John Erck ready to ‘build something great’ with UAMS

For nearly 20 years, John Erck of Fayetteville has successfully aligned donors’ philanthropic goals with the right initiatives.

Throughout his career, no matter what he’s raised money for, he said the common denominator is people wanting to make a difference.

“Many people have something they want to accomplish beyond their professional career, and they have a cause they believe in,” Erck said in a recent interview. “It’s a matter of finding the people who have that desire and have those resources and buying into the leadership and the initiatives you are selling, so to speak.”

Erck, 46, will soon apply that development philosophy working for the state’s largest public employer. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock hired Erck recently as vice chancellor for institutional advancement. He succeeds Angela Wimmer, who left UAMS this past April after just two years.

A Minnesota native, Erck has degrees from the University of Kansas and the University of North Carolina, and his resume includes athletic department fundraising jobs at UNC and Vanderbilt.

Erck has worked in multiple fundraising roles at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville during the past decade. In January 2010, the UA hired him as director of development for the athletics department, where he was in charge of securing private gift support for 19 programs. He helped develop funding for the state-of-the-art, $40 million Fred W. Smith Football Center. It opened in 2013 on Razorback Road, and Erck said it had been a boon to the campus and football program.

That same year, Erck joined the UA’s Sam M. Walton College of Business as senior director of development and external relations. Among other duties, he was in charge of the Walton College’s $235 million campaign goal for Campaign Arkansas, the UA’s fundraising initiative that wrapped in 2020 with nearly $1.45 billion raised. The Walton College exceeded its goal with just over $250 million raised.

As part of the campaign, Erck helped secure a $10 million endowment creating the William Dillard Department of Accounting. It’s one of only two “named” departments at the UA. The other is the Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering.

“It’s rewarding to be a part of things that will last and know that maybe you had a small part in making it happen,” Erck said.

Erck will have responsibility for managing all UAMS development programs, including the annual fund, corporate and foundation relations, major gifts and gift planning, endowment, capital campaigns and alumni and constituent relations. Erck will serve as primary liaison to the UAMS Foundation Fund Board, supporting and assisting university leadership in delivering the resources necessary for UAMS to pursue its mission.

He said he’s excited about working for UAMS while the medical school is in a growth stage. Besides the main campus in Little Rock, UAMS has eight regional campuses around the state, with a ninth in development. UAMS expects to open its El Dorado campus in south Arkansas in 2022 and begin training family medicine residents in 2023 or 2024.

UAMS is also planning an $85 million, 185,000-square-foot orthopedic and sports medicine facility in Springdale. On Jan. 1 this year, UAMS also began a four-year contract as the orthopedic and sports medicine provider for the UA athletics department.

“It’s a new challenge and an opportunity to help maybe build something great,” Erck said. “UAMS has a lot of grand ambitions that hopefully I will be part of. And still be able to partner with the university. I think there are many synergies in many ways, and to make some of those great things happen will require us all working together.

Erck will begin working at UAMS on Aug. 23. He will continue to live in Fayetteville, where he’s raised a family since arriving in late 2009. He and his wife Erica, a UA alumna, have a son and two daughters who will enter grades 12, 10 and seven this fall.

“Our kids have grown up in Fayetteville, and we’ve been here now almost 12 years; this is home,” Erck said. “I’m fortunate and thankful it worked out this way [to remain in Fayetteville].”