Amy Skehan joined UC Davis in 2019 as the Assistant Vice Chancellor, Corporate and Foundation Engagement in DEVAR. As an experienced, collaborative leader with 25+ years of progressive experience, Amy oversees the campus-wide strategy for foundation and corporate engagement at UC Davis and manages the newly formed Foundation and Corporate Engagement team (FCE). Under her direction, the centralized FCE team serves as a direct liaison between the business and foundation community and the university to identify and expand collaboration and partnership opportunities for the entire campus. In this role, Amy brings her strengths of streamlining internal and external collaboration and communication processes, organizational analysis, productivity maximization, change management, and execution to lead the FCE strategy.

Prior to joining UC Davis, Amy served as the Strategic External Partnership and Government Contracts lead at Ford Motor Company, Research and Advanced Engineering and the University Program Manager, External Alliances. In these roles, she was responsible for all external partnerships, government contracts and national labs, and managed the strategy and overall management of the Ford/University of Michigan partnership and collaborative research portfolio. In addition, Amy served as the global domain lead for mobility university research on the External Alliances team in collaboration with Mobility Research R&A and Ford Smart Mobility. Amy is also served as a member of the Ford STEAM Advisory Board and oversees the overall relationship with Techstars. 

Prior to joining Ford, Amy worked at the University of Michigan and served as the inaugural director for the Business Engagement Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn campus. During her time at the university, she also served as the corporate and foundation director, major gift officer for the School of Education, director for the annual fund and collaborated on the re-design of the alumni engagement program. She also had multiple board and volunteer assignments on both the Dearborn and Ann Arbor campuses. Amy has more than 25 years’ experience in strategic planning, program development and relationship management covering a broad range of sectors, leveraging long-standing working relationships in industry, academia and government.  

Throughout her career, Amy has created and directed numerous programs, developed and implemented several process improvements, and served as the strategic lead and project manager for various initiatives. She also specializes in non-profit management, fund development, and grant writing. Amy has a B.A. from the University of Michigan and throughout her career has received several awards recognizing her for her work.