2014 Conference Speakers - Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

LUNCHEON KEYNOTE

Thomas Lennox, CEO, Pelotonia. Tom started Pelotonia in June of 2008. Prior to his leadership role with Pelotonia, Tom ran Abercrombie and Fitch’s global communications practice, was a vice president with ABN AMRO Asset Management in Ohio and worked with Marsh & McLennan Companies in their New York office. Currently a member of Nationwide Children’s Hospital Foundation’s Board, Tom is an advisory board member of two Ohio based startup companies. Tom received a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Iona College. Tom is a cancer survivor. He enjoys competing in triathlons and resides in New Albany, Ohio with his wife Jane and their three children.

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Chris Aker, head of solution design, Eventbrite. Chris is Head of Solution Design at Eventbrite. Chris works with companies, non profits and organizers across the live events landscape to create ticketing and registration solutions focused on driving sales through mobile technology and social media. Prior to Eventbrite, Chris was Vice President of Business Development at Revana. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Give Together, a community organization that creates volunteer opportunities for families with young children.

Rachel Armbruster, president, Armbruster Consulting. Rachel is an executive nonprofit strategist specializing in fundraising. She lives in Austin, Texas, and has more than 15 years experience in marketing, nonprofit management, and fundraising. As an executive nonprofit strategist, Rachel is focused on solving revenue, structure, and opportunity challenges in order to maximize the r on investment for charities and their partners. Rachel served as Vice President of Business Development for Event 360, Inc. where she launched the Autism Society and Pump It Up cause-marketing campaigns. While she was the Director of Development at the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Rachel was responsible for creating new fundraising programs, evaluating proposals, and planning for future Foundation revenue. Prior to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Rachel worked in advertising for SicolaMartin Advertising and the Director of Marketing for the Sun Bowl Association. She is a graduate of Purdue University with her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and her Masters in Business Administration from St. Edward’s University.

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Mark Becker, founder, Cathexis Partners. Mark founded Cathexis Partners in the fall of 2008. Prior to that, he was the Director of IT Consulting at an event production company focused on producing nonprofit events. In his ten years supporting nonprofits, Mark has supported hundreds of nonprofit online fundraising efforts. Mark leads Cathexis Partners, whose mission is to help non-profit and other socially minded organizations raise funds, expand house files and spread the word about their mission more effectively and more efficiently. Services include website development (design, migrations/integrations, implementation, CSS/template deployment), reporting, database management, IT consulting, technical support, custom training, copywriting, and project management.

Tim Blumenthal, CEO, PeopleForBikes. Tim has been a leader of the U.S. bicycling movement since 1980. After 15 years as a top editor for VeloNews, Mountain Bike magazine, and Bicycling, he served 11 years as first executive director of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA). He’s led the Bikes Belong Coalition and Foundation since 2004: these organizations were renamed PeopleForBikes earlier this year. He’s been a writer and advisor for NBC and ABC at seven summer Olympic Games. Tim was elected to the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2001.

Kari Bodell, business development, Plenty. Leading the Business Development charge at Plenty, Kari uses her past experience as both a consultant and practitioner to develop strategies and tactics that yield outstanding results. Kari works with our clients and prospective clients to assess the current landscape, identify strategic opportunities and design a plan for maximizing those opportunities to generate revenue and fuel mission impact. Kari has been in peer-to-peer fundraising for ten years, managing high-profile relationships and projects, and is well versed in all aspects of the design and delivery of event fundraising and peer-to-peer programs. Kari has a degree in Communications from the University of Utah and has worked in high-tech, higher ed and with the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics. She is a certified docent for the Chicago Architecture Foundation and she loves showing people her city. Her professional passion is helping her clients achieve their goals and fulfill their mission and her personal passion is being the world’s best aunt.

