Meet CAED’s New Senior Director of Development

By Caroline Roistacher

Natasha Montazeri has taken over as the Senior Director of Development for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED). From UC San Diego (UCSD), Montazeri now leads CAED's fundraising efforts and donor relations.

So far, most of Montazeri's fundraising efforts have focused on improving facilities and enhancing the student experience, which she enjoys in contrast to her previous role at UCSD.

Since onboarding Cal Poly back in March, Montazeri has seen first-hand the dedication of the CAED’s alumni. She admires how alumni firms host internships and serve on industry advisory boards.

“The alumni for CAED are very engaged and connected to the school — more so than any other place I've ever worked,” said Montazeri. “They're very much involved still, which I think is a testament to the kind of education that they received here; that they really value their time at Cal Poly and want to pay it forward.”

Montazeri noted that in all her years of fundraising experience, she has never experienced such a mutually beneficial partnership between a college and industry partners.

“All the firms want to hire our grads,” Montazeri said. “It makes my job that much easier because we have such great students coming out of the program.”

Looking forward, Montazeri believes a big fundraising opportunity is making sure our facilities are aligned with industry standards. Securing state-of-the-art equipment ensures CAED students are Ready Day One.

“If the students are learning using the equipment and technology that they're going to be expected to start using when they start their role, it just further increases the value of our students,” Montazeri said.

Another fundraising opportunity Montazeri identifies is faculty support. She believes that securing funding for attractive salary benefits packages is essential for recruiting outstanding faculty and retaining top talent, which is crucial for the continued success and advancement of the university's academic programs.

“Having the best faculty is partial to why we have the best architecture program,” Montazeri said. “We have to be able to be competitive in attracting faculty.”

During Montazeri’s first year at the CAED, she wants to fully understand facility upgrade needs. She hopes to work with the Dean’s Office to do a full facilities overview, documenting what equipment we have, what industry standards are, and what it would cost to get to it.

“Having a firm understanding of what we need to do to make sure that we have excellent facilities and updated technology would be really key in my first year,” she said.

Montazeri also aims to learn more about the college and the built environment world throughout her first year.

To support Montazeri and the CAED, she hopes firms can continue offering internship and scholarship opportunities to students, partner with the college to serve on department advisory boards and offer philanthropic help.