2026 Speakers and Moderators

We’re extremely grateful for the generosity and expertise of our 2026 presenters, moderators and panelists.   We’ll have more than 40 in all!

= Returning “Meeting of the Minds” Faculty Member!
= First-Time “Meeting of the Minds” Faculty Member!

Bob Burdenski 🍎

Bob Burdenski is an internationally-recognized annual and regular giving programs consultant for schools, colleges, and universities. He is a prolific writer and published author, often appearing in CURRENTS Magazine, the member magazine of the Council for the Advancement and the Support of Education (CASE). Bob is the author of three CASE books: Innovations in Annual Giving: Ten Departures That Worked, which presents ten U.S. case histories of advanced annual giving strategies; More Innovations in Annual Giving, Ten Global Departures That Worked, which features case histories from institutions around the world; and a new CASE book, Online Innovations in Annual and Regular Giving, Ten Dozen Departures That Worked.  In 2013, Innovations in Annual Giving was published by Fudan University in Shanghai, becoming the first CASE book translated into Chinese.

Bob is a recipient of the CASE Crystal Apple Award for Lifetime Teaching Excellence as ranked by his audiences. He has educated (and entertained) at presentations throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, including numerous CASE Europe Annual and Regular Giving Conferences and Masterclasses.  He presented CASE’s first-ever annual giving training programs in India, Japan, Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Australia, and he now curates four annual giving conferences around the U.S. each year.  In 2019, Bob was named a CASE Laureate for his volunteer service to the profession.

Since 2002, Bob has served as the moderator of FundList, the fundraising e-mail discussion listserv with nearly 4,000 development professional subscribers.

Theresa Aide 🍎

Theresa Aide is Director of Non-Profit Campaigns with Suttle-Straus. She has more than 30 years of experience in non-profit communication services with Suttle-Straus Incorporated. Theresa enjoys the process of taking a project from concept through to completion using best practices for best results with omni-channel campaigns. She offers consultations and recommendations to all her faith-based clients to represent the extensive communication capabilities of Suttle-Straus including content solicitation writing, social media, individually designed die-cut brochures, and digital print and mail.

Alexis Allen 🍎

Alexis Allen serves as the Director of Annual Giving within the University of Louisville’s Office of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving. Her journey in development began as a phonathon caller at Eastern Kentucky University, a role that sparked her passion for fundraising and donor engagement.  She went on to manage phonathon programs at both the University of Louisville and the University of Chicago, increasing her focus in digital and student-driven outreach. Now back at UofL, Alexis leads the university’s annual giving efforts and recently launched the UofL Digital Engagement Center, which achieved a strong return on investment in its first year, despite operating at just 25% capacity. She proudly makes up one-half of UofL’s small but mighty two-person annual giving team. Outside the office, Alexis enjoys spending quality time with friends and family, including her husband and energetic twin three-year-old daughters. She’s also a fan of hiking and never passes up a chance for a Friday night game of bingo.

Garrett Allen 🍏

Garrett Allen is the Associate Director of Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving at Ohio Northern University. He leads the strategy for affinity engagement and regional alumni programming, ensuring the ONU spirit thrives beyond campus borders. A specialist in large-scale event execution and donor mobilization, Garrett serves as the lead organizer for Homecoming, Day of Giving, and the Senior Toast, dedicated to strengthening the bond between the university and its global alumni community.

Charles Audino 🍏

Dania Calandrino 🍎

Dania Calandrino is the Associate Director of Data Records at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she currently oversees Record management, Gift Processing, and Receipting. Her passions are staff development, building new processes, and creating documentation. In her 15 years of experience in fundraising operations, her previous roles have included Membership Call Center manager and Data Integrity Specialist. She is a SQL enthusiast with a penchant for learning how things work and a reputation for showing her colleagues various Excel tricks.

