David's Outlook on Metrics

With 30 years of experience in higher education advancement, David Lively has directed successful development strategies across five comprehensive fundraising campaigns. Lively joined Northwestern University in January 2012 where he managed We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern, a university-wide fundraising initiative that raised $6.1 billion from 174,380 donors. Additionally, he oversees a team of 60 development professionals responsible for principal gifts, regional and international major gifts (including offices in New York and San Francisco), and gift planning.

Prior to joining Northwestern, Lively served as vice president of development at DePaul University. During his nine-year tenure at DePaul, Lively held several positions, including senior director of development at the Driehaus College of Business. Before moving to DePaul, he worked as director of annual giving and director of law development at the University of Denver.

Lively previously worked at Northwestern in the late 1990s, serving as associate director of development at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law during the University’s prior campaign. He began his development career in 1994 at the University of Colorado Foundation, Inc. as the assistant phone-a-thon director in the office of annual giving.

Lively earned a bachelor's degree in history from Southern Methodist University (SMU), a master's degree in history from Colorado State University, an MBA from the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, and a certificate from the Management Development Program (MDP) at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. In April 2017, he authored Managing Major Gift Fundraisers: A Contrarian’s Guide (published by CASE).