Nina Smith

Nina M. Smith is IIE’s Senior Vice President, Chief Philanthropy Officer.

Nina’s experience spans pre-K-12 and higher education in public and private settings, including the roles of teacher, administrator, and fundraiser. Her fundraising career began when she co-launched sweetriot, a start-up chocolate company in New York City, where she raised angel and VC funding for the venture. Nina has since focused on engaging individuals, foundations, and corporations in philanthropic partnerships.

Prior to joining IIE, Nina led the Principal and Planned Giving teams for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), where she was responsible for increasing the number of solicited gifts by more than half while nearly tripling the size of gifts.

Before her tenure at IRC, Nina worked in higher education.  At New York University’s Faculty of Arts and Science, she led comprehensive fundraising strategies across 54 departments for the Arts and Science Deans and their boards, managed the Arts and Science development team, and personally closed national and international major and principal gifts. Part of her remit included securing resources for Global Liberal Studies, an international program across New York University’s three portal campuses and 11 study-away sites.

Nina holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.