Kelly Rollison

As The Compass Group’s Chief Strategy Officer, Kelly Rollison is dedicated to delivering on the company’s promise of client success. Since joining Compass in 2020, Kelly has played a central role in guiding campaign planning, strategy, and execution for a varied set of nonprofit clients. She serves as the organization’s subject matter expert in development operations, prospect research, and prospect management.

Prior to Compass, Kelly Rollison served as the Senior Director of Advancement Services for the United States Naval Academy Foundation in Annapolis, Maryland. As an integral team member, Kelly helped the Foundation raise over $540 million in its most recent fundraising campaign. During her tenure, she developed a robust prospect identification tracking system and pipeline for annual, major, principal, and planned giving prospects; spearheaded new prospect modeling and data analytics programs; and established a comprehensive donor relations and stewardship program. Thanks to her operations acumen, Kelly also led a complex database conversion, streamlined processes in gift and records management, and created a comprehensive set of metrics and key indicators to track all facets of fundraising performance.

Kelly also has experience in the conservation sector and served as the Director of Individual Giving and Development Chief of Staff at the Land Trust Alliance in Washington, D.C. Her responsibilities included driving growth in all areas of the individual giving program through strategy and execution of plans for cultivation, gift solicitation, and stewardship. Kelly also assisted with board relations and the development and launch of the Alliance’s first-ever $35 million capital campaign.

Additionally, Kelly’s resume also includes the American Alliance of Museums where she helped build the infrastructure for their development team and managed the feasibility study for the Alliance’s first campaign; the development office of American University’s Washington College of Law; and the George Mason Regent’s Fellowship at Gunston Hall Plantation. Kelly shares her nonprofit expertise with numerous nonprofits in volunteer leadership positions including her current role on the Board of Directors for the Children’s Theater of Annapolis. She recently completed a four-year term on the Naval Academy Primary School’s Board of Trustees, where she served as Vice Chairman. Additionally, she fulfilled her term on the Board of Trustees with Hammond-Harwood House Museum in Annapolis, Maryland.

Kelly earned a Master of Arts degree in Early American History from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from American University, double majoring in International Economic Policy and Public History.