Presenter Details

Vice President, Duke Health Development & Alumni Affairs

Stacy L. Waters, MBA, leads Duke Health's Development & Alumni Affairs, responsible for strategic fundraising, alumni engagement, and philanthropic planning across Duke's health, research, and education missions. She plays a key advisory role to university and health system leadership in aligning philanthropic goals with institutional strategy. Before joining Duke, Waters served as inaugural President of the Roper St. Francis Foundation and Vice President of Philanthropy for Roper St. Francis Healthcare, where she defined the organization's fundraising infrastructure and secured transformational gifts. She also previously held senior development roles in academic medicine — at Dell Medical School / UT Austin and at University of Chicago Medicine / Pritzker — shaping capital campaigns, principal gifts, and donor engagement models. Her expertise encompasses building high?performance development teams, cultivating "grateful patient" philanthropy, and integrating cross?unit giving strategies across research, clinical, and educational domains. She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Under her leadership, Duke's development organization is advancing more integrated, mission-driven philanthropy across health, medicine, nursing, and affiliated institutes.