Philip Craft and Brian Baker join the 2013 Class of 40 Leaders Under 40 in the Triad.
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The Business Journal of the Triad recently named Elon employees Brian Baker and Philip Craft to its annual list of 40 Leaders under 40, a group of outstanding young professionals in the Triad recognized for past accomplishments and potential in the future.
Baker, Elon’s assistant vice president for university advancement and Craft, who serves as director of communications for Elon University School of Law, were honored alongside other award recipients at a Feb. 28 presentation at UNC-Greensboro’s Elliott University Center.
Brian Baker joined Elon University as a major gifts officer in September 2005, and most recently served as executive director of major and planned giving before assuming his current role as assistant vice president for university advancement in October 2012. In this role, Baker leads all major gift fundraising efforts for Elon, including current campaigns to build a new Admissions Welcome Center and complete a major expansion of Elon’s School of Communications. Other areas of responsibility include planned giving, foundation relations and prospect research. Baker also serves as liaison to the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business.
He played an integral role in the Ever Elon campaign, the university’s largest and most successful fundraising campaign to date, which was completed in December 2011 and raised over $107 million. Before coming to Elon, Baker spent five years at the University of Louisville, first in athletics and then as associate director of development.
In the community, he has served for multiple seasons as a youth soccer coach for the Town of Gibsonville Parks and Recreation department. He recently concluded a four-year term as board member of Olde Forest Racquet Club, serving as board president in the final year of his term. Baker is a board member of the Alamance Junior Tennis Foundation, an organization that coordinates and funds various programs to promote youth tennis in the Alamance County community.
Baker is a graduate of Wake Forest University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and minored in journalism. He lives in Burlington, N.C., with wife Katy and their two children, Jack and Andrew.
Since joining Elon in 2009, Craft has worked in collaboration with his colleagues in university communications to produce national communications campaigns about Elon University School of Law. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education has recognized these campaigns with three Awards of Excellence since 2010. In addition, Craft was instrumental in producing the application that led to the 2012 designation of Elon Law by The National Jurist as one of “America’s 20 most innovative law schools.”
Craft’s volunteer and civic involvement includes service as chair of the Friends of Center City Park Steering Committee in Greensboro, founder and chair of Project Greenway, an advocacy group of young professionals formed to urge completion of Greensboro’s Downtown Greenway based on its projected economic benefits for the city, membership in Leadership Greensboro’s Class of 2013 and lifetime membership in The Future Fund of The Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro.
Prior to joining Elon Law, Craft served seven years as deputy chief of staff and press secretary for U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, and three years as director of communications and marketing for City Parks Foundation, a New York City community building organization.
He holds a master’s degree in communications from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in communications, politics and law from Emerson College in Boston. A resident of Greensboro, Craft is married to Betsy McKibbon Craft and they have two children, Peter and William.
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by Megan McClure, Staff Last Updated - 3/1/2013
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