College of Science names new development director

Matthew T. Banks, of Blacksburg, formerly of Summit, N.J., has been named director of development for Virginia Tech's College of Science. Banks will be responsible for the planning, implementation, and executive management of fundraising efforts from all private sources to support operations, endowment, and other capital purposes in the college.

Banks brings eight years of development and capital campaign experience to the college with a track record of soliciting and securing gifts in excess of $500,000. Most recently, Banks served as senior director of principal and major gifts at Seton Hall University where he was responsible for managing principal gift activity and solicitations among senior university administrators and the university’s board of regents. In this role, Banks increased the number of major commitments by 150 percent and orchestrated a 10-fold increase in gifts from university regents.

From 2001-2002, Banks was a campaign director for Community Counseling Service Inc., of New York, a leading fundraising consulting firm to the nonprofit sector. In this role, he solicited and secured more than $3 million in major gifts and managed a campaign staff and hundreds of volunteers.

Banks served as development officer for College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., from 1997-99 and was an associate with the Financial Marketing Group in Worcester from 1993-97.

Banks received his bachelor’s in economics from Emory University and a master’s in religion from Yale University.

He and his wife have one child.