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About a third of women leaders in institutional advancement are either the first woman to serve as chief advancement officer at their institution or were the first woman in the role at a previous organization, according to new research by Hocking Leadership, an executive consulting firm for higher education and academic medicine executives.
On Tuesday, Hocking Leadership released “BOLD Blueprint for Women in Advancement: Building Opportunities for Leadership Development,” the first benchmarking study on the challenges faced by women serving as their institution’s top advancement executive. Shanna Hocking, the firm’s founder and CEO, who worked in advancement for over two decades, said she wanted to use the report to “tell the story” of women in institutional advancement. The study is based on a quantitative survey and follow-up interviews with 49 women chief advancement executives in higher education and academic medicine in the United States and Canada.
According to the report, women make up 35 percent of senior advancement executives at the top 100 universities in the U.S. News & World Report 2025 rankings. The women leaders that Hocking surveyed who thought they were paid less than their male counterparts—about one in five respondents—expressed more stress and said it took them longer to feel comfortable in their roles than those who reported equitable pay. Those who hadn’t received onboarding or training—over 70 percent of all respondents—also reported higher levels of stress.
The majority of respondents reported that they needed to move to a new institution to attain the top advancement role—but they also noted that external hires face unique challenges, such as adjusting to team dynamics or dealing with other administrators who don’t understand the role of the advancement team.
The women surveyed also said they faced structural issues, including a lack of resources for their department. Those who reported such issues reporting feeling more overwhelmed and less confident in their roles.
“What we heard again and again was that the organization was not set up for their success, and that looked pretty similar across the board,” Hocking said in an interview with Inside Higher Ed. “Women VPs were being asked to fix everything and achieve extraordinary outcomes.”
Hocking also noted that, anecdotally, many of those interviewed said they were the only woman in their institution’s presidential cabinet, making it even harder to have their voices heard.
The report recommends steps universities can take to better support women advancement executives, including providing an inclusive, collaborative and supportive environment; designing stronger onboarding processes; and creating leadership pipelines and leadership development opportunities for women.
