Aaron George

Aaron George

Leadership Giving Officer
University Relations, UC Berkeley

Aaron George serves as the Associate Director for Annual Giving at the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. His primary duties include alumni outreach in support of both volunteer initiatives and annual giving. Currently, he is the project leader for the school’s graduate alumni reunion program encompassing fundraising, volunteer management, event planning, and marketing functions. The Haas School of Business reunion program culminates with three days of alumni activities & events that draw more than 500 alumni back to the school during the spring each year.

During his time at Haas, the school’s annual fund has achieved consecutive fundraising records for both alumni participation and total dollars raised. During fiscal year 2008, the school received more than 4000 unrestricted annual gifts from alumni, friends, and corporate partners totaling more than $3M. In his role, Aaron also works with current student volunteers on their graduating class fundraising campaigns and has been the staff leader of an annual event that effectively stewards many of the schools’ oldest graduates.

Aaron routinely travels outside of the Bay Area to engage alumni residing and working in various business epicenters such as Los Angeles and New York. Aaron has attended numerous fundraising related conferences and was a presenter during the 2008 ABSAP (Association of Business School Alumni Professionals) conference in New York City.

Prior to his current appointment, Aaron worked at Cal in the Intercollegiate Athletics Department as a member of the Athletic Development Office, where he specifically worked in support of annual fundraising and “friend raising” initiatives for the Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving, and Men’s and Women’s Water Polo programs. During this period, the teams realized more than $1M in current use funds raised and received a $12.5M dollar endowment gift. Aaron was the development point of contact for all four aquatics programs and worked closely with the various head coaches, program staff, and the 30 member alumni steering committee. Perennially, all of the Cal Aquatics programs are nationally ranked and have produced numerous Olympians and past Olympic Champions. The Men’s Water Polo program won consecutive National Championships in 2006 and 2007.

Aaron received his Bachelor’s degree in Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. After graduation, he worked in multiple roles for the YMCA organization including a stint as a youth sports coordinator. Aaron has completed several graduate internships in sports marketing and development with both the Cal Poly & Cal Berkeley athletic departments as well as a summer sports management internship with the Oakland Raiders.

A native of Northern California, Aaron currently resides in Marin County and enjoys many outdoor activities including various recreational sports, as well as hiking, biking, and fishing. Currently, he is the Vice President of the Cal Poly Alumni Association’s North Bay Chapter and has previously held numerous youth sport volunteer coaching roles in his home town of Rohnert Park.