WASHINGTON (May 27, 2003) – Jacqueline M. Hollister has been appointed vice president for development of the National Geographic Society. Currently vice president of the corporation of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, Hollister will take up her new position in June.
She will be responsible for all National Geographic’s fund raising activities in support of the organization’s research, conservation, exploration and education mission, with a particular emphasis on promoting institutional branding, corporate and foundation giving, and major individual donors.
Terry Garcia, National Geographic’s executive vice president, mission programs, said Hollister, a dynamic and creative leader with extensive experience in building and managing successful development programs, was the ideal candidate to fill the newly created senior position. “With her appointment, National Geographic is launching an intensive effort to expand its base of philanthropy. Our mission of research, conservation, exploration and education will become increasingly more critical in the 21st century, and we need to attract new resources to fund and expand our mission programs. Jacquie will work closely with top donors and board leadership to build a program of sizable and sustained philanthropy,” he said.
“National Geographic, the great window to the world for me growing up, has the best brand of any nonprofit organization in the world,” said Hollister. “With its unique assets and national and international presence, it should warrant enormous philanthropic support from both here and abroad. My job will be to create a comprehensive development program aimed at building relationships with people interested in the organization, which will allow us to fund existing projects and launch new initiatives.”
Under Hollister’s leadership, the philanthropy program at Woods Hole increased from $3 million in 1989 to its current $20 million to $40 million a year. Hollister joined WHOI in 1989 as director of development to build the development office and manage the institution’s first $50 million capital campaign. She was appointed associate director (title later changed to vice president) for external relations in 1997, responsible for private sector funding, board relations, communications and government relations. She was promoted to vice president of the corporation in January of this year.
Before joining WHOI, Hollister spent 13 years in the development office of Smith College, where she headed significant portions of two multimillion-dollar campaigns as well as administration of development personnel.
Hollister earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Smith College in biological sciences, researching seabird and salamander population dynamics. She has owned and operated two family businesses and was a marketing consultant for a health maintenance organization prior to joining Smith College’s development office.
Hollister already has a link to National Geographic through her late husband, Charles Davis Hollister. He was a member of the American Antarctic Mountaineering Expedition that received National Geographic’s John Oliver La Gorce Medal in 1967 for making the first ascent of Antarctica’s highest peak, Vinson Massif. The medal is awarded for accomplishment in geographic exploration or in the sciences.
Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. It reaches more than 250 million people worldwide each month through its five magazines, the National Geographic Channel, television documentaries, books, videos and DVDs, maps and interactive media. National Geographic has funded more than 7,000 scientific research projects and supports an education program combating geographic illiteracy.