Morristown Medical Center Appoints New Chief Development Officer

MORRISTOWN, NJ – Jennifer Smith has been named chief development officer for the Foundation for Morristown Medical Center, which supports both Morristown Medical Center and Goryeb Children’s Hospital with $20 million in philanthropy annually.

Smith will join the Foundation on August 10 and joins Morristown Medical Center after working for 16 years with Hackensack Meridian Health, where she held several different roles, most recently as vice president for development. As vice president for development, she led comprehensive fundraising programs for three hospital foundations in central New Jersey with three separate boards of trustees.

Established in 1995, the Foundation for Morristown Medical Center’s mission is to inspire community philanthropy to advance exceptional health care for patients at Morristown Medical Center and Goryeb Children’s Hospital. Over the past 10 years, donors have contributed more than $175 million to support both Morristown Medical Center and Goryeb Children’s Hospital.

Officials at the medical center anticipate Smith to fit in well in her new role. Throughout her tenure, Smith spearheaded multiple campaigns and secured transformational gifts, which supported capital projects and cutting-edge equipment to new, innovative programs. In the past eight years, she raised more than $70 million, including 11 seven-figure gifts. Smith received her bachelor’s degree in communications from Alfred University, and her master’s degree in organizational communications from Ithaca College.

Smith’s arrival follows the retirement of Jim Quinn, an award-winning, 35-year fundraising veteran who established the Foundation, after serving as a consultant leading Morristown Medical Center’s New Era of Excellence Campaign. Throughout his tenure, Quinn grew the Foundation from a staff of five, raising $1 million annually, to a team of 27, raising $20 million annually in support of capital projects, state-of-the-art equipment, cutting-edge programs, endowed department chairs and research initiatives for Morristown Medical Center. He served alongside nine hospital presidents and six chairmen of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and received the Robert J. Smythe Award for outstanding fundraising given by the New Jersey Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals in 2001.

“I have known and worked with Jim throughout his 31-year career at Morristown. It is hard to put into words the impact that he has made both on the hospital and the people in it,” said Trish O’Keefe, PhD, RN, president for Morristown Medical Center and vice president for Atlantic Health System.