Calvin News

President Greg Elzinga ’90 has appointed Ken Erffmeyer ’86 as the university’s vice president for advancement. Erffmeyer has occupied the role on an interim basis since February 2024 when Elzinga vacated that role to serve as interim president.

As vice president, Erffmeyer oversees the development department, alumni and family engagement, the January Series program, and the Calvin Academy for Lifelong Learning. The advancement division recently moved in October to the Raybrook building (located across from the main campus off of Burton St.)

A Clear Sense of Calling

Erffmeyer is no stranger to this position. In fact, he was first called into this very role at Calvin back in 2008. “I felt God’s call like I never have before,” said Erffmeyer.

On paper, Erffmeyer said the decision to first come to Calvin in 2008 didn’t make sense. He had just built a new house and had a successful job as vice president for human resources for Thomson Reuters in Minneapolis. “But at the end of the day I loved everything about Calvin and felt like I’d be working for something so much bigger than myself,” said Erffmeyer.

So he made the move and spent 13 years as Calvin’s vice president for advancement, where he helped the university achieve a record-setting fundraising year in 2020. A year later, he left Calvin, accepting an opportunity to serve as senior vice president for advancement for the Fuller Foundation in Pasadena, California.

His Heart Still with Calvin

While he enjoyed the role, two years in “I realized how much I missed Calvin,” said Erffmeyer. “And I saw how much momentum was happening at Calvin.” 

So in May 2023, he asked then-vice-president for advancement Elzinga to meet for breakfast. 

“I met with him to let him know that my heart is still with Calvin, and at some point, I would love to come back, so if there ever was an opportunity, a year or three years from now, I wanted to be top of mind,” said Erffmeyer.

Within a week, Elzinga reached back out to Erffmeyer with interest, and by September 2023, he was back on campus serving as a major gift officer, a position he thoroughly enjoyed.

Erffmeyer refers to all of his career stops with fondness, including 15 years as a management consultant for Deloitte & Touche and Andersen Consulting, but what has differentiated his work at Calvin, regardless of his title, is a clear sense of calling.

“Calvin feels almost like a fifth child,” said Erffmeyer, who has four adult children who have all graduated from Calvin. “I feel so called that it never actually feels like work.”

More Excited than Ever

As Erffmeyer now steps back into the vice-presidential role, he does so with even greater excitement than when he first returned to his alma mater in 2008. He says he’s excited to be part of the next campaign that will build up the liberal arts, provide scholarship funding for students, and continue to build up the School of Health, outdoor athletics, and the Commons Union. He’s also eager to get Calvin’s enrollment back up to 4,000 students, which is what it was when he stepped into the role the first time.

And he’s grateful to serve alongside President Greg Elzinga, who he recruited to Calvin back in 2018.

“I just knew Greg would be a terrific employee at Calvin. I was so confident that when I asked him to meet me to talk about Calvin, I had already prewritten a job offer and I handed it to him following our conversation,” said Erffmeyer.

The rest is history. Elzinga became a major gift officer. He then was appointed to the vice-presidential role when Erffmeyer left in 2021, and now is serving as the university’s 13th president.

“I am excited to work under the leadership of Greg, because I respect him so much,” said Erffmeyer. “I am excited to work for him and support him in any way I can.”