The Right Person, The Right Time
As is well known, “money makes the world go ’round,” and that’s certainly true for colleges and universities. However, to successfully raise money, it takes the right person, in the right position, at the right time. Kathy Herzog, the first full-time director of the Mesa State College Foundation, was this person.
In 1991, Herzog came to Mesa to raise money for scholarships and to build an endowment for the college. She remembers being told, “You have a year to figure out how to raise your salary, raise money, and run the foundation, and then we’ll see where it goes.”
Prior to her hiring, the foundation was focused solely on scholarships and run by a part-time director and volunteers.
“They did a great job keeping the foundation visible,” recalled Herzog. “They had a gala every year to raise money for scholarships, which became a really big event in town.”
But Mesa State College had bigger plans. Led by President Ray Kieft, expansion was on both the agenda and the horizon.
Herzog joined the college when the foundation had an endowment of close to $1 million. When she left in 2002, the endowment had grown to over $10 million. In the spring of 2025, the endowment was $65 million.
Herzog played an instrumental role in professionalizing the foundation and integrating it into the university’s structure. As she explained, the foundation “was very independent of the university, and the board wanted to keep it that way. They believed it was more effective when it wasn’t part of a bureaucracy. They liked the hometown approach. But it was difficult not having a really close relationship with the college. You need to be raising money for what the college needs.”
What the college needed was space to grow. Surrounded by an established residential neighborhood, the campus extended several blocks north along Twelfth Street but was only one block wide to the west. Among the challenges Herzog faced were steering her volunteer board in a new direction and maintaining an emphasis on scholarships while simultaneously helping the college expand.
Herzog, along with many volunteers, launched an expansion campaign to identify neighbors willing to sell their homes.
“It’s a long haul to raise money,” she explained, “But once we started the campaign to purchase homes, the money started coming in. We got into a partnership with the city and the county because it was to their benefit for us to grow as well. So, that was a real eye-opener for everyone. When the city jumped on board, and then the county, we got a lot more contributions.”
From the vantage point of CMU’s expansive and modern campus, it’s hard to imagine how small it was just over 30 years ago. Herzog is awed, humbled, and thrilled with the ongoing campus upgrades. Looking back, she laughingly recalled thinking that the college would never reach Seventh Street. “It was a really exciting time,” she adds.
In a wonderful coincidence, Herzog’s daughter Liz Meyer followed her mother’s path and was executive director of the CMU Foundation from 2016 to 2021. The current executive director is Robin Brown, who leads a team of 15 employees (CMU Foundation and Alumni Association) and continues to help move CMU forward.
A Story 100 Years in the Making
Want to learn more about CMU's history? Purchase Colorado Mesa University - A Century of the Maverick Spirit, written by Amber J. D'Ambrosio and Kristen Lummis. The 192-page book chronicles CMU's 100-year journey of growth, resilience, and community impact, celebrating the people and moments that shaped our Maverick history.
CMU's Century Project honors one hundred years of Colorado Mesa University's rich history - celebrating the people, milestones and spirit that have shaped our enduring legacy. As we reflect on this meaningful milestone, proceeds from the commemorative Century Book and events throughout the year will benefit the Century Scholarship, ensuring that future generations of CMU students can continue to grow, learn and carry the CMU legacy forward.