Robert R Lindgren

Robert R. Lindgren was appointed vice president for development and alumni relations of The Johns Hopkins Institutions in 1994. He leads fund raising, alumni relations and other development activities for both The Johns Hopkins University and The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System.

Lindgren joined Johns Hopkins at a pivotal moment in the institutions' history. A slowing of the growth in federal research dollars, coupled with an endowment considered too small to accommodate the university's and the hospital's historic commitment to excellence, compelled both institutions to undertake an ambitious, multi-year joint campaign. That October, the two institutions launched the Johns Hopkins Initiative, a five-year effort to raise a Hopkins record of $900 million, primarily for endowment and for construction or renovation of teaching, research, patient care and student facilities. The campaign passed its original goal of $900 million in April 1998, nearly two years ahead of schedule and set a new goal of $1.2 billion. The campaign was completed in June 2000, with a total of $1.52 billion in gifts and commitments, the fifth-largest campaign ever in higher education at that time.

In July 2000, the Johns Hopkins Institutions undertook another comprehensive campaign, entitled Knowledge for the World, with an overall goal of $2 billion. Lindgren is again directing this effort, a "back-to-back campaign" strategy nearly unprecedented in American higher education fund raising. By Sept. 30, 2005, the institutions had received nearly $1.9 billion in commitments towards the new campaign. Johns Hopkins is one of only four universities to receive more than $300 million in private support in each year for the past six years and has ranked fifth or sixth among all universities in total private support in each year since 2000.

Prior to coming to Johns Hopkins, Lindgren had been at the University of Florida since 1979; he was vice president and chief development officer there for 10 years, heading a program generally recognized as being in the top 10 among public institutions. He directed Florida's first university-wide campaign, completed in 1991 with total commitments of $392 million. At the time, it was the third-largest amount raised in a campaign by a public university.

Lindgren is a 1976 graduate of the University of Florida and earned a law degree there in 1981. He also earned a master of philosophy degree in management studies in 1978 from Oxford University in England. He serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Educational Advancement and on the boards of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the Maryland Humanities Council and the Independent College Fund of Maryland.

[Updated October 2005]

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