Director of Development and Alumni Relations to step down at Easter

Mr Agar will, therefore, step down from his current position on 31st March although he will continue to provide advice and counsel during the transition to the new team.

The Vice-Chancellor said: “Peter Agar has provided outstanding leadership on fundraising and alumni relations over the past ten years.

“His success in completing the 800th Campaign a year ahead of schedule and 20% ahead of target and his creation of the award-winning Cambridge Alumni Relations Office are extraordinary achievements.

“He has worked tirelessly to create partnerships with the Colleges and across the University so that today fundraising and alumni relations are both more professional and more embedded in the fabric of Cambridge than ever before.

“I intend to build on these foundations to reach even greater heights and am pleased that we will be able to draw on Peter’s experience and expertise in the months ahead”.

Peter Agar said: “It has been a privilege to serve the University for the past ten years and to have helped ensure that philanthropy and the development of lifetime relationships with all our alumni are seen as a making a vital contribution to collegiate Cambridge’s continued success and independence.

“I am very grateful to my team in the University Development and Alumni Relations Offices and to my colleagues in Cambridge in America, in the Colleges, and across the University for their personal support and their enormous contribution, both individually and collectively.

Peter Agar was appointed by the University Council as Director of Development in January 2002 following an international search conducted by Heidrick and Struggles.

He had previously been UK Consul General in Toronto and Director of Trade and Investment for Canada (2000-2001). Prior to that appointment he had been Deputy Director General of the CBI (1994-2000).

His role is responsible for University fundraising and alumni relations and reports directly to the Vice-Chancellor. His post was formally re-designated as Director of Development and Alumni Relations in 2007.

During his tenure Mr.Agar created, won approval for, and successfully implemented Cambridge’s first institution-wide fundraising Campaign (the 800th Anniversary Campaign).

To do so he forged a new and innovative partnership with the 31 Colleges, which all have their own fundraising offices, as well as gaining approval for major investments in the University’s Development Office, which has doubled in size to 70 people under his stewardship.

The 800th Anniversary Campaign was publicly launched in 2005 with an unprecedented target for a European university of £1 billion by 2012, representing a 42% uplift over historic levels of fundraising.

In practice this target was passed in June 2010 and the Campaign was formally closed following the end of the financial year 2010/11 at a total of £1.2 billion (US$2 billion), a 69% uplift on the historic baseline.

In 2007 Mr Agar negotiated a merger between the existing alumni-run Cambridge Society and the Development Office’s small alumni relations team to create a new Cambridge Alumni Relations Office (CARO).

He also won University approval for a significant expansion of the new office which included a complete redesign and relaunch of the flagship alumni magazine (CAM). The new magazine subsequently won the Robert Sibley Award and the CASE Grand Gold Medal in 2010 for the best alumni magazine worldwide, the first time that these prestigious awards have been given to a University outside the United States.

Mr Agar has represented the University, and HE fundraising more generally, through his membership of the Ross Group of Development Directors (which he chaired for two years 2009-2010) and as a trustee of CASE Europe.

He has been particularly involved in developing the authoritative annual Ross-CASE survey of HE fundraising and in contributing to policy proposals for strengthening philanthropy in the UK. He is a regular speaker at CASE conferences and seminars.