewardship.
"I enjoy determining what a person is passionate about and then finding a way to connect with them around that," she says.
