Michael Brennan Joins RAND as Fundraising Chief

Veteran fund-raising professional Michael Brennan has joined the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, as executive director of development.

Brennan, who will be based at RAND's Santa Monica headquarters, will oversee RAND's institutional and programmatic fund-raising efforts.

"Philanthropy enables RAND to take on the big and timely questions and offer decision makers fact-based analysis in a context that is too often driven by opinion or partisanship," said James A. Thomson, RAND president and CEO. "Michael Brennan brings outstanding experience and strong leadership to our efforts to harness the generosity of donors to support RAND's work in the public interest."

Brennan was formerly assistant vice chancellor for health sciences development at UCLA. In that capacity, Brennan was the chief advancement officer for the UCLA's health sciences schools. He previously served as executive director of three related organizations at UCLA: Corporate, Foundation, and Research Relations; The UCLA Foundation; and UCLA Development.

Prior to joining UCLA, Brennan served in several fund-raising roles at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of California, San Diego, and his master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

For more than 60 years, the RAND Corporation has been expanding the boundaries of human knowledge. An independent, nonprofit institution with a research staff consisting of some of the world's preeminent minds, RAND provides research and analysis that keeps policymakers ahead of the curve on the issues that matter most, such as health care, education, national security, civil justice, the environment, and more. No other institution tackles tough policy problems across so broad a spectrum.