Ralph N. Silverio has been widely recognized throughout his more than 25 years in the nonprofit field for his counsel to healthcare and higher education institutions. His work has involved a wide range of development initiatives, including comprehensive campaigns, staff and volunteer leadership, Board participation, and major gift cultivation and solicitation.

Before joining GG+A in 2003, Ralph worked for the largest healthcare provider in Chicago, Advocate Health Care (AHC), and its philanthropic arm, the Advocate Charitable Foundation (ACF). He designed and directed Advocate’s first system-wide campaign in 2001, during his tenure as the ACF’s vice president of campaign planning and implementation. Working closely with the Board, Ralph saw the campaign reach 73 percent of its $125 million goal in only the second year of its five-year initiative.

From 1992 to 2000, Ralph held a number of other development positions at Advocate Health Care and one of its founding organizations, Lutheran General Foundation. His work included creating strategic plans for staff and volunteer leadership; setting Board agendas; and eliciting Board participation in the major gift cultivation and solicitation process. He also managed the major gifts team. Prior to that, he was a fundraising consultant.

Ralph earlier served as a hospital chaplain for the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago to some of the city’s largest hospitals, including Columbus, St. Joseph, Northwestern Memorial and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. He also worked as an assistant to the president at the National College of Education.

Ralph received his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and both his master’s degree in philosophy and his doctorate in theology from the University of Chicago. He conducted his seminary studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and St. Mary’s of the Lake in Mundelein, Ill.

Selected GG+A client work includes:

– Children’s Memorial Foundation, strategic planning study and ongoing implementation counsel for a $500 million campaign

– Kosair Children’s Hospital, strategic planning study and ongoing counsel for the hospital’s first comprehensive campaign of $80 million, as well as ongoing counsel for all of Norton Health Care’s hospitals.

– School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of North Dakota, program evaluation and strategic planning study, campaign implementation and ongoing counsel for this institution’s first comprehensive campaign of $50 million

– University of Texas, El Paso, strategic planning study and ongoing counsel for its first comprehensive campaign, with a working goal of $220 million

– Elwyn, Inc., all pre-campaign studies and ongoing counsel for the human services organization’s first comprehensive campaign with a goal of $20 million