Dino Hernandez

Dino M. Hernandez is a 20+ year veteran in the higher education advancement profession and in his career has successfully managed all aspects of university advancement: transformational and major gift fundraising, annual giving, alumni and parent relations, corporate and foundation development, grants and sponsored programs, and advancement communications and media relations.

Within his first months in his current position, Mr. Hernandez secured a transformational gift for Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) of $6,000,000 and grew the major gifts pipeline from zero to $25,000,000.00 within his first eleven months. He and his team met and exceeded a daunting $6M Taube Challenge on December 31, 2015 by raising over $6.4M in less than twelve months. The average gift size grew 881% and as of June 30, 2016, NDNU will celebrate two consecutive years of the highest amount of private philanthropic support ever raised than in any previous years in its entire 165-year history.

Prior to Notre Dame de Namur University, Mr. Hernandez has held leadership roles at Sierra Nevada College, Lawrence Technological University, The University of Michigan-Flint, and Oakland University. At Lawrence Tech, where he served more than thirteen years, he led two successful comprehensive capital campaigns of $46.6 million and $100 million, and at the University of Michigan-Flint, he was a member of the fundraising team that successfully secured $1.2 Billion through the Campaign for Michigan.

A frequent presenter to the profession nationally and internationally, he has served on the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) international Commission on Philanthropy, and his teams have received numerous CASE “Circle of Excellence” gold, silver and bronze awards and a 2002 AFP/Kintera Outstanding Internet Fundraising Award. He has also been a judge of the CASE Circle of Excellence Awards since 2001 and active with the CASE Minority Advancement Institute. His efforts at NDNU recently won the 2016 CASE District VII Gold and Silver Circle of Excellence Awards for the “Taube Challenge/Campaign to Save Ralston Hall” case statement and for the targeted $6M fundraising campaign for the “Taube Challenge/Campaign to Save Ralston Hall.”