Greg Borkowski, manager, development, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Inc. Greg is responsible for soliciting and managing corporate partnerships that provide revenue to RMHC’s global office as well as product, service, volunteering and cash donations to RMHC’s Chapters in the US and abroad. In addition to guiding RMHC’s annual individual giving strategy, Greg created, implemented and is responsible for managing the Caring Hearts Legacy Circle – RMHC’s planned giving program. Prior to RMHC, Greg was chief development officer for the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching, and taught kindergarten. Greg earned has a BA from the University of Notre Dame, serves on several charity boards and coaches boys and girls soccer.

Staci Brown, president, SLB Consulting. Staci works with for profit and nonprofit organizations specializing in endurance sports marketing programs and special events. Prior to creating SLB Consulting, Staci was the National Director for the American Cancer Society’s endurance fundraising program, DetermiNation. Staci spent 5 years at the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation where she started an endurance fundraising training program from the ground up raising over $30 million dollars during her time as National Director, ten years at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Foundation, as a Senior National Campaign Manager for its Team In Training program where she worked with staff across the United States. Staci resides in Phoenix, Arizona and is a graduate of the University of Alabama.

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Maureen Carlson, Executive Vice President, Good Scout. Maureen Carlson has extensive experience and a successful track record in corporate alignment and cause marketing strategy, corporate sponsorship and consumer marketing. She is a sought after strategist and speaker used behind the scenes by blue chip cause marketing and advertising agencies to create methods and tactics that ignite client campaigns. In 2000, after several years in the for-profit marketing sector, Maureen joined City of Hope and founded their cause-related marketing department, where she created several high-profile corporate cause marketing campaigns with corporations such as Staples, Dreyer’s, PaperMate, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s and Universal Music Group. In 2007, Maureen launched a sales and marketing consulting business, Caliber, LLC, focusing on creating effective, integrated cause marketing and corporate alliances within the healthcare and hospital sector. In 2011 Maureen joined Good Scout as its Executive Vice President of Strategy and Development. Good Scout is a social good consultancy led by Phil McCarty that helps brands take smart, impactful and sustainable leaps in how they do a greater good.

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Nick Denby, vice president of development, The LIVESTRONG Foundation, oversees daily operations and provides leadership to the events, merchandise, corporate giving, stewardship and annual giving teams. In his role he is responsible for executing on the strategic plans related to Team LIVESTRONG, grassroots fundraising, partnered events, corporate giving, merchandise, stewardship, workplace giving, targeted mail campaigns and annual giving. Nick has been with the Foundation for seven years, and prior to his role in development he was the Director of Accounting. Nick has a BA from Gettysburg College and an MS from the University of Maryland.

Dave Deschenes, Executive Director, The IRONMAN Foundation. IRONMAN is the leading endurance sport brand in the world offering over 200 events world-wide. The IMF is the nonprofit arm of the World Triathlon Corp and since inception has provided close to 30 million dollars in give back to support nonprofit initiatives globally. Before joining the team at IRONMAN, Dave was the Managing Director of the Athletes for a Cure program of the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Prior to his work in the nonprofit field, Dave worked in the financial services field for 15 years.

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Craig Fordham, Head of Challenge Events, Macmillan Cancer Support. Having embarked upon a short-lived and unfulfilling career in the music industry, Craig initially joined Macmillan for six weeks, but having caught the fundraising bug, finds himself still there 15 years later, 14 of them spent as an Events fundraiser. In his current role he is responsible for creating and driving strategy to raise income and awareness from sporting and endurance events. With the help of a fantastic and talented team (who do all the hard work) he has overseen income growth of 250%. Craig has previously chaired the Event Manager’s Forum – the UK’s equivalent of the RWRFR Council – and is a keen, but plodding, marathon runner.

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Matt Glass, partner and chief creative officer, Eventage. After beginning his career as Production Manager for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Annual Events, Matt and his wife Jennifer founded Eventage is 1998. Matt has become an industry leader in the on-site experience for event participants nationwide and has scripted and coached multiple Academy Award winners, Fortune 500 CEOs and everyday people fighting challenges like breast cancer, depression and brain tumors. He lives in South Orange, NJ with his wife Jennifer, two daughters and two cats. He is proud to have mastered the art of assembling IKEA furniture.

