Bemidji State University is conducting a national search to replace its top development official, Robert “Rob” Bollinger, whose retirement on June 30 will coincide with the conclusion of the Imagine Tomorrow campaign.

Leadership of the campaign, the first of its kind for Bemidji State, has been a capstone to Bollinger’s decade of service as BSU’s executive director for university advancement. He will continue his career in education fundraising — and return to the game of football — at Cretin-Derham Hall, a private Catholic school in St. Paul.

Bollinger will be the school’s development officer and serve as an assistant football coach, joining his son Brooks Bollinger, who in December was named head football coach.

President Richard Hanson, who also will retire at the end of June, said both the BSU Foundation and Alumni Association have grown significantly under Bollinger’s guidance in the engagement, cultivation and stewardship of donors and all alums.

“Not only have his enthusiasm and diligence been crucial to our success with Imagine Tomorrow,” Hanson said, “he also has made enormous strides in building and strengthening relationships with our alumni and friends.”

Bollinger has been the catalyst for many initiatives and special events that have become fixtures for the university and the community at large. Among them are Community Appreciation Day, which attracts hundreds of Bemidji-area residents to campus for information, food and entertainment; the Scholarship Appreciation Breakfast, which honors scholarship recipients and donors; the Alumni B-Club, which promotes affinity and fundraising among BSU’s alumni athletes; and the biannual Green & White Dinner and Auction for BSU Athletics.

“I have been fortunate to work with an outstanding staff, the university administration and faculty, the Bemidji community and many alumni, donors, volunteers and friends of the university,” Bollinger said. “The Imagine Tomorrow campaign has been especially rewarding, and it has been successful due to the leadership of the Foundation Board of Directors, President Hanson and many committed volunteers and loyal and generous donors.”

Prior to joining BSU, Bollinger worked from 1996 to 2006 in athletics development for the University of North Dakota and the University of North Dakota Foundation. From 1986 to 1995, he culminated a 20-year high school and college football-coaching career as offensive coordinator for the UND program.