Kate Cominsky CFRE 🍎

Kate Cominsky is a Non-Profit Campaigns Strategic Consultant with Suttle-Straus. Kate represents Suttle-Straus Inc. as Strategic Consultant for Non-Profit Fundraising with experience in higher education enrollment management, corporate sales and marketing management, and congressional constituent work. With Suttle-Straus Kate develops unique and creative communication plans for non-profit and faith-based donor solicitation, retention, and acquisition communications using an omni-channel marketing approach with hyper-personalized content. She has presented at national and international higher education and not for profit organizations conferences. In 2019 Kate published a memoir about caregiving for a parent with dementia: Breakfast Memories ~ A Dementia Love Story. The book received a Gold Seal “selected read” by Alzauthors.org.

Bailey Daily 🍏

Bailey Daily is the Executive Director of Broad-Based Campaigns at Purdue for Life Foundation, where she leads enterprise-wide fundraising and engagement strategy to drive donor acquisition, retention, and sustainable growth for Purdue University. She brings a deep background in annual giving, multi-channel solicitation, and donor stewardship, with a passion for data-driven strategies that move the needle. Bailey holds a Master of Science in Communication and a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Purdue University. Boiler Up!

Jen Davis 🍎

Jen Davis currently serves as Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Relations at Joliet Junior College.  As a former English instructor, she has spent more than two decades in higher education serving students at various points in their educational and professional careers.  In her current role, Jen works to foster meaningful relationships with alumni and donors. Her outreach efforts include planning small and large-scale events, designing and executing yearly social media, direct mail and e-campaigns, maintaining and enhancing JJC’s Employee Giving Program, and collaborating with other departments on campus to keep alumni engaged and connected.  Jen’s passion for writing and storytelling is evident in her work for JJC ‘s Connections Magazine and as host of the Roots and Branches: JJC Alumni Podcast. On occasion, Jen will also expand her role to that of JJC’s mascot, Wiley Wolf, for on-campus events and print media.

Tony DiFilippo 🍏

Tony DiFilippo is Vice President for Development at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago. Tony is a seasoned sales and business development executive with nearly three decades of experience driving revenue growth and building high-performing teams. He currently serves as Vice President for Development at Mount Carmel High School — his alma mater — where he leads fundraising and growth initiatives. During his tenure, Mount Carmel has consistently met its fundraising objectives and Tony has led key initiatives to develop and grow recurring donation models. His corporate career includes senior leadership roles at Mspark, Linkwell Health, Publications International, and Arc Worldwide, where he managed teams, oversaw tens of millions in revenue, and built partnerships with some of the country’s most recognized brands. Tony holds an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from DePaul University’s Driehaus College of Business. He resides in Evergreen Park with his wife Lyn and their three children — Luka, Matt (both proud Mount Carmel alums), and daughter Evie.

Sara Eldridge 🍏

Sara Eldridge serves as Director of Annual Giving and Campaign Management at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, a place she loves, even if she’s still negotiating terms with the winters.  She has spent more than 15 years in annual giving, working across a wide variety of institutions and wearing just about every hat the field has to offer. Today she 
At St. Olaf, Sara led the shift away from the traditional phonathon model toward something that felt more like real relationship-building. Using Gravyty’s Raise platform, her team equipped student fundraisers with their own alumni portfolios, sparking more genuine conversations, deeper connections, and Giving Day results that blew past what blast emails ever delivered.  When she’s not thinking about donor pipelines and campaign strategy, Sara can be found in the kitchen experimenting with new recipes or catching live music; two pursuits that, like great fundraising, are all about timing, creativity, and knowing your audience.

Nick Evans 🍏

Nick Evans is Associate Director of Communications at University of Louisville.

Leah Evanchuk 🍎

Leah Evanchuck is Director of Annual Giving at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.  Leah has nearly 13 years of health care fundraising experience, as well as seven years in annual giving consulting work. She holds a master’s degree in nonprofit management and received her CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Executive) certification in March 2026. She uses her skills and knowledge to renew and engage new grateful patients through strategic planning and personalized communication. Leah particularly enjoys testing new ideas and is an expert in connecting with annual giving audiences, identifying methods to resourcefully and creatively grow her organization’s annual giving program, and leveraging a multi-channel approach to drive new donors and dollars. Leah’s passion is utilizing thoughtful strategy, and she is inspired by the work of health care professionals – people who work to create change in the communities they serve – and is committed to reinforcing how an individual can make a lasting impact.

