Merritt Crowley

As Vice President for College Advancement, Merritt A. Crowley is responsible for providing leadership and strategic vision for all aspects of the college’s advancement activities, which includes all fundraising from individual giving, the Wheaton Fund, Athletics, and corporate and foundation relations; her division also oversees alumni and parent engagement, donor relations, and advancement communications. She has been at Wheaton since 2015. 

Before coming to Wheaton, Crowley spent over 15 years at Brown University where she held a series of increasingly more responsible positions, including development of a volunteer organization for the university’s $1.4 billion Campaign for Academic Enrichment and oversight of Regional Development Programs and professional fundraisers in Providence as well as Brown’s New York City satellite office.

In addition to her work at Brown, Crowley also held senior development positions at Connecticut College, the Rhode Island College Foundation, Bryant University (then a college), and as vice president of Fund Consultants, Inc., advising a range of national and international organizations on fundraising management, strategic planning, campaign planning, board development, and leadership volunteer management.  At Bryant, she served as executive director of the institution’s first comprehensive fundraising campaign, building and managing an organization that contributed to transforming the university. 

Crowley is recognized as an expert by her peers in the development profession. She is a frequent speaker at national conferences for the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and Academic Impressions, and she has served on several boards, including The Friday Forum, Tockwotton Home, the EPIIC Alumni Board at Tufts University. She is a graduate of Tufts University and currently lives in Scituate, R.I.