With Kris Davitt leaving Pitt as of April 18, Chancellor Joan Gabel has decided to move the office Davitt heads — Philanthropic and Alumni Engagement (PAE) — under the umbrella of Kevin Washo, senior vice chancellor for university relations and chief of staff, as part of an Office of External Relations.
Previously PAE reported directly to the chancellor’s office. Washo also oversees the offices of Engagement and Community Affairs, Government Relations and Advocacy, and University Communications and Marketing, which will also be part of the new office.
“By integrating these predominantly outward-facing functions, we will align our engagement and maximize our public impact to connect with audiences and elevate partnerships across campus and with alumni, industry and the public sector,” Gabel said in an email message to the Pitt community on April 3. She likened this to consolidating the finance and operations teams last year under Dwayne Pinkney.
Washo is a Pitt alum (A&S ’04) and former member of the University’s Board of Trustees who has served as a member of the chancellor’s administration for more than seven years.
Davitt, who also serves a UPMC’s chief development officer and president of the Medical and Health Sciences Foundation, started at Pitt in 2017. She is leaving for a job as senior vice president for development at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City.
She also has served in development positions at the University of Pennsylvania and Brown University. She was the inaugural vice chancellor for development and alumni relations for Pitt, before being named senior vice chancellor for philanthropic and alumni engagement.
Tom Crawford, vice chancellor for corporate and foundation relations, will serve as the interim lead of PAE and Pitt’s development operations, Gabel said. Crawford was involved in securing a $100 million gift from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, its largest single program grant and Pitt’s second-largest gift ever.
In a message to the University community last week, Gabel said Davitt “has had an outsized impact on fundraising” at Pitt. Her accomplishments, Gabel said, include leading her team in securing gifts that enabled the naming of the David C. Frederick Honors College, the Bickell ’97 Head Football Coach and the Orland Bethel Musculoskeletal Research Center, along with critical support for the Pitt BioForge biomanufacturing facility.
“Very few people grow up and say ‘I need to be a fundraiser,’ ” Davitt said at a Staff Council Coffee and Conversation event last year. But she knew she wanted a career with “a sense of shared service for something that felt important.”
She was born and raised in Rhode Island and began her post-college work in financial consulting outside of New York. Before entering higher education, Davitt moved to Philadelphia, where she worked for several small human-service nonprofits, including one focused on homelessness.
“I’ve appreciated Kris’ professionalism and partnership, and I, like many across our Pitt community, will miss her dedication, boundless energy, and wonderful sense of humor,” Gabel said.
The chancellor also said details who will lead the Division of Philanthropic and Alumni engagement’s leadership will be forthcoming.
— Susan Jones
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