Kimberly Goff, executive director, It’s The Journey. Kimberly Goff is executive director of It’s The Journey, producer of the Atlanta 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer. Prior to joining the 2-Day three years ago, Kim had a varied background in economic development, sports marketing and non-profit management. Kim was executive director of Hands On Georgia, a statewide volunteer organization. She spent 5 ½ years as senior vice president of economic development at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and seven years a the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism. While with the state, Kim ran a unique, first time program that offered Olympic athletes from every country the opportunity to train and acclimate in Georgia prior to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

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Phillip Hain, National Director of Team Up!, Autism Speaks. Phillip helps raise funds through endurance programs for the world’s largest autism science and advocacy organization, which supports research, promotes advocacy, raises awareness and empowers families. He has been with Autism Speaks since October 2007 and held positions as Executive Director of Southern California and West Region Director before assuming his current position in February 2013. Prior to becoming a staff member he was a volunteer with the organization and its predecessor, Cure Autism Now, where he served as Los Angeles Chapter President and helped create the Walk Now for Autism Speaks program, which has raised more than $13 million over eleven years in Los Angeles. Prior to joining the non-profit sector, he held marketing positions in a variety of industrial and consumer product companies. He has a Bachelor’s degree from UCLA and an MBA from the University of Tennessee, and is the parent of a 21 year old son with autism.

Kathryn Hall, senior client success manager, Blackbaud. Kathryn began developing web-based applications in 1996, and in this capacity worked first with small tech companies and later with Fortune 500 companies like Verizon and Gateway. She joined Blackbaud by way of Kintera in 2005 as a project manager, and in this capacity has implemented online fundraising projects for organizations as diverse as Sesame Workshop, American Heart Association and University of Notre Dame. She now works with top peer-to-peer clients, helping them optimize their use of Blackbaud software, solve problems, and hone strategies for their fundraising programs. When not working, Kathryn spends a lot of time traveling, dreaming of traveling, trying to stay fit, and serving on the global missions board of her local church.

David Hessekiel, founder and president, Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council. Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council President David Hessekiel has one marathon for charity under his belt and a passion for helping nonprofits and businesses succeed at doing well by doing good. Since 2006 the P2P has brought thousands of peer-to-peer fundraising professionals together via its annual conference, workshops and webinars to share best practices and provided them with access to the information they need to raise more for their organizations. P2P is a unit of Hessekiel’s Cause Marketing Forum, Inc. The recipient of a BA from Wesleyan University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, David’s background in journalism, magazine management, consumer marketing and the dot.com world equipped him to launch CMF. He lives in Rye, New York with his wife Andrea and their two daughters.

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Michael Johnston, president and founder, Hewitt and Johnston Consultants. In addition to leading that global fundraising consultancy, Michael is the co-founder of two global fundraising products: The Global Legacy Giving Group and the sports-based Fantasy Fundraising. Michael has been a fundraiser for 25 years, and has worked with hundreds of nonprofit organizations in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. Michael is an expert in fundraising innovation and integrated marketing – most especially how new technologies best combine with traditional ways of giving: planned giving, events, major gifts, and annual campaigns.

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David A. Kalson, partner, Beacon Advisors. David, a 30-year veteran of the public relations industry, is an expert in crisis communications and has worked extensively with for-profit and non-profit organizations, helping them develop and test crisis plans and manage crises should they occur. He also specializes in science- and sustainability-related issues management. David has a B.A. in Philosophy and an M.A. in Communications from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Deepa Karani, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Blackbaud. Deepa has 13 years of experience in fundraising, event management, and volunteer management in the nonprofit sector. Prior to Blackbaud, Deepa served as a national consultant for the American Heart Association and propelled one of the largest national youth service programs to online fundraising success by driving fundraising best practices with the premier technology solution, TeamRaiser. She has a passion for special event fundraising and loves working with organizations to grow their peer-to-peer fundraising programs. She has a Masters of Business Administration degree from University of Texas at Dallas and works remotely from her home office in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas.

