UW-Stevens Point Foundation names director of capital giving

Melvin Bernay of Syracuse, N.Y., has accepted an appointment as the director of capital giving at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

"We are indeed excited to have a person of Mel’s experience and credentials join our foundation team," said UWSP Foundation Executive Director Bruce Froehlke. "The foundation has an ambitious agenda for the coming years and capital giving will play a large role in achieving our long-term fundraising goals."

A former student at UW-Madison, Bernay is returning to familiar territory in the Midwest.

"The university and the community of Stevens Point have a great history and I believe we face an excellent future," Bernay said. "I intend to do everything I can to strengthen the community based support of the university to better equip our students and faculty for tomorrow’s challenges."

According to Froehlke, Bernay’s charge is to identify, cultivate and solicit individuals for gifts of $10,000 or more to the foundation. In addition, he will help design a long-term strategy for increasing major foundation gifts, design and direct targeted capital campaigns not delegated to the campuses’ four colleges, as well as staff the foundation’s capital gifts committee.

Before coming to UWSP, Bernay was the assistant director and endowment director for the Syracuse Jewish Federation for eight years. He was director of planning and budgeting for the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix from 1985-87. Prior to 1985, he was executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines, Iowa.

Bernay received his bachelor’s degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He holds three master’s degrees from UW-Madison, Baltimore Hebrew College and the University of Maryland.

Bernay's wife, Susan, a nursing educator, will remain in New York until their younger son, David, graduates from high school this spring. Their older son, Aaron, is a junior at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

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