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Leadership
2010 Board
of Directors
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here for
2011 Board of Directors
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Jonathan D. Ackerman represents donors and tax-exempt organizations on a national basis
through his firm, Law Office of Jonathan Ackerman, LLC. For the past
24 years, he has practiced in the areas of charitable gift planning,
tax-exempt organizations, charitable solicitations laws, federal
corporate and partnership taxation, estate planning and probate, IRS
practice and procedure, real estate and business formations and
transactions. Ackerman is a member of the American Bar Association
and Maryland State Bar Association, Taxation and Real Property,
Probate and Trust Sections and has served on the Ad Hoc Committee on
Ethics and Accountability in the Nonprofit Sector for the Maryland
Association of Nonprofit Organizations. He attended the University
of Maryland, the University of Baltimore School of Law, and obtained
his Masters of Laws in Taxation at Georgetown University Law Center.
Ackerman was a member of the Board of Directors of the National
Committee on Planned Giving (NCPG), program chair of the 2000
National Conference on Planned Giving, and 2002 chair of the boar
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Melanie Schnoll Begun
is a managing director and head of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney’s
Philanthropic Services. Melanie has served as a philanthropic
counselor to donors, foundations and family offices for over 16
years. She works with the firm’s ultra-high net worth clients to
develop areas of focus for their philanthropy; engage multiple
generations in their foundation’s governance, programming and
evaluation; design customized domestic and international
grant-making portfolios and gift agreements; facilitate giving
circles and retreats; and advise on the formation of tax-exempt
organizations as well as their dissolution or merger. Melanie is a
vice president of MSSB’s Global Impact Funding Trust, Inc., the
nonprofit organization sponsoring the firm’s donor-advised fund,
Melanie is on the board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation, and on the advisory boards of Girls, Inc., the Salvation
Army, and the Endowments and Foundations advisory board for the
Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA).
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Margaret May
Damen is president and founder of the Institute for Women and
Wealth, Lake Worth, Florida. Her thirty-year career in finance,
fundraising and public relations began as a vice-president for
development and fundraising for the Boston University School of Fine
and Applied Arts. She also served as public relations director for
the New England Conservatory of Music, executive director of
Arts/Boston, and manager of the Handel and Haydn Society. She had a
successful 18-year career as a senior financial advisor specializing
in estate and philanthropic planning with American Express Financial
Advisors. She received her Bachelor and Masters degrees from Boston
University. Damen is a member of the treasure Coast Planned Giving Council where
she is past president. She has presented at several NCPG Conferences
on Planned Giving.
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Jill Dodd is a partner at the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, where she heads up both the Nonprofit Group and the Family Wealth Transfer Group. For the past 21 years, her practice has focused on the representation of charitable organizations in all aspects of the law and the representation of very high net worth families with respect to estate and gift planning, with a particular emphasis on charitable giving.
She spends a substantial part of her practice working with both donors and charities to structure complex charitable gifts.
Dodd's honors and awards include Worth magazine's "Top 100 Lawyers Advising High Net Worth Clients", 2007 and 2008; California Super Lawyer, 2007, 2008; and The Best Lawyers in America, 2005 - 2009. She earned her undergraduate degree from Oberlin College, Master's from Harvard (in American History) and law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Shari M. Fox
is assistant vice president for development at the
University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Previously, she was
director of gift planning for the University of Cincinnati
Foundation in Cincinnati, OH. Prior to joining UC, she was president
of Beech Acres Foundation and also served as endowment specialist
with the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. Fox is a former chair of
the board of directors of the National Committee on Planned Giving
(predecessor to the Partnership) and is a member of the Washtenaw
Estate Planning Council. She has served on the boards of directors
of Cincinnati Therapeutic Riding and Horsemanship and the Community
Resource Center in Cincinnati, and she is a past member of the
editorial advisory board for the monthly newsletter Planned
Giving Today.
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Jackie W.
Franey is director, gift planning and donor relations for the
Communities Foundation of Texas, in Dallas. Over the past seventeen
years she has also held gift planning positions with Childrens
Medical Center Dallas, the national office of the American Heart
Association and St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. Franey
received her BA in Education from LeTourneau University and holds
the Certified Specialist in Planned Giving designation from the
American Institute for Philanthropic Studies. She is a current
member of the Planned Giving Today Editorial Advisory Board.
Franey is a member of the North Texas Chapter of NCPG where she has
served as president of the Board of Directors, as program chair, and
as a delegate to the NCPG Assembly. She is a past member of the Lone
Star Chapter of NCPG.
