November ’22 DAR Star: Kenny Marchyshyn

by Lily Fleenor

We work with absolutely incredible people—and we all have varied interests and experiences, which adds to the unique makeup of the University of Georgia. We’ll be regularly spotlighting a few rock stars from around the division so that even if you don’t cross paths with them in the break room or Zoom with them on a weekly basis, you can get to know colleagues who can enhance your work life and productivity.

Without further ado, please enjoy our Q&A with Kenny Marchyshyn …

Name: Kenny Marchyshyn

Title: Annual Giving Officer, Office of Annual Giving

  • In my role, I advance leadership annual giving (LAG) across campus by assisting with direct mail solicitations and by using our new Leadership Annual Giving Referral Process Tool. I help discover and refer LAG prospects to all schools, colleges, and units at UGA, and I help run the Leadership Annual Giving Discussion Circle series for partners across campus. That series of meetings help build and improve annual giving development officers’ skill sets as they relate to leadership annual giving.
  • What might people not know about your job? I work with all schools, colleges, and units to help increase the number of leadership annual giving donors and upgrade existing donors. I spend a lot of time manually reviewing potential leads and prospects for development officers.

Where can we find you?

Time in DAR: 6 months

  • Why do you love working here? I love the people. Everyone is so friendly and it always feels like a collaborative family atmosphere.
  • No. 1 tip for someone joining DAR: Reach out and make as many connections as possible across campus.
  • What have you been most proud of working on? Helping to create and implement the Leadership Annual Giving Referral Program.

Where did you grow up? Charlotte, North Carolina

Where do you like to grab lunch in Athens? Bubble Cafe

Tell us about your family. I live in Athens with my girlfriend. We have an orange tabby cat named Sebastian and a juvenile fantasy frog named Jabba. I have a sister who lives in Portland, Oregon, who works in sustainability at Nike. My parents reside in Charlotte, North Carolina, with our two family cats, Harvey and Tux. My mother is a defense attorney at Womble Bond Dickenson and my father works for Wells Fargo.

On a typical Saturday evening, you can find me… Watching football.

Outside of work, I’m passionate about… Sports, anime, and Magic the Gathering.

Favorite book? My favorite book is Fahrenheit 451.

Lately, I’ve been watching… Naruto.

A song that really pumps me up is… “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana

Something you might not know about me is… I am a certified dive master and I used to work in the Caribbean as a summer job.

My dream vacation (cost and time aside) would be to visit… A dive trip across Micronesia on a live-aboard dive boat

We hope you learned something new about Kenny—we are lucky to have him on our DAR team! Feel free to reach out to him, especially if you have any questions about leadership annual giving!

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