Margaret (Meg) Cline
Meg Cline has had the privilege of working in the planned giving field for 20 years and prior to that spent 10 years in the wealth management and institutional money management field. She currently serves as the Vice President for Gift Planning and Trust Services at the University of Illinois where she is responsible for the management of a gift planning and trust services team of 17 professional staff that raise in excess of $100 million in deferred gift commitments each year, assists colleagues in securing gifts of complex assets, oversees all aspects of gift planning, deferred gift administration for nearly $100 million in life income gifts, estate settlements, and all gift documentation for the University of Illinois System and its three universities. Prior to assuming this role in February 2015, Meg served for five years as the Associate Dean for Advancement for the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Meg has also served as Director of Principal Gifts and a Gift Planning Advisor with the University of Illinois Foundation. In this capacity, she served as Executive Assistant for Development to the University of Illinois President.
Before joining the Foundation in March of 2005, Meg worked for the Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System (MOSERS) in Jefferson City, Missouri where she assisted in the management of institutional investment portfolios and was the key liaison for all communication and education on investment matters with the Board of Trustees, retirees, the press, and general public. Prior to her time with MOSERS, Meg worked for the University of Missouri – Columbia in planned giving and began her career in the fee-only financial planning industry in Columbus, Ohio with Budros, Ruhlin, & Roe. She entered the financial planning industry as a student intern for a regional financial planning firm.
Meg received a Bachelor of Science degree and MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds the Certified Financial Planner® designation and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Meg is a member of the Financial Planning Association, the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute, a past president of the Chicago Council on Planned Giving, a member of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners, a member of the Planned Giving Initiative Board of Directors, the Eastern Illinois Estate Planning Council (serving as a board member for six years and past president), is a Regent and Treasurer of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois serving as the first chair of the Endowment and Development Committee, and is an active member of P.E.O., an organization committed to providing educational opportunities for women. She has served on several state committees for P.E.O. and was the chair of the 2024 Illinois State Convention. She is past president of the Illinois 4-H House Alumni Association. She has served as a board member for the Crisis Nursery in Champaign-Urbana, board member and treasurer for the Missouri Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems, and served on the board of the Financial Planning Association of Greater Columbus Ohio. In 2002, Meg was recognized as the University of Illinois Outstanding Young Alumni for the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences and in 2018, Meg was recognized as the Outstanding Alumna for 4-H House Alumni Association in recognition for her service to the house and efforts to launch their first ever comprehensive capital campaign and renovation.