Sarah Porter Waterbury

In May 2019 Sarah Porter Waterbury retired as Vice President, Advancement at Imperial College London after a 30+ year career in university and international fundraising. Prior to Imperial, Sarah led teams at NYU, Children’s Hospital Boston, the American University of Beirut, and Tufts. Her immersion into the world of professional fundraising came in 1986, after an early career in private banking (JP Morgan, Chemical Bank, Bank of Boston), when she joined the development team at Harvard Business School. During her fundraising career Sarah developed expertise in international fundraising, something which grew naturally out of her experiences growing up in Latin America and the Caribbean, and later in life living in the Middle East. She pioneered successful programs in international fundraising at NYU and Imperial College, training gift officers and uncovering key principles associated with the exciting work of engaging global philanthropists.

Sarah received her BA in history in 1979 at Princeton University where she swam competitively and was a member of Triangle (musical theatre). In 2008 she received a Diploma in Theological Studies from the Near East School of Theology, Beirut, Lebanon.