Advancement welcomes new staff
The Office of Advancement is pleased to welcome two new staff members:
Nikki Hawk joins NEOMED as senior director of principal gifts. Nikki brings a wealth of experience and proven fundraising success to our team. She spent more than 10 years at the Summa Foundation as senior director of corporate and strategic funding, where she managed corporate partnerships to secure donations, sponsorships, third-party fundraisers and in-kind contributions. She also led the foundation’s volunteer recruitment efforts, successfully cultivating a committed network of supporters who contributed to its event fundraising successes.
Prior to her work at the Summa Foundation, Nikki built her career in advertising and marketing at the Akron Beacon Journal, elevating the publication’s brand and engaging and growing the newspaper’s audience.
Nikki’s background in strategic funding and community engagement positions her to play a key role in advancing NEOMED’s mission. Her expertise will be valuable as we work to expand our already successful Principal Gifts program and continue to build connections with our community and partners.
Peggy Irwin joins NEOMED as senior director of development, corporate and foundation relations. Peggy brings deep experience in grant writing, project management, and partnership development to NEOMED. Previously, she served as the department manager, proposal development at Cleveland Clinic Foundation, leading a team of grant specialists in philanthropy communications across the global enterprise. From 2007 to 2020, Peggy worked in the College of Sciences and Health Professions Dean’s Office at Cleveland State University, where she managed gifts and grants, advanced strategic priorities, and helped launch the former urban health partnership with NEOMED. While on staff, Peggy played a pivotal role in elevating CSU’s position to first in the nation for greatest increase in federal research spending in 2015 and the successful completion of CSU Foundation’s first $100M capital campaign in 2017.
Peggy holds a master’s degree in human biology from Western Washington University and a certificate in Nonprofit Management and Fundraising from Case Western Reserve University. She is especially passionate about access and engagement in science education and health care.
Please join us in extending a warm welcome to Nikki Hawk and Peggy Irwin as they embark on this exciting new chapter with NEOMED.