Sam Guerrero and Erin Smith recently joined the NIU Foundation’s corporation and foundation relations team.
Sam Guerrero and Erin Smith recently joined the NIU Foundation’s corporation and foundation relations team.
The NIU Foundation recently welcomed two new members to their team who will collaborate with NIU faculty, staff, and researchers and advance partnerships with corporations and foundations.
Erin Smith joined the Foundation in August as its senior director of corporate and foundation relations, while Guerrero joined the Foundation in September as the director of institutional and regional initiatives. Guerrero’s position is jointly shared with the University’s Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development.
Smith, who earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Ithaca College and a master’s degree in arts administration from Florida State University, came to NIU with more than a decade of experience in fundraising, primarily in corporate and foundation relations for higher education institutions. She was most recently the director of development at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and prior to that, she was director of corporate and foundation relations communications at the University of North Texas.
Smith was drawn to NIU’s collaborative, forward-thinking campus culture.
“I saw lots of impressive transdisciplinary research activity taking place at NIU which I was really excited about,” she said. “In addition, I saw NIU’s dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The programming showed that the University was very intentional with its efforts with programs, activities and staffing in place to ensure that progress. There were just a lot of great things happening at NIU and I was fortunate to have this opportunity open.”
In her role, Smith collaborates with faculty and staff to strategically pursue charitable grants and corporate gifts in support of research, programs, scholarships and more, and leads the development of mutually-beneficial, holistic industry partnerships.
Smith said she loves the duality of her job.
“We’re out working with companies and foundations to support the University, but we also get to work with faculty and staff to help them translate the great work that they’re doing to broader audiences. We can also help faculty and staff put strategic plans in place for their research or programs. This process makes them competitive when connecting with corporate or foundation opportunities,” she said.
Before joining the NIU Foundation, Guerrero, who earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Benedictine University, was manager of programming and events at Innovation DuPage. A key member during the organization’s startup and formative years, Guerrero contributed immensely to developing the program offerings for Innovation DuPage’s incubation, acceleration, partnership development, and DEIA initiatives. He was also instrumental in recruiting and supporting more than 80 high-growth potential startups and 120 small businesses. Prior to his involvement at Innovation DuPage, Guerrero was a commercial real estate broker, serving as vice president of Golden Group Real Estate.
After his time at Innovation DuPage, Guerrero looked west for the next step of his career.
“I hit a point where I knew it was time to find a new opportunity, and NIU was the first place that came to mind,” he said.
His position will continue to evolve over time, he said.
“I’m working in the corporate and foundation relations team with Erin. More specifically, I support the Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development, and all of the programs that they collaborate on with other parts of the University. Erin and I are also a part of the strategic development team actively helping faculty and staff to surface game-changing ideas institutionally and identifying opportunities to accelerate them,” he said.
According to Smith, the team is reaching out to foundations as well as potential corporate partners.
“We are building relationships with foundations, bringing them to campus to meet with faculty, helping to connect the dots between their funding priorities and the great projects and research initiatives taking place on campus, and getting it to a point where they ultimately invite us to submit an application for grants,” she said.
“On the corporate side, a lot of people think our focus is strictly on philanthropy, but there’s a bigger picture here,” she said. “Companies by and large are wanting a one-stop shop. They want a streamlined relationship with universities. We’re trying to provide that service where we can connect them to resources they need on campus, and we are approaching our corporate partnerships from a holistic model. That is, identifying their needs and finding out how we can assist in a way that is mutually beneficial.”
Smith provided some examples of a holistic corporate partnership.
“For instance, a lot of companies, rather than using a research and development team, might find it more cost effective to contract a research project to NIU. Our students gain experiential learning opportunities, while the companies develop intellectual property. Many companies also want to connect with NIU to recruit interns and/or employees. Or they may have training requirements that we can pair with the appropriate faculty to develop bespoke curricula to meet the company’s educational workforce needs. There are all these different ways that we can partner that ultimately builds up the university as a whole and helps develop those really meaningful holistic partnerships with companies.”
Guerrero said they want the team to serve as connectors between different areas of the University.
“I think it’s really important to foster transdisciplinary collaborations among colleagues within the University,” he said. “There are a lot of people who are working on a number of different projects, and NIU is like a small city. It’s really difficult to know what everyone is doing, so for us, we want to be the connective tissue within the University. We can help faculty identify collaborators among colleagues or community partners and facilitate introductions with those who are working in similar subject matter or with complementary skills. Sometimes even coffee or lunch can lead to the next big thing.”
Guerrero said among the projects he is excited about are the new west campus buildings and how partnerships between the University, corporations and foundations will help take full advantage of the new areas.
“We’re collaborating with campus leadership to figure out what the west campus will look like, and what types of partnerships need to happen within the University, to be able to take us to that next step,” he said. “And then, how will we be able to package those relationships and opportunities to find foundations and corporations willing to support these projects. It’s a new frontier, quite honestly. I am confident that our diverse student body will be the key to our future success. Connecting all these pieces is something I’m looking forward to doing.”
Smith said the west campus could be beneficial for companies, NIU students, and a variety of other players.
“We see it as an opportunity to create a place that is inviting to companies and their employees, but also facilitates research, innovation and experiential learning for our students; and transforms the entire landscape of the DeKalb area,” she said.
Guerrero said the base of knowledge and skills are already out there in the form of faculty, researchers, and students. In helping to form partnerships, the team make those ideas become a reality, quicker.
“It’s really about being able to take everything we already have, all the knowledge and skills and abilities of faculty and staff, and putting them together to accelerate ideas that are already on the move, to give them the support and resources to make sure they come to fruition,” he said.
