PC Degree: B.A./English
Activities Participated in as a PC Student: Liberal Arts Honors Program; Junior Year Abroad at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
Career Path Highlights: Glier pursued graduate studies in European literature at the University of Fribourg, and several other European universities on a Fulbright Fellowship. He earned a master's degree in comparative literature at the University of Chicago in 1974 and was a Ph.D candidate (ABD) in the Committee on Comparative Studies in Literature from 1974 to 1979, where he also taught in the college.
Glier's professional career in fundraising began during his graduate studies, where he held part-time positions in the Medical School at the University of Chicago in grant administration and proposal writing. He was appointed administrative director at the Institute for Psychoanalysis in Chicago in 1979 and served in that role for two years, managing the institute's business affairs, developing its fundraising programs, and launching its 50th anniversary celebration. He joined John Grenzebach & Associates, Inc., a Chicago-based consulting firm to nonprofits, as vice president in 1981. Promoted to executive vice president in 1983 and president in 1987, he assumed the additional role of CEO in 1993 when the firm's name changed to Grenzebach Glier. GG+A provides philanthropic consulting services to a diverse clientele of distinguished educational, cultural, healthcare, and other not-for-profit organizations throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, and Asia. Glier is known internationally as an advisor to many leading fundraising institutions, and numerous billion-dollar campaigns, including those of Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Pennsylvania and Stanford universities.
A member of the Visiting Committee of the Humanities Division of the University of Chicago since 2006, Glier has also served on the Board of the New Trier Township High School District 203 Educational Foundation and on the Board of the Family Institute of Northwestern University since 1995. He served as chairman of the American Association of Fundraising Counsel from 2002-2005, and has been a member of the Giving Institute since 1983. He was a founding board member of the Winnetka, Ill., Public Schools Foundation, serving from 1995-1998.
Family:John's wife, Vicki, a graduate of Dominican University and the Junior Year abroad program in Fribourg, is also a fundraising professional. Son, Woody, is a Stanford graduate and daughter, Morgan, is a student at UCLA.
Staying Involved: Glier was appointed to the College's Board of Trustees in 2006. He is a member of the Board's Development and Alumni Affairs Committee and of its Strategic Planning Committee.
"Transforming" Quote: "I am increasingly mindful of what an extraordinary undergraduate experience I had at Providence College. I was blessed by encounters with several truly outstanding teachers, individuals whose rigor and insight taught me lifelong lessons about critical inquiry. Their wisdom and passion have stayed with me, and made me grateful to the College for the difference it has made in my life, and how it continues to shape the lives of others."