Mary Margaret Carroll spearheads advancement at the School, leading fundraising efforts to significantly enhance public health education and initiatives.
The Gillings School is pleased to welcome Mary Margaret Carroll as associate dean for advancement.
In this role, she leads the School’s fundraising efforts and manages the advancement team in its development, external affairs and alumni relations activities. She also serves as executive director of the UNC Public Health Foundation and in a senior management capacity on the Dean’s Council in addition to managing the School’s Advisory Council and Alumni Association Advisory Board. Carroll is, by her own account, a mission-driven leader who holds a deep appreciation for Carolina that was shaped by Dean Smith’s Carolina Way. Additionally, she brings to the Gillings School personal experience developing, soliciting and stewarding donors across five continents.
Mary Margaret Carroll leads the School’s advancement efforts, connecting donors with impactful public health initiatives through trust and authentic communication.
“I’m a different person than when I came to Carolina, and it’s because of the experiences I’ve had, the people I’ve met, the missions I’ve served and the places I’ve been,” she said. “I resonate deeply with the mission statement of the Gillings School. We have a responsibility to contribute to public health around the world, to challenge the inequities we see and to better them.”
Carroll adopts an approach to philanthropy that centers on trust, which she builds with donors and friends through transparent, consistent and relevant communication about philanthropy’s role in a project paired with timely updates about progress and outcomes.
One experience that drove home the need to pair passion with authentic communication came during a trip to Uganda with Ross M. Boyce, MD, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Gillings School, who studies the epidemiology of vector-borne diseases in rural communities, both in North Carolina and East Africa. The experience of working directly with local community members left her feeling better able to connect with passionate individuals, researchers and funders to make a case for the project.
“I feel genuinely rewarded when the right donor is matched with the right program, research opportunity or greatest need that can be met through philanthropy,” said Carroll.
Before coming to Gillings, Carroll most recently served as interim associate dean for advancement at UNC Kenan Flagler Business School. There she worked with a team of fundraising professionals to “dig deeper,” developing an approach that focused on key areas of impact to fund research, faculty support, scholarships and capital improvements.
She joined the Kenan-Flagler Business School team in 2021, initially serving as executive director of development before becoming assistant dean for advancement. Prior to that, she was senior executive director of development at UNC Health, where she oversaw a team dedicated to securing philanthropic support for medical research, patients in need and global health-related initiatives.
“We are fortunate to welcome Mary Margaret Carroll to the role of associate dean for advancement,” said Nancy Messonnier, MD, dean and Bryson Distinguished Professor in Public Health at the Gillings School. “She is a seasoned development professional with a track record of success in both fundraising and leading teams. I look forward to working with her to connect potential donors with members of the School’s staff, faculty and student body around shared passions to achieve outstanding results.”
