Susan Burns, the chief fundraiser for Wayne State University and one of the most senior development professionals in Southeast Michigan, is stepping down. Burns, vice president for development and alumni affairs and president of the Wayne State University Foundation will retire at the end of March after a 38-year career of raising money to support nonprofit institutions in the arts, higher education and health care fields. David Ripple, vice president of philanthropy at Trinity Health will succeed her, the university said, pending approval of the WSU Board of Governors later this month. Set to join WSU on Feb. 1, Ripple will be charged with developing plans for WSU's next comprehensive campaign, which will look to raise in the area of $1 billion, Burns said. She spent the first 16 years of her career in the arts with subsequent fundraising roles at the Jacksonville Symphony and Interlochen Center for the Arts before coming back to her hometown to lead development at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1998.

She returned to her alma mater as associate vice president for development at WSU in 2001. Seven years later, she shifted to health care, becoming president of the St. John Providence Health foundations. But another seven years later, she returned to WSU in 2016 to lead fundraising for the university. "I keep coming back to the same place — I'm just supposed to be here," she said of the square mile in Detroit where she was born, attended WSU and has led fundraising for the DSO and WSU. She's retiring, she said, to spend more time with family and friends and her husband, a visual artist. The couple, who live in a loft on Canfield between WSU and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, plan to remain in Detroit. "We're not leaving. We have a history of leaving places just before they become cool. We want to stay and enjoy it here," Burns said.