Assistant Vice President, Transformation

Assistant Vice President, Advancement Transformation
University of Southern California | University Advancement

The University of Southern California (USC) seeks an innovative and accomplished transformation leader to serve as Assistant Vice President, Advancement Transformation
, a senior leadership role helping shape the future of USC Advancement.

As philanthropy, alumni engagement, data, artificial intelligence, and digital experiences evolve, USC Advancement is investing in the capabilities needed to become an increasingly connected, data-driven, and technology-enabled organization. The AVP will lead the vision and execution of a transformation strategy spanning people, processes, data, technology, and organizational design.

Reporting to the Associate Senior Vice President for Advancement, Alumni Relations, the AVP will serve as a strategic advisor and transformation leader across philanthropy, alumni engagement, communications, stewardship, operations, and technology. This leader will assess how Advancement works today, anticipate how the field and its enabling technologies are evolving, and translate that vision into an actionable roadmap that strengthens organizational performance, donor experience, alumni engagement, and fundraising effectiveness.

This is an opportunity for a leader who can operate at both the visionary and executional levels, imagining what the next generation of Advancement can become while building the structures, capabilities, partnerships, and momentum required to make that future real.

• Lead USC Advancement's transformation strategy and roadmap across people, processes, data, technology, organizational structure, and operating models.
• Identify emerging trends in philanthropy, alumni engagement, analytics, AI, digital experience, and organizational effectiveness and translate them into actionable strategies.
• Advise senior leadership on long-range transformation priorities, innovation opportunities, and the capabilities needed to position Advancement for the future.
• Foster continuous improvement, data-informed decision-making, innovation, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Through the lens of AI and technology, assess Advancement's organizational structure, workflows, and performance model to identify opportunities for greater effectiveness, efficiency, and scalability.
• Design and test future-state organizational and operating models aligned with pipeline accountability, donor experience, alumni engagement, and institutional priorities.
• Identify and pilot opportunities to modernize business processes, reduce unnecessary complexity, and translate transformation priorities into practical, sustainable improvements.

• Direct the development and adoption of advanced data, analytics, and AI capabilities, including alumni engagement, predictive modeling, next-best-action strategies, stewardship personalization, and forecasting.
• Evaluate and recommend a future-state approach that maximizes the value of USC Advancement's CRM, reduces reliance on workarounds outside core systems, and advances modern data-management practices.
• Help shape a flexible and scalable digital and data architecture that enables systems and information to work together effectively, partnering closely with Advancement IT and university partners.

• Establish governance frameworks, KPIs, and operating rhythms to monitor transformation progress, measure outcomes, and maintain alignment with organizational goals.
• Lead change-management strategies that build understanding, engagement,…