Clark Gafke 🍎

Clark Gafke is the CEO of LEAD Philanthropy. Clark enables nonprofit institutions to attract and motivate donors to achieve the organization’s strategic goals. He helps the organization’s senior leadership evaluate and design strategic fundraising plans in the context of contemporary giving trends. He also assists the organization’s development staff to implement the plan through the design and conduct of specific communication initiatives for Capital and Annual Fund programs. Clark’s experience enables him to provide guidance on using appropriate channels to reach prospects and donors in ways they want to communicate – face-to-face, special events, peer-to-peer texting, calling programs, direct mail efforts, email campaigns, crowdfunding & giving days, online technologies, digital communications, text-to-give, text-to-pledge and a host of other mobile channels. In his 30+ years providing fundraising counsel, Clark has served more than 300 organizations in the US and Canada representing education, healthcare, arts, museums, zoos, aquariums, public broadcasting and membership organizations. In the process, he’s trained and coached more than 11,000 communicators. Beyond this direct service to organizations, he is a frequent speaker at fundraising conferences including NCDC, CASE, AFP, PSI, GEAC, and on many college campuses. He is Past President of the Las Vegas AFP Chapter, a former national delegate, and Past Chair of the chapter’s Education Committee and Every Member Campaign. Clark is also Cialdini Certified Professional and Ethical Influence Practitioner with the Cialdini Institute. Clark began his fundraising work as a student caller in the alumni annual fund program at the University of Missouri. After graduation, he worked at the National 4-H Council in Washington, DC. Clark has served as Vice President and Senior Consultant for a variety of consulting firms. He created the first online caller training program for colleges and universities and served as Dean for 21 PHONE/MAIL 101 workshops. He is an avid supporter and volunteer for 4-H. Both Clark and his wife were named to the University of Missouri Extension Leaders Honor Roll for their long-term commitment and support. Clark resides near St. Louis, MO and enjoys fishing and traveling with his wife and their two daughters.

Victoria Gajc 🍎

Victoria Gajc is Program Director, Individual Giving at Northwestern Medicine. 

Anna Gerlach 🍏

Anna Gerlach is Operations Manager at Safety Service Systems, Inc.

Paige Gustafson 🍎

Paige Gustafson is the Senior Director of Advancement Services and Annual Campaigns at Albion College, where she leads strategic giving initiatives and oversees data-driven development operations. A proud Albion alumna, Paige graduated in 2015 with a B.A. in Political Science and returned to her alma mater in Institutional Advancement 2022. While working at Albion, she has led several successful Giving Days, which included initiatives for Athletics and Academic Departments. She has created policies and procedures for the Slate database and leads a team that is committed to accurate and reliable data. In 2024, Paige and her team earned recognition with a CASE Circle of Excellence Award in the fundraising category.

Andrew Gutierrez 🍎

Andrew Gutierrez is a fundraising professional and data scientist who has worked primarily in the healthcare philanthropy space since 2018, having held roles such as Data Scientist and Systems Analyst at Cleveland Clinic’s Philanthropy Institute, and Associate Director of Development Operations at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Originally beginning his philanthropy career as a grant writer before transitioning to analytics, his work now primarily focuses on using predictive modeling to identify and segment prospects, quantify donors’ capacity and affinity, and project gift revenue outcomes. Since 2025, Andrew has been the Vice President of Apra’s Illinois chapter, an Education Committee member for the Association of Advancement Services Professionals (aasp), and a Conference Planning Committee member for Apra International. He has presented at industry events such as the “Meeting of the Minds” Annual Giving and Advancement Services Conference, Apra’s annual Prospect Development Conference, and the Texas Advancement Analytics Symposium, and he has written for publications that include Apra Connections and the University of Texas Press’s Journal of Advancement Analytics. Andrew graduated from Ohio State University with an undergraduate degree in Arts Administration & Policy. Outside of the philanthropy world, you can likely find him at his “5 to 9” gig as an indoor cycling instructor for Chicago’s Fitness Formula Clubs.

