While her job focuses on securing estate gifts for Southwestern through wills and trusts, April Hampton Perez spends most of her time building relationships with alumni and friends of the University. 

"I help people think about the important things in their lives," she says, "and how they want to continue their support once they are gone. I try to stress the importance of philanthropy, whether it ultimately benefits Southwestern or not."

She says that visiting with alumni and hearing about their experiences at Southwestern enriches her own relationship with her alma mater. "I came back to work at Southwestern because I cared about the place, and I wanted to give back to the institution that was so good to me when I was a student. It makes my work not feel like work."

As a political science major in the late 1980s, Hampton Perez planned for a career in politics, possibly even a run for office. She came to Southwestern from Eisenhower High School in Houston--where she was a drum major and swimmer--on the advice of her government teacher, Bill Hardt '69.

Once on campus, she joined the Political Science Society and worked as a resident assistant and proctor in the Alma Thomas Fine Arts Building. She also interned at the State Capitol. After graduating, she spent the fall of 1989 as a nanny in London for the children of a non-traditional Southwestern student who was studying abroad.

Hampton Perez later turned to first fund-raising at the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast, where she coordinated the development and implementation of United Way campaigns for companies raising $25,000-$50,000. In 1995, she earned her Master of Social Work from the University of Houston. Later that year, she joined Southwestern as a development officer for major gifts, where she identified, cultivated and solicited prospects as a part of the University's $75.5 million comprehensive campaign. She was promoted to director of planned giving in 1997.

When she is not traveling for Southwestern, she produces a planned giving newsletter, manages the planned giving web site and manages special projects including faculty endowed scholarships, special events like the annual Andy Walker Golf Tournament and the 1840 Society for planned givers. This fall, she will plan the University's Homecoming parade, reviving an old SU tradition.

"I enjoy helping alumni reconnect to the University and see them get excited about what we are doing. It's nice when those who might have lost touch with Southwestern for a while become engaged again."

In her spare time, Hampton Perez serves as a mentor to a high school senior through the Hispanic Mother Daughter Program of the Junior League of Austin. She has worked with the program for five years and served as its chair in 2001. The student she is currently paired with will be the first in her family to attend college. "We meet at least once each month. Sometimes I've taken her on college campus visits, and other times we'll just go to a movie."

She is married to Miro Perez, a software architect for BetweenMarkets. They recently built a house in Cedar Park. Her father, George Hampton, served as an adjunct professor in Southwestern's Psychology Department last spring.