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Chad Leathers, executive director, Cupid’s Undie Run. I follow a simple model in life, “Let’s do this.” What is often missed in this phrase is the ‘us’, let US do this. As the Executive Director of Cupid’s Undie Run I have been blessed with a team of passionate individuals who believe in taking matters into their own hands. As a team our focus is on building tools to empower volunteers to do more locally. I began my fundraising career as a volunteer and learned very quickly two things: people WANT to help, but just need better tools and always keep the FUN in fundraising.

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Christie Madsen, director of national events and brand campaigns, Make-A-Wish America. Christie formerly served as the Director, National Signature Events for The ALS Association, National Office and Special Events Coordinator for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. She received her B.S. in Human Development & Family Studies, Psychology, Sociology from Indiana University Bloomington.

Amber Martin, director marketing services, Active Network

Shana Masterson, National Associate Director for Interactive Fundraising and Engagement, American Diabetes Association. Shana works with the Association’s two signature fundraising campaigns: Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes and Tour de Cure; as well as Father of the Year, Team Diabetes and other smaller events. She works with various stakeholders and across departments to guide the strategic direction of the special events’ online fundraising and communication efforts, including website, email communication, social media, and mobile. She also consults with event staff throughout the country to assist with their local campaigns and multi-channel outreach plans. In 2012, both signature events experienced more than a 17% increase in online revenue and were recognized as the second and third fastest growing events in the Run Walk Ride 30. Shana has been working in peer-to-peer fundraising for twelve years and lives and works in Glocester, RI. Follow her on Twitter: @npshana.

Suzanne Mooney, consultant, Plenty. Suzanne has more than 9 years of experience in event fundraising. She has been on the front lines, working directly with participants and teaching them how to fundraise. She has worked in program development and implementation and has created and led participant recruitment and fundraising coaching sessions. Suzanne uses this experience and knowledge in her role as a consultant at Plenty to teach organizations how to guide their participants to fundraising success and ultimately bringing the organization closer to achieving their mission. Suzanne lost her mom to breast cancer seven years ago and wants to live in a world where no one knows the pain of losing the most important person in their life to this disease or any other. It was her mom’s battle with cancer that led Suzanne to event fundraising and the realization that it’s possible to make a living by making the world a better place.

Liza Munson, SVP campaign development, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Since joining LLS in 1995 as a Fundraising Assistant at the Palm Beach Area Chapter, Liza has worked on numerous development efforts at the chapter and national levels. In her current position, Liza oversees of all special event fundraising campaigns nationally at LLS, totaling about $150 million in annual revenue. Her areas of expertise include staff training and development, special event fundraising growth strategy development and execution as well as creating opportunities to maximize volunteer leadership to impact revenue results.

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Kate Olsen, VP strategic projects, Network For Good. Kate executes business development and growth initiatives at Network for Good, a leading digital giving platform. She also spearheads thought leadership projects, helping companies and nonprofits extend the reach of their cause-related initiatives and better engage with consumers, employees and supporters. Prior to Network for Good, Kate practiced strategy consulting with the Boston Consulting Group and community development through public-private partnership with The United Way of Greater Los Angeles and The U.S. Agency for International Development. Kate holds a BA from Bryn Mawr College, a MSW from the University of Southern California and a MBA from Georgetown University.

Mandy O’Neill, chief strategist and founder, ConnectedNonprofit. Mandy is a 13-year veteran of using online tools including websites, email, social media, and mobile technologies to build targeted digital relationships for nonprofit organizations and individuals. Mandy speaks, blogs, trains, and provides creative direction for nonprofit organizations to achieve well-defined, high value goals using online tools.

