Brief info
Associate
Floyd Akins brings more than 25 years of experience in advancement to his work with Aspen Leadership Group. He currently serves as Associate Vice President for Advancement at Michigan State University. He has experience in executive search, diversity in philanthropy, advancement career counseling, and consulting, as well as major and principal gifts, advancement organizational structures, and corporate and foundation engagement.
Previously Floyd was an Assistant Vice Chancellor for Development for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In this role, he provided leadership and managerial support for UT’s Regional Major Gift Officers and Corporate and Foundation Engagement Team. He also helped develop the framework for and oversaw the creation of UT’s principal gifts program. He has been a strong advocate for diversity in advancement and higher education at all levels throughout his professional career and was the Co-Chair of UT’s Council for Diversity and Interculturalism.
Floyd has raised numerous multi-million-dollar gifts and managed staff in several billion-dollar campaigns. Before joining UT, he served as The Ohio State University’s Senior Associate Vice President for University Development and Vice President of the OSU Foundation and previously was Assistant Vice President for Principal Gifts at the University of Iowa Foundation. Other positions include Executive Director of Development in the Henry B. Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa and Director of the Capital Campaign at Grinnell College. In addition to his fundraising positions, he held numerous positions at both Grinnell College and the University of Iowa that included admissions, public relations and multicultural affairs.
He has been an active speaker for CASE since 1998 and has chaired several conferences on major gift fundraising in both the US and Canada. He lives in Columbus, OH and received his bachelor’s degree from Eastern Illinois University and his master’s degree from the University of Iowa in Journalism and Mass Communication.