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 is also a frequent contributor to CASE’s Online Speaker Series on the subject of annual and regular giving. 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 🍏
Charles Audino is Director of Annual & Reunion Giving at Wheaton College.
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.
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.
NIck Evans 🍏
Nick Evans is Associate Director of Communications at University of Louisville.
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.
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 Data Scientist, Philanthropy at the Cleveland Clinic. He works remotely from the Chicago area. Andrew has worked in the philanthropy space since 2018, having held roles such as Associate Director of Development Operations at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and as a Systems Analyst and later Data Scientist at Cleveland Clinic’s Philanthropy Institute. Much of his professional focus has been on using technology like SQL, Python, and Tableau to support organizations’ prospect development efforts through data analytics, with a particular focus on building statistical models for identifying and segmenting prospects, measuring capacity and affinity, and predicting donor behavior. Andrew graduated from the Ohio State University with a Bachelor’s in Arts Administration & Policy and is pursuing his Master’s in Data Science at Northwestern University. He relocated to Chicago from his native Cleveland in late 2023.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Laurel Palmer 🍏
Laurel Palmer is Director of Annual Giving at Western Michigan University. She is a resourceful, process-oriented fundraising and marketing professional who provides strategic leadership in creating engaging strategies and programs for internal and external constituents of Western Michigan University. In her role at Western Michigan University, she is responsible for increasing giving participation and annual giving revenue, broadening the donor support base, and developing the pipeline for major and planned gifts. As the Director of Annual Giving she strategizes a variety of annual giving initiatives, as well as donor stewardship and communication. Her work involves engaging donors through various channels, including direct mail, email, social media, and volunteer engagement. She is currently helping to prepare for the public phase of WMU’s comprehensive campaign to conclude in 2030. Prior to joining Western Michigan University, she worked at Kalamazoo College for 16+ years as the Director of the Kalamazoo College Fund. In her professional capacity, she has been involved in significant fundraising efforts for Kalamazoo College, including helping to complete two successful comprehensive campaigns, with the Brighter Light Campaign raising $203+ million. She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals West Michigan. She is a graduate of Cedar Crest College (Allentown, PA) and holds a B.S. in Business Administration, Marketing, and Human Resources. She received a master’s degree in student Affairs Administration from Michigan State University. She is actively engaged in the local community, having served on numerous non-profit boards that focus on women’s leadership, essential needs and youth development.
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.
Christina Pulawski 🍎
Christina is Associate Vice President, Management Consulting with Zuri Group, where she provides counsel, vision, and extra hands to the operational side of nonprofits. She previously served as AVP of External Affairs at the Art Institute of Chicago, and in leadership roles at Loyola University Chicago and Northwestern University. A native Chicagoan, she is a co-founder and former officer of AASP, chaired and developed conferences and symposia for APRA, AASP and CASE, and received CASE’s Crystal Apple and APRA’s Distinguished Service awards. Christina delights in teaching and empathetically creating structure and frameworks for good work; her passions are critically examining organizational structure, and designing relationship management schemes and all the underlying systems that drive successful major and principal gifts activities and donor relations.
Hilda Rivera 🍎
Hilda Rivera is Manager of Leadership Annual Giving at Wheaton College. Born and raised in Chicago, Hilda earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sales Administration with a focus on Marketing from a local college. With over a decade of experience in relationship management, she brings a strategic and people-centered approach to fundraising. For nearly four years, she has served in the Annual Giving department at Wheaton College, where she helps raise support for the college’s main operations fund. Most recently, her team celebrated a record-breaking month in annual fundraising, a testament to the power of connection, storytelling, and consistent donor engagement.
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.
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 the Managing Director, Stewardship at UNICEF USA. Mary has worked in the field of stewardship and donor relations for over 16 years, beginning at the University of Illinois Foundation in 2006. Her love of donor relations has taken her to Loyola University Chicago, YMCA of the USA, and the University of Chicago, where she served as Director of Donor Relations. In 2022, Mary joined UNICEF USA as Managing Director of Stewardship. In this role she is charged with building a best-in-class stewardship program that brings donors closer to UNICEF’s transformative work. Mary is an active member of the Association of Donor Relations Professionals (ADRP). Currently she chairs the ADRP Education Committee and serves as an ex officio member of the Board of Directors.