Jason Kraiss Named Vice President and Chief Development Officer for the Medical College of Wisconsin

Jason Kraiss has been named Vice President and Chief Development Officer for the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), effective February 1, 2024. In this role, he leads the philanthropy efforts for MCW and Froedtert Hospital and works in partnership with the Froedtert Hospital Foundation to elevate a culture of philanthropy across the organizations and create a unified strategy for philanthropic investments.

Jason has more than two decades of fundraising experience for healthcare and education institutions and as an executive in the energy industry. Jason had been serving as Interim Vice President of Institutional Advancement since March 2023. He joined MCW in August 2020 and held the position of Associate Vice President of Philanthropy before being named Interim Vice President.

As Vice President and Chief Development Officer, Jason leads a team of more than 40 full-time staff members that model high performance, collegiality and professionalism as they partner with faculty, staff, donors and alumni who are working to achieve a transformational comprehensive campaign. He collaborates with the senior leadership teams of MCW, Froedtert Hospital and their respective Boards to accelerate efforts by both organizations to serve our communities as a hub for high-quality healthcare education, clinical service delivery, innovation and expansion in a highly collaborative environment.

In this role, Jason will report to John R. Raymond, Sr., MD, President and CEO of MCW, and Eric L. Conley, President, South Region of Froedtert ThedaCare Health and President of Froedtert Hospital. He will work collaboratively with Dr. Mara Lord, MCW’s Senior Vice President for University Engagement and Strategic Planning, for the purposes of strategy-building, execution, operations and navigation.

Jason has extensive development experience at educational and healthcare organizations. He served as both Major Gift Officer and Principal Gift Officer at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota) from 2004-2008. There, he was responsible for identifying, cultivating, soliciting and stewarding gifts for Mayo’s three institutional priorities (medical research, education and the practice) and was an integral member of a team responsible for the successful completion of Mayo's first capital campaign, which had a goal of $1.25 billion. He also served as the liaison between the Department of Development and the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, where he was responsible for developing and enhancing partnerships with deans and program leaders to increase philanthropic support for education priorities.

Additionally, Jason held several development positions at Marquette University over a six-year span, including Director of Development Programs for the Law School, Interim Director, Senior Advancement Officer and Athletic Advancement Officer for the Blue & Gold Fund, and Assistant Coordinator for Marketing and Promotions. Earlier in his career, Jason was Coordinator of Marketing and Promotions, Division of Campus Recreation, for the University of Illinois (Urbana/Champaign).

Prior to returning to his home state and joining MCW in 2020, Jason worked for a dozen years in the energy industry, holding executive sales and operations positions.

Jason earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 1993 and a Master of Science degree from South Dakota State University in 1995.

Please join the executives of MCW and Froedtert Hospital in congratulating Jason on his well-earned promotion to this critical leadership position.