Development staff directory

Jay Davenport began his position as vice president for Development and Alumni Relations in September 2017. Before joining VCU, Davenport served as associate vice president of individual giving and campaign management at Wake Forest University.

As VCU’s chief development officer, Davenport leads development and alumni engagement efforts for both the university and VCU Health. Areas under his purview include advancement solutions, alumni relations, annual giving, corporate and foundation relations, development and alumni communications, donor relations, regional philanthropy and the universitywide development staff.

Davenport has served in several roles at Wake Forest since 2010, including as assistant vice president of college development, assistant vice president of major gifts and associate vice president and campaign director. Previously, Davenport was director of development and team leader at Rice University and held fundraising positions as a college development director at the University of Memphis College of Business and Wright State University College of Engineering. He began his higher education career as an assistant dean of admissions at Wittenberg University in 1995.

Davenport holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Xavier University and a master's degree in higher education administration from Ball State University.

Magnus Johnsson is senior associate vice president of presidential and university philanthropy. In this role, Magnus oversees DAR's efforts in principal giving, presidential engagement, planned giving, corporate and foundation relations, leadership annual giving, and regional major gifts.

Johnsson brings 30 years of fundraising experience and has served in volunteer leadership roles as past president of the Virginia Association of Fundraising Executives and the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Central Virginia Chapter. First joining VCU in 2007 as executive director of external relations and development in the School of Education his previous work experience includes senior leadership roles at UMFS and the United Way of Greater Richmond and Petersburg. He received his credential in 2004 as a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE). Magnus is also a member of the 2015 class of Leadership Metro Richmond. 

Magnus holds an M.P.A. with a focus in nonprofit management from Virginia Commonwealth University and a B.S. in public administration from James Madison University. 

Samantha Wheeler Marrs joined VCU in 2000 as director of corporate and foundation relations.

Today, her primary responsibility is to manage key DAR areas, including budget, Strategic Marketing and Engagement and Advancement Services, including donor relations, communications, annual giving, regional philanthropy and corporate and foundation relations.

Her previous experience includes eight years as program associate at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, where she coordinated higher-education grants. She holds degrees from Smith College and Columbia University. She has served as president of a local middle school PTA, chair of the board of the Virginia Poverty Law Center and secretary/treasurer of the board of VirginiaFIRST, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding STEM activities across the commonwealth.

Tom Maness originally came to VCU in 2018 as associate dean and chief development officer for the School of Medicine. He was appointed to his current role in January 2019 and has responsibility for philanthropic support across the health sciences campus including the colleges and schools of Dentistry, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. This also includes the Massey Cancer Center as well as the hospitals, clinics and programs of VCU Health. 

He has more than 20 years of experience in the field of philanthropy mostly at academic medical centers. Prior to his time at VCU, he served as AVP for annual, major and planned giving at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he had responsibility for all individual giving programs. He also has extensive experience in enhancing and expanding grateful patient and family programs through partnership with physicians, researchers and other health care providers. 

Prior to joining Children’s National, he served in the joint development office of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College in Manhattan. He served in various roles including major gifts officer, associate director of major gifts and manager of major gifts. His management duties included building and leading teams of gift officers in major and mid-level giving as well as overseeing numerous donor affinity groups. During this time, Tom participated in three comprehensive campaigns of $1 billion or more. 

He holds a master’s of public administration in public policy and nonprofit management from the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University. 

Elizabeth Bass has worked in higher education and the nonprofit sector for 20 years, with an emphasis on volunteer training and management, community outreach and collegiate civic engagement. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 1999 with a bachelor’s in sociology and from VCU in 2003 with a master’s in social work.

As associate vice president for alumni relations, Elizabeth leads a team of alumni and student engagement professionals who work with alumni, students and campus partners across the university. She oversees all areas of alumni programming, supports the VCU Alumni Council and serves on the senior leadership team for the vice president for development and alumni relations. 

Elizabeth served for seven years as executive director of the Virginia Mentoring Partnership, a statewide nonprofit organization that partners with schools, universities, corporations and nonprofit organizations to increase the quality and quantity of mentoring relationships and to promote effective youth mentoring across the commonwealth. She also held numerous roles, including executive director, at Madison House, the nonprofit student volunteer center at the University of Virginia from 2003-13, where she worked with students, alumni, and community and university partners and donors to fulfill its mission of leadership and service to the Charlottesville community. 

She is a member of the 2015 Class of Leadership Metro Richmond, former board chair of the Grace Covenant Child Development Center and AMP! Metro Richmond boards, and currently serves in a leadership role in the family and community engagement efforts at Good Shepherd Episcopal School. Elizabeth lives in Midlothian with her husband, Will Cleland, and her son, Henry.

Henry Davis joined VCU in June 2014 as director of finance and budget.

A licensed C.P.A. in Virginia, Davis spent 10 years as controller at GRTC followed by three years as CFO. He was responsible for a $45 million operating budget and a $9 million capital budget.

Davis earned a bachelor's in commerce with a concentration in accounting from the University of Virginia.

Niles Eggleston joined VCU in April 2020 as the assistant vice president of alumni and development serving VCU Health and the School of Medicine. Most recently he was associate dean of advancement at the University of Virginia, where he led the School of Engineering development team into the Honor the Future Campaign, with three of the largest cumulative fundraising totals in school history. He brings more than 20 years of development experience to VCU, including leading alumni and community development offices at the University of Florida Health Science Center and at the University of Rochester (New York) Medical Center.

At VCU, he leads a team of 20 professionals to secure philanthropic support vital to the medical school and VCU Medical Center and works to engage and connect alumni, friends, corporations and foundations to advance the vision and mission of the academic medical center.

Niles earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from the University of Colorado and his master’s degree in sports management from North Carolina State University. He and his wife, Meghan, and their three children, Bo, Grady and Moriah, live in Maidens, Virginia.

Henry Davis joined VCU in June 2014 as director of finance and budget.

A licensed C.P.A. in Virginia, Davis spent 10 years as controller at GRTC followed by three years as CFO. He was responsible for a $45 million operating budget and a $9 million capital budget.

Davis earned a bachelor's in commerce with a concentration in accounting from the University of Virginia.

King P. Goldman joined DAR in July 2015 as assistant Advancement Services trainer. In January 2016, King became interim project manager/executive assistant. Given his previous experience directing and managing housekeeping and environmental service operations in both hotels and VCU Health, he transitioned to building manager in May 2016. Goldman earned a bachelor's in human development from the University of Illinois at Urbana, a master's in instructional design from Bellevue University and a post-master's certificate for Six Sigma Greenbelt course completion via Villanova University.

Izzy Kane joined VCU in 2010 as a graduate student worker in corporate and foundation relations. She then went on to work in the Office of Research Subjects Protection at VCU before coming back to Development and Alumni Relations as senior project coordinator. She holds a bachelor's in hospitality administration from Boston University and an M.P.A. from UNC-Chapel Hill.