Haley Hamilton, MS 🍏

Haley Hamilton is Assistant Director of Annual Giving at the University of Colorado Boulder, overseeing direct mail and student calling initiative and the overall project operations for the broad-based team. Through these fundraising efforts, she focuses on cultivating engagement and philanthropic impact from donors of various backgrounds and capacity.  Her journey in philanthropy began at East Texas A&M University, in the phonathon office where she coached student callers, and managed donor outreach through phone, digital, and direct mail campaigns. Prior to joining the Annual Giving team at CU Boulder, she served as the Manager of Donor Stewardship at Buckner International where she worked on grant and impact reporting for corporations, foundations, mid-level and major level donors.  Haley holds a B.S. in Agribusiness and Equine Studies and a M.S. in Nonprofit Management and Development. She strives to build a career committed to generating impact through generosity.  Haley resides in Texas with her husband, Taylor, and dog, Margarita. When she’s not working, she is traveling to find the best views and food, being an auntie to her three niece, or reading.

Logan Heggemann 🍏

Logan Heggemann is the Senior Associate Director, Annual Giving Appeals at the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the world of higher education, Logan served in fundraising roles for various human service and educational organizations, including the Kansas City Public Library and the Boys & Girls Clubs here in Chicago. He has worked in fundraising for more than 10 years, beginning as a student caller at his alma mater, Rockhurst University. At the University of Chicago, Logan oversees the direct appeals program for the College, graduate schools and divisions, and works closely with all Advancement teams as the primary annual giving strategist on UChicago’s annual Giving Day. Logan holds a BA in Nonprofit Leadership Studies from Rockhurst University and a Certificate in Fundraising Management from Toronto Metropolitan University.

Meredith Howell 🍎

Meredith Howell is the Senior Director, Annual and Leadership Annual Giving at University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences.  Meredith previously served as the Executive Director of Annual Giving at the University of Illinois Chicago. She has worked in development for over 20 years (starting as a student caller at Southern Methodist University). She fell in love with the strategy and data required to drive annual giving and campaign planning and has held roles in those areas serving on the campaign planning teams for the Ann & Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. After 19 years away, she recently returned to the University of Chicago Medicine & Biological Sciences development team. Meredith holds a BA in English from Southern Methodist University and received a master’s degree in English with distinction from DePaul University.

Staci Hundt 🍏

Staci Hundt is Project Manager at Loyola University Chicago. 

Gregory Jaros

Greg Jaros is Client Partner and Advisor with Advance Data Systems.

Paul Klenk 🍎

Paul Klenk is the CEO at GetThru, bringing over 20 years of experience in academia and university services. After earning a PhD in Engineering at Duke University, he developed K-12 engineering curricula, reflecting his passion for education and innovation. After getting his MBA, he transitioned to the private sector, helping researchers publish their work at Research Square, where he played a key role in product management, marketing, and finance. Over the past two years, he has led GetThru in supporting donor engagement through P2P texting for approximately 200 schools and launched the company’s Customer Advisory Board for higher education.

Joseph Lanasa 🍎

Joseph Lanasa is the Higher Education Director at Advance Data Strategy. He has over 15 years of management consulting experience at the executive level, working with large organizations to provide enterprise-level strategy, planning, and program implementation and management. This includes implementing large-scale systems and infrastructure for Higher Education, Healthcare, Financial Services, Pharma, Insurance, and Retail industries.

