Colleen Zimmermann
Colleen is a Senior Partner of Ideas for Action, LLC and is the founding principal of Leaders in Development, LLC, a coaching and consulting firm specializing in higher education fundraising; workplace equity, diversity, and inclusion; clinical and healthcare administration; and executive leadership coaching.
Over her career, Colleen has served in leadership roles specializing in finance and operations management, economic development, and for over twenty years, higher education fundraising. Colleen started her fundraising career at the Kansas University Endowment Association where she was successful in closing two of the all-time top ten gifts to the university. During her tenure at the University of Michigan, she served as one of 19 campus chief development officers and held leadership roles in two capital campaigns, including the Victors for Michigan campaign which resulted in raising over $5B.
Colleen has served on numerous university-wide kinds of committees, including the Office of University Development Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and the Fundraising Collaboration and Performance Committee. She served as mentor for hundreds of gift officers and taught various courses including fundraising fundamentals, strategic portfolio management, and the major gift session of the award-winning Development Summer Internship Program. Colleen is known as a strategic yet fun collaborator with a transparent and authentic approach to work.
Colleen, a first-generation college graduate, holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Kansas, is an alumna of the CORO Kansas City Public Affairs Program, and is a Certified Professional Coach.
In her personal life, Colleen is wife, mother, grandmother, mom to beagles and an orange tabby named Chester. You will find Colleen collecting shells on Sanibel Island in the fall, reading poolside in Palm Springs each winter and staying home to play golf during the summer because “Michigan summers are beautiful.”
You may reach Colleen at colleen@leadersindevelopment.com.