Randy Varju, FAHP, CFRE, most recently served as president of the Advocate Aurora Health Foundations and chief development officer for Advocate Aurora Health.  In this capacity, Varju had executive responsibility for the vision, planning, implementation and management of charitable giving and fundraising for all 27 Advocate and Aurora hospitals, and system-wide development initiatives.

Advocate Aurora Health is the 10th largest health system in nation with 3 million patients annually. It has been named one of the nation’s top health systems based on clinical performance according to Thomson Reuters.

Varju has served the not-for-profit sector in development roles for 3 decades, initially in the human services sector with Easter Seals and United Way and later in higher education with institutional advancement for Lewis University. In 1999, he moved to the health care sector, joining Advocate Charitable Foundation as vice president for development for South Suburban Hospital. In 2002, he transitioned to Advocate Christ Medical Center and Hope Children’s Hospital as vice president of development.

Prior to his most recent role with the Advocate Aurora Health Foundations, Varju served as President for the Advocate Charitable Foundation, leading the development efforts for the Advocate Health Care system of 12 hospitals.

Varju currently serves on the Board of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, which he chaired from 2018-2020.  He has previously served as a member of the AHP Strategic Leadership Knowledge Advisory Group.  Most recently, he authored a chapter for the AHP book, “Redefining Healthcare Philanthropy”.  He also has served as President of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Chicago Chapter.

Varju has an MBA from Lewis University, a BS in marketing from Illinois State University, and received his Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) credential in 1990.  He became a Fellow of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (FAHP) in 2011.