Joanna Landrum 🍏

Joanna Landrum is the Director of Annual Giving, Market Segmentation and Research, at the Indiana University Foundation (IUF). She leads a team of analysts and researchers focused on audience segmentation and strategy to drive overall Annual Giving donor and revenue growth for IU. Over the years, she has worn a variety of hats, including leading multi-channel solicitations, improving metrics and reporting capabilities for IUF, developing the IU Panel, overseeing awareness of and reporting on IU Day giving/engagement efforts, implementing new organization-wide technologies for improved constituent coding/tracking, and more. Joanna holds a master’s degree from IU’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering and a bachelor’s degree from IU’s Kelley School of Business.

Karen Latora 🍎

An experienced Advancement Services industry advisor, connector, planner, advocate, and volunteer, Karen Latora brings deep expertise in fostering customer and community engagement. With practitioner experience at the University of California, Karen has led Advancement Services teams, managed system implementations, and drove business process improvement initiatives at UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz. Most recently, Karen contributed to retention and advocacy strategies as Head of Community & Customer Marketing at Kindsight and UC Innovation, where she oversaw the strong and steady growth of the ascend customer community and achieved notable marketing success. As a volunteer, Karen has been recognized for building strong communities, and successfully planning event and conference programming and content from the ground up. Karen currently serves on the aasp Board of Directors as the Director of Membership Engagement.

Kellie Basden Lawrie, Ed.D. 🍎

Dr. Kelly Lawrie is an accomplished leader in higher education advancement, currently serving as Assistant Vice President for University Advancement at Ohio Northern University. With a career spanning more than 16 years in higher education, Kelly has been instrumental at ONU in enhancing advancement services, stewardship initiatives, alumni relations, annual giving programs, and prospect research. Notably, Kelly managed Ohio Northern University’s largest and fastest comprehensive campaign, Forward Together, from inception to completion. The Forward Together Campaign raised over $112 million, secured 213 scholarships, engaged over 8,000 donors, and received 57,000 gifts, with 1,904 first-time donors contributing in less than three fiscal years. 

Andrew Leeson 🍏

Andy Leeson is Director of Data Integrity at Loyola University Chicago.

Jen Lesshaft 🍎

Jen Lesshafft is Senior Account Executive at Evertrue.

Jason Long 🍏

Jason Long is Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Sleek Consulting and a driving force behind some of the most innovative engagement strategies.  With roots in Advancement dating back to 2011 at his alma mater, Western Michigan University — where he led a landmark transition from multiple legacy systems to Salesforce in 2018 — Jason brings deep, hands-on expertise in leveraging technology to transform how institutions connect with donors. At Sleek, he leads their engagement practice, encompassing online giving, crowdfunding, events management, peer-to-peer advocacy, and community development, all powered by Salesforce. His most celebrated work to date is the transformational partnership with Occidental College, where his team worked closely with Oxy leaders to build a fully integrated, custom giving day solution on Salesforce Education Cloud that powered two consecutive record-breaking Day for Oxy campaigns — raising over $2 million in 2025 and shattering that record by $300,000+ in 2026 — earning Sleek and Oxy the prestigious 2025 Salesforce Partner Innovation Award in Education. A certified Salesforce Administrator and collaborative consultant, Jason’s philosophy is simple: the right platform, the right strategy, and the right partner can turn any giving day into a data-driven, repeatable engine for lasting impact.

Ramona Maza 🍎

Ramona Maza is Director of Donor Acquisition and Engagement at UI Health.

KellyAnn McGowan 🍏

KellyAnn McGowan is an Associate Director of Annual Giving at Northwestern University. She manages Annual Giving’s texting program, as well as Catalyzer, Northwestern’s student group crowdfunding platform, and co-manages Student Philanthropy Council responsibilities. Across these channels, KellyAnn strives to provide meaningful volunteer engagement, implement successful multi-channel crowdfunding campaigns, thoughtfully execute text solicitation strategies, and support the young alumni donor pipeline through programming that resonates with current students. She has been with Northwestern for four years, progressively taking on more responsibilities across multiple roles on the Annual Giving team. KellyAnn holds a B.A. in History from the University of London and is currently working towards an M.S. in Higher Education Administration and Policy at Northwestern. In addition to her professional work, she serves as the University of London’s representative to the British Schools and Universities Foundation and remains actively involved in her alma mater’s alumni community. KellyAnn lives in Chicago with her husband, Christian, and their two birds, Adele and Elton. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, cooking, and reading.

