The Campanile Foundation's New Chair
Mary Curran will lead SDSUs volunteer fundraising board.
This story appears in the fall 2016 issue of 360: The Magazine of San Diego State University.“The Campanile Foundation will find new ways to build momentum and help the university become even more successful.”
The incoming chair of San Diego State University’s philanthropic leadership board is a woman with a proven record of leading major businesses and serving the San Diego community. Mary Curran (’82) will assume the role of board chair of The Campanile Foundation (TCF) in December, becoming the fifth leader and first woman board chair in the 17-year history of the foundation.
Curran prepares to step into her role just as the university has reached the $750 million goal of The Campaign for SDSU, but she is quick to point out that fundraising efforts will continue apace even as this first campaign ends.
“The Campanile Foundation will find new ways to build momentum and help the university become even more successful,” she said. “We’ll be focused on how to continue raising at least $100 million each year without the push and structure that a campaign provides.”
Curran received her MBA from SDSU and joined Union Bank after seven years with Bank of America. At Union Bank, she led a number of divisions, including Orange County and San Diego Commercial Banking and the bank’s Wealth Management Group before becoming executive vice president and chief risk officer for Corporate Banking. She facilitated a multi-year gift from the bank to SDSU beginning in 2013.
Curran’s personal philanthropy is in the form of annual gifts as well as a legacy gift, which will build the university’s endowment, a key to future growth. She supports athletics, the Fowler College of Business Administration and the Guardian Scholars program. The latter provides full support for students who’ve experienced homelessness or have been part of the foster system.
Curran’s term as chair follows nine years of service as a TCF board member. Prior to that, she was a mentor and a judge for SDSU’s Venture Challenge competition, organized yearly by what is now the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center.
As a TCF board member, Curran takes on the responsibility of advocating for SDSU with friends, other alumni and the San Diego community.
“The board is an amazingly committed group, and I can tell you, that’s not true of all professional boards,” Curran said. “We tell the university’s story, and we’re passionate about it. We’re passionate about the future of SDSU.”
The Campaign for SDSU began in 2007 as an effort to generate philanthropic support for SDSU students, faculty, staff and programs. More than 165,000 donors have contributed to The Campaign for SDSU, including 126 who have given $1 million or more.