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Nancy Palo, senior consultant, strategic services, Blackbaud. Nancy brings more than 12 years experience in the event fundraising space and is looking forward to helping nonprofits implement solutions to increase revenue through innovative online fundraising strategies. Prior to joining Blackbaud in April 2012, Nancy worked at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in California and New York where see oversaw the Society’s peer to peer fundraising campaigns, raising more than $30 million during her 8 years with the organization. She studied Communications and Business at the University of San Diego. Twitter: @fundraising101

Alex Patterson, VP – Culture, Tough Mudder. As Tough Mudder’s VP of Culture, Alex is responsible for creating and maintaining a company culture focused on relentless improvement and innovation, both in the office and at events. Previously, Alex has held a wide range of positions at Tough Mudder, ranging from Chief Creative Officer to Chief Marketing Officer to In-House Counsel to start-line MC. Alex received a degree in political science and economics from Harvard College, a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, and then spent two years exploring the intricacies of the U.S. federal tax code while an associate at Davis Polk in New York. He is a 19-time Tough Mudder finisher.

Nicole Preston, managing director of national campaign development, American Diabetes Association. Nicole leads the Tour de Cure, a nationwide series of 90 fundraising cycling events for riders of all levels. The Tour de Cure has experienced double-digit increases in revenue and participation each year during her tenure, growing from 20,000 to more than 65,000 riders raising over $26 million. Nicole has managed large-scale charity events for several charitable organizations the last fifteen years, including the AIDSRide cycling events and 3-Day Breast Cancer walks. Prior to this role, she held several positions in management and finance in Fortune 100 corporations including Euro Disney and Hewlett-Packard. She is an avid cyclist, and sits on the board of the League of American Bicyclists. She lives in Maryland with her husband and two kids.

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Laurie Schaecher, consultant, Plenty. Laurie participated in her first endurance cycling event for charity over 13 years ago, and has worked in special events fundraising ever since. As a consultant at Plenty, Laurie provides data analysis and strategic recommendations to our clients. She pairs this with her experience in management, event marketing and recruitment, fundraising, volunteer coordination, event logistics and execution. She also brings her experience as the Deputy Executive Director of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s New York City Chapter. As DED, she was responsible for all event fundraising, ranging from athletic endurance events to black tie dinners to golf tournaments. Her current sport is running and she participates in numerous fundraising races each year. Laurie earned a Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College and lives in North Carolina with her husband and three children.

Jessica Scheps, development event specialist, Yale-New Haven Hospital. Previously responsible for planning and executing all fundraising events for the hospital, Jessica is now responsible for coordinating the hospital’s signature fundraising event, the Closer to Free Ride to benefit Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven. Jessica received both her Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in Health Services Administration from The George Washington University. She resides in Madison, Connecticut with her husband, and their three young children.

Jeff Shuck, CEO, Plenty. With over twenty years of experience in the fundraising industry, Jeff Shuck has consulted with hundreds of nonprofits and led teams to produce more than 200 fundraising events involving hundreds of thousands of participants who have collectively raised over a billion dollars for charity. As CEO of Plenty he uses this experience to offer expert advice in the fields of experiential and peer-to-peer fundraising. Jeff also consults extensively on the link between mission, organizational strategy, and development programs. He holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management and is studying for a Masters in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University.

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Katrina VanHuss, CEO, Turnkey Promotions. Katrina VanHuss has spent 25 years using human desire for recognition to increase fundraising for national and regional clients. With her three children she lives outside Richmond, VA where she gardens furiously and frequently challenges her sons in volleyball matches, ignoring that they are infinitely more gifted athletes than she.

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Donna Wilkins, CEO, Charity Dynamics. Donna has worked with hundreds of organizations to implement online solutions with the ultimate goal of providing her clients the tools and confidence they need to be successful. She has worked with large national organizations with events across the country and small local events. Personally, Donna has participated in several fundraising events and raised over $10,000 from friends and family to support several organizations.

Gary Wohlfeill, Director of Marketing at CrowdRise. Gary works with partners to develop highly engaging and successful fundraising campaigns as well as developing the CrowdRise brand. Before CrowdRise, Gary was the Creative Director at Moosejaw, a multi-channel outdoor retailer that has been recognized as a leader in brand marketing and innovation in the space. Gary has been named as having the “3rd best haircut of people under 6 feet tall at CrowdRise” and hopes one day to slip to 4th.