Connie Molzberger, MPA, CFRE 🍎

Connie Molzberger is Director of Annual Giving and Engagement at the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. 

Nicole Neely 🍏

Nicole Neely currently serves as Executive Director of Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving at Ohio Northern University.  In this role, she leads strategic initiatives to strengthen alumni relationships, increase donor participation, and advance the university’s philanthropic mission. Her work focuses on building meaningful connections with alumni and supporters while driving sustainable growth in annual fundraising programs. Nicole has extensive experience in alumni engagement, annual giving, and donor relations. She has held leadership roles across the field, including serving as Director of Member Services at the Annual Giving Network and as Director of Annual Giving at John Carroll University.

Cindy Novak 🍎

Cindy Novak is Sales Director with AccurateAppend.

Ernest Olivier 🍏

Ernest Olivier is Senior Data Analyst at DePaul University.  

Laurel Palmer 🍏

Laurel Palmer is Director of Annual Giving at Western Michigan University, where she leads strategies to grow donor participation, increase annual giving revenue, and build the pipeline for major and planned gifts. A resourceful, process-oriented fundraising professional, she engages constituents across direct mail, email, social media, and volunteer channels, and is currently helping prepare for the public phase of WMU’s comprehensive campaign concluding in 2030. Before joining WMU, Laurel spent 16+ years as Director of the Kalamazoo College Fund, where she helped complete two comprehensive campaigns, including the Brighter Light Campaign, which raised more than $203 million. Laurel is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals West Michigan. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Cedar Crest College and a M.A. in Student Affairs Administration from Michigan State University. She is actively involved in the West Michigan community, having served on boards focused on women’s leadership, essential needs, and youth development.

Kristine Petroshius 🍎

Kristine Petroshius P’27 is the Director of Advancement Services & Data Strategy for the Advancement Department of Lake Forest Academy. Kristine joined the Academy in 2010. She has served in various Advancement capacities, including Advancement Services Administrator and Annual Giving. Before LFA, she was the Fund Development Manager at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lake County for four years and a Policy Analyst at Combined Insurance Company (Aon) for five years. She is a native of Minnesota and holds a bachelor’s in early European history from the University of Minnesota.  Kristine is a co-advisor and an assistant coach for girls’ swimming and supports various campus activities.

Sara Pond 🍎

Sara is the Vice President of Client Development at MCR, Inc. She is a philanthropic leader with a 20-year career serving educational and non-profit sectors with special focus on pipeline development. Her experience details leading teams, targeted marketing and communications, technical strategy, artful storytelling, and qualitative analysis to build the donor pipeline and raise revenue. She is passionate about helping organizations provide economic mobility, access to educational pathways and healthcare services.

Courtney Pourciaux 🍏

Courtney Pourciaux is a director of advancement strategy at Encoura.  As a strategic consultant at Encoura, she partners with clients and prospective clients to develop tailored fundraising approaches, share emerging trends and best practices from across the nonprofit sector through research, and provide data-informed recommendations that drive results. She has held roles across the advancement sector, serving both The College of Charleston Foundation and Culver-Stockton College in planned giving, annual giving, major and principal giving, campaign management, executive communication, and digital fundraising strategy. A proud Chicagoan, storyteller, and former opera singer, she brings curiosity, creativity, and a healthy respect for both spreadsheets and human connection to her work. Courtney is also a passionate advocate for ethical fundraising practices and believes the best philanthropy happens when strategy and authenticity share the same stage.

Justin Prevost-Schultz 🍏

Justin Prevost-Schultz is Director of People & Operations at Chicago Food Policy Action Council.

Justin Pusczykowski 🍏

Justin Pusczykowski, is Major Gift Officer with the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.

