Steve Ragan

Director of Development and Government Affairs

Steve brings more than twenty years of leadership in education, health care, and cultural philanthropy to Make It Right. Since 2006 Ragan has consulted through his own practice and with the Remington Group for numerous clients and capital campaigns including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Institute of Arts, Focus: HOPE, Neighborhood Services Organization, Michigan State University College of Law, Wayne State University, the Dearborn Animal Shelter, and Project Lead the Way.

From 2006 – 2008 he also served as the Vice President for Development and Community Affairs at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where he helped achieve record annual fundraising results. For more than seven years he served as the Vice President and Senior Vice President for University Advancement at Lawrence Technological University.  Under his leadership, Lawrence Tech’s $20 million campaign raised more than $48 million for capital projects, operations, and scholarships.  Under his leadership CASE recognized Lawrence Tech with a Circle of Excellence Award as one of the nation’s most improved university fundraising programs and AFP awarded the university its first ever international award for innovation in internet fundraising.  The university’s development program grew from $300,000 in annual support to one that consistently raised between $10 and $12 million in gifts and new commitments.  In this role Ragan was also responsible for creating the University’s Office of Technology Partnerships and beginning an aggressive government relations program that raised more than $11 million in state and federal funds for capital, research and program needs. Ragan also served as Director of Capital Campaigns for Saint Joseph Mercy Health System and as Development Director for Eastern Michigan University and College of Arts and Science.

Ragan was recognized by Crain’s Detroit Business as one of the top business leaders under the age of forty in 1991.  He was elected twice to the board of trustees of Schoolcraft College and served on the board for nine years.  He was elected chairman of the board and was the youngest chairman of a community college in the United States.  He served for ten years as a trustee of the United Methodist Retirement Communities and was chairman of the Plymouth Zoning Board of Appeals for nine years.  He is currently the president-elect of the Detroit Chapter of the Association. 

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