North Carolina Central University (NCCU) has named Gia Soublet, Ph.D., as vice chancellor for Institutional Advancement. Dr. Soublet will begin at NCCU on August 17, 2020.
With 25 years of successful fundraising, development and nonprofit management experience, Dr. Soublet will serve as the leader of the Division of Institutional Advancement, one of four divisions at the university. She will manage the overall operation of fundraising efforts for the university, build and cultivate corporate and foundation partnerships and support, and galvanize alumni. Dr. Soublet will work to advance a culture of philanthropy through the engagement of NCCU’s alumni, faculty, staff, students, parents, and friends (both individually and in the corporate community) in support of the university’s mission of preparing students to become global leaders and practitioners who transform communities. She will report directly to Chancellor Johnson O. Akinleye, serve as a member of the Chancellor’s cabinet and manage a team, which includes liaisons to the academic colleges and schools.
Dr. Soublet previously served as vice president for Institutional Advancement at Xavier University of Louisiana from 2015 to 2020, where she oversaw strategic initiatives and daily operations for the office. Her achievements in this role include consistently meeting fundraising goals, increasing alumni engagement and giving, establishing a corporate partners program, and expanding the planned giving program. Her efforts to enhance donor stewardship garnered recognition for Xavier as having one of the highest donor retention rates among users of the popular Raiser’s Edge software. From 2007 to 2015, Dr. Soublet was assistant vice president for development at Xavier.
Prior to joining Xavier, she was director of corporate and foundation relations and a major gifts officer at Dillard University in New Orleans and, from 1997 to 2002, she worked for the United Way of Greater New Orleans, serving as vice president of campaigns her final two years there. During her tenure at United Way, Dr. Soublet won numerous national participation and goal achievement awards as director for the Combined Federal Campaign.
Dr. Soublet currently serves on the Board for the New Orleans chapter of the Association for Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and is the principal for Soublet Consulting Group, where she provides governance, management and development consulting for nonprofits. Nationally recognized for her success in fundraising and nonprofit management, she has presented for the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), AFP and United Way conferences on various topics including major gift acquisition, building donor participation, board development, diversity and inclusion and ethics in fundraising.
Dr. Soublet holds a Ph.D. in urban higher education administration from Jackson State University, a Master of Business Management from the University of Phoenix, a bachelor of science in computer information systems from Xavier, and certification in Fund Raising Management from Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Her research focuses on the impact of same-gender mentoring on the career progression of women of color in higher education.