Samantha Sanchez 🍏

Samantha Sanchez is Director of Leadership Annual Giving at the University of Missouri. Samantha Sanchez is Director of Leadership Annual Giving at the University of Missouri, where she leads strategy and manages a team of frontline fundraisers driving donor engagement, retention, and philanthropic growth. Known for building high-performing programs, she brings expertise in leadership annual giving, major gifts, pipeline development, and training teams to create scalable, results-oriented fundraising operations. She holds an MBA in Marketing and Nonprofit Management from the University of Iowa and a B.A. from Truman State University. Her experience includes work at ACT, Inc., in program development, higher education behavior identification and student placement, as well as roles supporting organizations such as Land O’Lakes, John Deere, and ACH Foods.

Rachel Spencer 🍎

Rachel Spencer is Senior Account Executive, Fundraising with VanillaSoft. Rachel is a true “phonathon” and Engagement Center expert, benefitting from nearly 15 years of tele-fundraising experience. She graduated from student caller, to telefundraiser-for-hire, to Engagement Center manager (and VanillaSoft client), and is currently salesperson-cum-consultant. In her role at VanillaSoft, Rachel works closely with more than 100 universities and her ability to imbue others with her unique brand of enthusiasm and joie-de-fundraising is truly unmatched.

Matt Sulzer 🍎

Matt Sulzer is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for MCR, Inc. He offers his non-profit fundraising clients nearly 20 years of experience embedded in marketing and print strategies that yield results. Matt currently works with 150+ higher-education and 50+ healthcare clients. In his service to these organizations, he has earned the accolade of “Salesman of the Year” eight times for providing extraordinary leadership, customer service and helping them raise the fundraising bar.

Elizabeth Tavares 🍎

Elizabeth Tavares serves as the Director Donor Revenue Management and Records at UNICEF USA. She has ten years of higher ed experience and loves documenting a donor’s wishes into a CRM and then watching the world change for the better. When she’s not talking in acronyms, she enjoys chasing after her four children, baking, and exploring Chicago’s great museums.

Sylvia Vandever 🍏

Sylvia Vandever has spent 20 years in higher education, building expertise across operations, customer success, ed tech, and advancement. Now an Account Executive at Gravyty, she brings a practitioner’s perspective to helping institutions strengthen their fundraising and alumni engagement efforts. She’s passionate about connecting the right tools with the right teams to change what’s possible on campus.

Hugh Vandivier 🍏

Hugh Vandivier is Associate Director of Advancement Initiatives at Wabash College.

Emily Vetne 🍎

Emily Vetne is Associate Director of Advancement Initiatives – Annual Fund Operations at Wabash College.

Mary Weingartner 🍎

Mary Weingartner is Managing Director of Donor Relations at UNICEF USA. In this role, she leads programs intended to thank donors and partners, celebrate their generosity, and bring them closer to the impact of their support for children and families. Mary began her career as a musician before discovering her passion for philanthropy nearly 20 years ago. Since then, she has supported higher education, healthcare, and human development organizations, including the University of Illinois, the University of Chicago, Loyola University Chicago and YMCA of the USA, before joining UNICEF USA in 2022. Mary is an active member of the Association of Donor Relations Professionals (ADRP), where she has served in various roles including International Conference Chair, ex officio Board member, and Education Committee chair. She currently helps lead the Workshops Team for the Education Committee.

Michelle Williams 🍏

Michelle Williams is Director of Annual Giving at John Carroll University. 

Vickie Woodhead 🍏

Vickie Woodhead serves as Partner Success Manager at GiveCampus, where she partners with advancement teams on engagement strategy and digital giving experiences that expand participation in mission-driven philanthropy.  She began her career in student affairs at Carnegie Mellon University, where she supported students navigating academic policy and developed a deep understanding of how institutional systems shape belonging and trust. As a first-generation college student and Pell Grant recipient, her work has remained grounded in expanding access. She later joined Stellic as an early team member, translating institutional complexity into scalable software that reduced operational burden and improved student support at scale. 

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