Assistant Vice President for Principal Gifts and Venture Philanthropy
Bethany Solomon is the inaugural assistant vice president for principal gifts and venture philanthropy. She joined Medical & Healthcare Advancement in September 2019 as the inaugural director of development for Dartmouth Cancer Center and became the executive director in June 2021. In November 2023, she stepped into the principal gifts and venture philanthropy role to serve all of Dartmouth’s academic medical community.
Bethany is a member of the Medical & Healthcare Advancement’s executive team and works closely with senior leaders at Dartmouth Health and Dartmouth College. She is a leader in cultivating an environment to engage with Dartmouth alumni, patients, and families, as well as the local, regional, and national communities focusing on transformational gift opportunities, especially within the arena of accelerating innovation in medicine and healthcare. She serves as a liaison to The Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship at Dartmouth and helps build the entrepreneurial ecosystem and engage the greater Dartmouth community.
In her previous role, Bethany transformed the approach to fundraising for Dartmouth Cancer Center, resulting in a more than doubling of philanthropic results. She led the development, implementation, and maintenance of a strategic comprehensive cancer center fundraising program in the context of a campus-wide $3B capital campaign. A major component included oversight of The Friends of Dartmouth Cancer Center, a robust volunteer organization and major supporter of the annual Prouty, a complex, multifaceted community-based event.
Before joining Dartmouth, Bethany served as the associate dean of biomedical advancement at Brown University where she oversaw the advancement efforts of the medical school and the Brown Institute for Translational Sciences. In this role, she was responsible for developing and executing a strategy to raise $300M in Brown’s $3B comprehensive campaign, including several seven- and eight-figure gifts. Under her leadership, the Division of Biology and Medicine successfully raised $175M towards the $300M goal, keeping pace with the campaign timeline.
During her tenure at Brown, Bethany oversaw a team focused on leadership and major giving, the Brown Medical Annual Fund, alumni and parent relations, as well as stewardship and communications within the Division of Biology and Medicine. Throughout her career, Bethany has remained dedicated to advancing support for higher education and the development of innovative research outcomes.
Prior to joining Brown, Bethany served as a development officer at Yale University for four years. Bethany is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island and received an MBA from the University of New Haven.