October 21, 2019
Marianna, who had already spent years cultivating strategic relationships in the Playa Vista community, leads the university’s efforts in Silicon Beach by advancing its vision and pursuing its bold ambition for the LMU Playa Vista Campus and beyond.
Villa, an accomplished and impactful fundraiser and external relationship builder, has garnered a variety of significant accomplishments over her 11-year LMU career, including:
- Leading and architecting a successful and sustainable Parent Giving program from the ground up, and strengthening partnerships across campus with deans and department leaders to highlight their distinctive programs and funding opportunities, cultivating and developing donor interest.
- In collaboration with her development colleagues, increasing parent giving from $1.2M to $7.5M annually between 2009 and 2019, an extraordinary feat that reflects her creativity, persistence, and outcomes orientation. Marianna has personally raised over $7.7M from parents and international families. This increase was a direct result of the growth, collaboration and strategic partnerships that Marianna spearheaded.
- Leveraging the success of LMU Enrollment Management’s international endeavors, specifically in Indonesia, and parlaying those efforts into philanthropic results that include securing the first of many major gifts from the region and facilitating the recruitment of LMU’s first international trustee.
- Reimagining and launching the Alliance of Women Philanthropists, composed of influential and committed women leaders dedicated to impacting and shaping the future of the university. In two years, the AWP has provided $270,000 in funding across campus and invited high-profile speakers to the bluff to engage our students about their journeys as successful women in their various fields.
Marianna earned her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from LMU in 2000 and her graduate certificate in fundraising management from Indiana University.