Eric R.

About Eric R.

As a collaborative, proven leader committed to a more just and inclusive society, I share Aspen Leadership Group’s belief in the power of the nonprofit sector to help transform society. As Search Director for Aspen Leadership Group, I lead and manage talent searches in philanthropy for the nonprofit sector, with a particular focus on building teams that report to the organization’s senior advancement leaders, including searches for positions such as associate/assistant vice president, senior director of development, director, and major gift officer, all roles that I have successfully served in. I recently served as a Senior Development Officer at Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences. As a development officer at Cornell University for over 16 years, I also served as Director of Development for the College of Veterinary Medicine and Director of Leadership Gifts for the entire university. I had the additional privilege of serving Ithaca College for 9 years. As Associate Vice President of Individual Giving, I led a team that included Major and Leadership Gifts, Family Giving, and Planned Giving. I revitalized the college’s leadership annual giving program, reversing declining membership while setting new membership records as Director of the President’s Associates giving society. As Senior Director of Prospect Development and Leadership Gifts, I established the college’s first formal constituent pipeline process and a new individual giving program that exceeded its dollar goals. I also served as a Councilman and Acting Mayor for the City of Ithaca. I co-founded the award-winning Latino Civic Association of Tompkins County and was recognized in 2022 by the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency for my “pivotal role in shaping the Agency’s community development work, including.construction of over affordable housing units during his term.” I am actively involved in Ithaca’s historic preservation, earning awards for some of the homes my partners and I have worked on. I currently serve as a Trustee for the Sciencenter, the Ithaca-based nationally recognized hands-on science museum. I am an active Cornell University alum and live in downtown Ithaca with my family, which includes our deceptively innocent looking black lab rescue mix Ezra (from the Pound).

Experience

1. Principal and Search Director

   Zrg Aspen Leadership Group

   Feb 2025 — Present

Education

• Cornell University

  Bachelor of Arts

Skills

• Staff Development
• Strategic Planning
• Community Development
• Leadership Development
• Government
• Alumni Relations
• Community Engagement
• Program Management
• Stewardship
• Grassroots Organizing
• Leadership
• Organizational Development
• Community Organizing
• Political Campaigns
• Philanthropy
• Annual Giving
• Strategy
• Entrepreneurship
• Event Management
• Strategic Communications