King’s Academy is pleased to announce the appointment of Katherine Precht as the new chief advancement officer. The appointment comes after an extensive search in partnership with DovetailED.

Precht holds a Bachelor’s degree in history of art from Williams College in Massachusetts, and studied Islamic art and architecture in graduate school at the American University of Cairo (AUC). She is a graduate of St. Paul’s School, a co-educational boarding school in New Hampshire.

Precht is a senior school leader with more than 30 years of US and international experience in advancement, constituent relations and communications. A native of the United States, she is fluent in French and has also studied Arabic and Turkish, having lived in Egypt, Turkey and Iran, and traveled to many countries in the region.

Most recently, Precht was the director of institutional advancement at Friends Seminary in New York City where she led fundraising of US $76.2M through endowments, capital and annual giving, and oversaw the school’s largest fundraising campaign, “Light the Future,” to the tune of US $55M. She was also responsible for raising the largest gifts in the school’s 238-year history.

Prior to Friends Seminary, Precht was associate vice president for development at AUC, where she determined strategic direction of university fundraising and succeeded in raising over US $39M over three years, as well as closing a US $125M comprehensive fundraising campaign.

At the American School in London, Precht held the post of associate director of advancement for major and planned gifts, where she directed the US $32M “Great Expectations” capital campaign.”  

With a career total raised of more than US $150M, Precht is a skilled principal gifts fundraiser, adept at understanding the unique culture of an institution and using communication and networking skills to build productive philanthropic relationships.

“My fundraising career has been dedicated to working with global constituents in support of educational institutions, and King’s Academy is at the forefront of innovative secondary education, expanding on the model of a New England boarding school to create a diverse and engaged residential community,” said Precht. “I am excited by the opportunity to serve an institution to whose mission I am committed and in a position for which I have the requisite professional and personal strengths.”

Precht joins King’s Academy at the start of May. Expressing her pleasure at the appointment, Head of School Penny Townsend said: “Rarely have we found a candidate who has such proven success in fundraising not only in the United States, but also in the United Kingdom and, most importantly, in the Middle East.”

“We are confident that her years of expertise will prove a tremendous asset to our school’s advancement and fundraising goals.”