Meet Our Experts

Kevin T. Crilly, J.D.
Director

Kevin T. Crilly, J.D. graduated from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and the University of Maine School of Law in Portland, ME. After law school, he served four years in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps.

He has spent 19 years working in the field of gift planning including more than 7 years as Director of Gift Planning at UC Berkeley. During that time, the Gift Planning team has brought in $385 million in new life income, outright, and estate gifts. Another $207 million in new bequest commitments have been made.

Kevin enjoys learning about the amazing life stories of Cal's committed supporters and helping them make the most appropriate gifts possible while providing for a cause they love. He believes UC Berkeley provides a particularly great work environment because its programs allow for donors to support many areas while using various giving techniques. From a professional growth standpoint, Kevin enjoys leading a team and sharing the knowledge he has acquired in almost two decades of fundraising.

Randi Silverman, J.D.
Associate Director

Randi is Associate Director of Gift Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, and has been with Berkeley for approximately 7 years. She especially enjoys working with the wonderful alumni, professors, staff and friends of the University as they provide for the future of Cal with their gifts. Randi is constantly inspired by and awed at the amazing research and other work that takes place here at UC Berkeley.

Prior to joining UC Berkeley, Randi practiced law in the area of estate planning at Cooley Godward LLP for about 8 years. During that time she was privileged to work with many clients who were charitably inclined. In her early career as an attorney, Randi served as the Supervising Attorney at the Homeless Advocacy Project of the Bar Association of San Francisco. Randi has a BA with distinction in History from Cornell University and a law degree from Stanford University.

Melanie Keilholtz
Gift Planning Officer

Melanie Keilholtz is a Northern California native born and reared near Mount Lassen in the small town of Palo Cedro. Before college, wanderlust took over and Melanie spent many years abroad in Europe and Africa, studying for a brief time at the Sorbonne in Paris, before coming back to the States to graduate from UC Santa Cruz (Go Slugs!) and Boston University.

Melanie has worked for Bay Area non-profits such as the Oakland Museum, the Dunsmuir Historic Estate, and Opera San Jose. She was the Marketing Director of ANG Newpapers (Oakland Tribune, San Mateo County Times, and The Tri-Valley Herald to name a few) for 5 years prior to coming to UC Berkeley.

She knows that for students past, present, and future, studying at Berkeley is the opportunity of a lifetime. She enjoys collaborating with Alumni who want others to have the same experiences, or better experiences than they did at Cal. Private philanthrophy enables Cal to fufill its public mission to accept students based on their ability to achieve, not on their capacity to pay. She also loves to hear stories of what Cal was like back in the day.

Melanie lives in Vallejo with her husband, daughter, and assorted animals where they enjoy sailing on the Napa River and gardening.