BusinessReport.com

Beverly Brooks Major arrived at LSU as a freshman in 1988. And while it’s not like she never left, it’s fair to say the university has been one of the central influences in her life. She’s worked for the school since 1995 and jokes that “they raised me.”

“It’s afforded me tremendous opportunities, but it’s also given me some second chances,” she says, noting that she was not a successful student right away. “It’s always given me a belief in myself, when I didn’t maybe have a belief in myself. People have reached back to me and said, ‘Hey, we think you can do this.’ This particular role that I’m in chose me, I didn’t choose it. I never would have thought of myself in this capacity.”

Major’s background is in career development, so when LSU Foundation President Bill Bowden called, Major assumed he wanted her to find the person that would direct the Forever LSU fundraising campaign.

“He said, ‘No, I spoke to the chancellor, and we’d like you to consider applying,’” she says. “I never would have imagined. I was thrilled and honored and terrified and all of those things, but, gosh, what a dream job, to be able to serve my alma mater and my fellow alumni to achieve our mutual dreams for the future of LSU.”

Forever LSU is on pace to reach its $750 million goal in 2010, campaign officials say, despite four hurricanes, university leadership changes and now a shaky economy. The concepts of philanthropy and giving back must be taught, and it’s important to lead by example, Major says.

The day before starting her current job, she explained to one of her sons that she was about to try and raise “like a gabillion dollars” for scholarships and other projects, trying to convey the scope of the campaign to a 9-year-old. Her son, a private-school scholarship recipient himself, seemed to understand. The next day, he offered his piggy bank with $83.47 inside.

“I show up every day, and that piggy bank is on my desk,” she says. “Brennan Major believes in me.”

Age: 38

What was your first job?

“My grandfather had a bunch of rental properties, and he would take my brother and I in the summers, and we would get to mow grass and our payment was Icees. My grandfather really taught me the value of hard work and reward, and there’s nothing better after mowing 5 acres of grass than Icees.”

Click here for the complete list of 2008's Forty Under 40 winners.