Welcome to Advancement

Michele was announced as Boston University’s Senior Vice President for Advancement in March 2025.  Building on the momentum of a new, dynamic University President, she has been engaging with the Boston University community to build lifelong relationships and secure impactful philanthropy to advance her alma mater.

Prior to joining Boston University, Michele served at Stanford University for 14 years, most recently as Deputy Vice President for Development. At Stanford, Michele helped translate its ten-year vision into a university-wide development effort and directed its implementation.  Prior to that Michele led the planning, launch and execution of a development campaign for Stanford Medicine, resulting in the beautiful new Stanford Hospital, new financial resources for graduate students and faculty, and investments for new lines of research across the School of Medicine.

Michele also served in many leadership capacities at the University of Chicago. Her last role was interim vice president for alumni relations and development for the University of Chicago, and vice president and associate dean for development at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC). She serves on the board of her alma mater, the Academy of Our Lady of Peace, and has served in advisory capacities for Boston University and her other alma mater Northwestern University.

Michele is passionate about lifelong learning, building community and working collaboratively to provide opportunity for all with the goal of helping others become their best selves.  She enjoys being with family and friends, exploring new cultures, helping others, and taking on challenging workouts.  She lives with her husband of 33 years, and, now, serendipitously, in the same city as her two adult sons Alec and Luke.

Josh Aiello currently serves as the Vice President for Development & Campaigns at Boston University. He joined Boston University in 2013 and began his tenure at BU as the Assistant Dean for Development and Alumni Relations at Sargent College. He proudly held leadership roles during the University’s first comprehensive campaign which concluded in September 2019, having raised a record $1.85 billion in gifts from more than 175,000 alumni, parents and friends. In his role now, he oversees the Offices of Planned Giving, Major Giving, School Development, and Stewardship and Donor Relations.

Josh has more than a fifteen years of experience in educational advancement, but prior to that his career focused primarily on direct service to the community. He taught service learning courses at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and led emergency response efforts during major natural disasters.

Josh received a Bachelor’s degree from Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH and an Master’s in Education from Boston University.

A national leader and award-winning pioneer in the field of Talent Management, Amy has spent 25 plus years contributing to the success of fundraising both on the frontline and behind the scenes. She has a remarkable ability to help development professionals make the right career moves and achieve success for their organization’s mission. She has touched the lives of hundreds of professionals and her impact can be seen by the increasing level of professionalism in the advancement industry as well as through the success of the institutions that she’s worked for, which include Harvard Law School, and Boston College. Currently managing talent, finance, and operations for a team of 265, Amy has served in leadership roles and presented at numerous conferences and other professional organizations both locally and nationally. A graduate of the University of Michigan, she lives in Milton, MA.

Brian Meyers has more than 20 years of advancement leadership experience, including 17 years in senior roles at UNICEF USA and Columbia University. He is widely recognized for his strategic fundraising acumen, global perspective, and ability to lead complex, mission-driven teams.

At UNICEF USA, Brian led national and international fundraising efforts, including securing a record-setting $103.5 million gift for Ukraine war relief and multiple $5 million+ gifts supporting global health and education. He played a central role in growing UNICEF USA’s annual revenue from $250 million to $1 billion, while building donor networks and leading strategic campaigns across the U.S. and abroad.

Brian holds a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University and is known for his collaborative leadership, deep expertise in building communities, fundraising strategy, and ability to connect philanthropic vision with institutional impact.

Roopa Narasimhaiah is Boston University’s Vice President overseeing Principal Gifts, Foundation, and International Advancement. She leads efforts to cultivate lifelong relationships with alumni and friends and to secure transformative philanthropy that advances the University’s research, scholarship, and educational priorities.

Before joining Boston University, Roopa served as Senior Associate Vice President of University Capital Giving at the University of Pennsylvania, where she led comprehensive fundraising strategies to support the institution’s vision and major initiatives.

Prior to Penn, Roopa was Associate Vice President for Development and Alumni Affairs at Yale School of Medicine. As a strategic partner to the deans of YSM and Yale School of Public Health, she helped grow fundraising by more than 50% and raised over $1 billion during her tenure. Her leadership produced some of Yale’s largest gifts, including a $100 million cancer research alliance, the largest corporate collaboration in Yale’s history, and advanced multidisciplinary research through university-wide and department-level campaign strategies. Roopa is known for working collaboratively with donors nationally and internationally and for applying an innovative, data-driven, solution-focused approach to philanthropy.

Trained as a neuroscientist, Roopa earned a PhD in developmental neurobiology from Wesleyan University and completed postdoctoral research in psychiatry at Yale. She entered advancement in 2007 after successfully securing research grants and discovering the powerful impact of philanthropy on scientific and educational outcomes.

Susan Watson is an award-winning communication and marketing professional who creates powerful stories that deliver groundbreaking business results. Strategic, innovative, and collaborative, she leads teams to build relevancy, create purpose, and drive outcomes once considered impossible.

Watson currently serves as Vice President of Alumni Relations, Communications, and Engagement at Boston University, where she leads strategy, content, and engagement initiatives that strengthen lifelong alumni connections, deepen donor relationships, and advance institutional priorities.

Previously, Watson served as Assistant Vice President of Communications and Creative Services for Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a Harvard teaching hospital. There, she created and launched the comprehensive Life.Giving.Breakthroughs. fundraising campaign, which raised $1.75 billion—Boston’s most successful medical center fundraiser at the time.

Before joining the Brigham, Watson was Director of New Audience Engagement at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. As a key member of the leadership team for the museum’s 20th anniversary, she established an audience research and education program that reached new demographics and spearheaded a partnership with Google that restored fundraising to a pre-recession high point.

As Director of Marketing and Visibility at the American Red Cross in Washington, DC, Watson oversaw the development and execution of a strategic visibility plan for the national organization and its 700 field units. Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she led the groundbreaking text fundraising campaign that raised $32 million in 30 days.

Watson has also designed pivotal projects at some of the most admired magazines, including Rolling Stone’s 25th anniversary, the launch of Men’s Journal, and CIO magazine’s seminal pre-9/11 work to increase awareness of infrastructure security.

She began her professional life as a broadcast journalist, honing her storytelling skills while reporting on unsolved murders, underrepresented communities, and undercover exposés. She has earned numerous awards and accolades throughout her career, including Telly and Webby Awards.

Watson holds a BA in Communications from Simmons College. She enjoys Pilates, still photography, cooking two-alarm chili, and riding her 17.2-hand Hanoverian champion horse, Pele.