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Sharon Kloss Hogan has over 17
years of experience in major gifts and philanthropic planning. She
is the director of gift planning at the University of Portland
(Oregon). Prior, she served in gift planning positions at Oregon
State University Foundation, National Multiple Sclerosis Society,
and the Salvation Army. Sharon has a J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law
School, Portland, Oregon. She is past chairman of First United
Methodist Church Board of Trustees and a past board member of
Parents Anonymous. Sharon was a member of the NCPG Conference
Program Committee in 2006.
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Suzanne Iler is vice president of planned giving for the YMCA of
Middle Tennessee, in Nashville. Prior to her current position, she
was vice president for major gifts and planned giving at Centerstone,
the largest behavioral healthcare provider in Tennessee and the
ninth largest in the nation. She previously worked in development at
Belle Meade Plantation, also in Nashville. Suzanne holds a BA in
Business Administration from Belmont University.
Iler is a member of the Planned Giving Council of Middle Tennessee,
where she has served as president, program chair, and delegate to
the NCPG Assembly. She has also served on the NCPG Conference
Program Committee.
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Heidi B. Jark is vice president
and manager of The Foundation Office at Fifth Third Bank in
Cincinnati, Ohio, where she is responsible for overseeing the
administration and investment management of corporate and family
foundations. For the past five years, she was Fifth Thirds planned
giving manager, overseeing the day-to-day administration and
investment of planned gifts. Jark is a graduate of Valparaiso
University and its School of Law and served as its planned giving
manager after retiring from the practice of law. Jark is a member
and past president of the Greater Cincinnati Planned Giving Council.
Jark's community involvement includes board service to her local
American Cancer Society chapter, the Ohio Grantmakers Forum, the
Greater Cincinnati YWCA, and the WAVE Foundation. She is currently
the President of the Valparaiso University Alumni Association and
serves on the Universitys Board of Directors. She has served in
various leadership capacities at Ascension Lutheran Church and the
Fine Arts Fund of Cincinnati.
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John W. Jensen is senior vice president for The Sharpe Group,
based in the Washington, D.C. area. He was formerly the development
vice president at The Nature Conservancy and at the National
Wildlife Federation. John served four years in the Maine House of
Representatives. Jensen has a BA in Political Science from the
University of Southern Maine and is a Certified Financial Planner.
He is a current member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Planned
Giving Mentor and a former planned giving columnist for the NonProfit Times.
Jensen is a member of the National Capital Gift Planning Council,
where he has served on the Board of Directors, as vice president for
programming, and as a delegate to the NCPG Leadership Assembly.
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Tanya Howe Johnson is president and CEO of the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning (formerly the National Committee on Planned Giving). During her 17 year tenure the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning has developed the award-winning publication, The Journal of Gift Planning; launched LEAVE A LEGACY®, a national award-winning donor education campaign; and created numerous industry standards and best practice models for charitable gift planning. In addition to other honors, The NonProfit Times named Johnson to both its 2007 and 2008 national "Nonprofit Power and Influence Top 50". She has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from her alma mater, Columbia College (Missouri), and was selected as the 2004 national honor initiate for Sigma Kappa Sorority. As a charitable giving advocate, she has met with President George W. Bush and numerous members of Congress, and has been quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.
As a management consultant, Tanya has worked with more than 100 nonprofit organizations. She holds the Certified Association Executive designation, a certification held by less than five percent of association management professionals. She currently sits on the American Society of Association Executives' Key Philanthropic Organizations Committee.
Johnson actively supports philanthropy in her local community, serving on the board of directors of the Indianapolis Affiliate of Komen for the Cure and as the chair of the Noblesville First United Methodist Church Foundation.
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Michael Kateman is executive director of development, alumni and public relations at Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri, and manages all aspects of fundraising, including planned giving, the annual fund, donor relations and campaigns. His works also includes overseeing alumni relations and public relations. Previously, he spent 19 years at the University of Missouri-Columbia working in all areas of institutional advancement. His diverse marketing, public relations and fundraising background includes healthcare, the arts, human services and higher education. Kateman is a nationally recognized speaker on marketing and advertising planned giving techniques. He served as NCPG Education Chair for two years, and is a member of the Mid-America Planned Giving Council. Kateman is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, with an MA from the School of Journalism and a BS in Business Administration―Marketing. He attended the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.
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Thomas P. Lockerby
is Vice President for Development at
Boston
College, where he also
serves as Campaign Director. In these roles, he directs a comprehensive campaign which was
launched in October, 2008, with a goal of 1.5 billion. In addition, Thom oversees BC's Capital Giving, School
Development, and Organizational Giving areas.
Thom has spent his entire career working in or consulting
with charities, primarily focusing on major and planned gift fund
raising. His expertise
is advising donors and families about strategies to effectively
maximize their philanthropy in concert with overall financial,
estate planning, and wealth transfer goals.
Prior to joining BC,
Thom served as Director
of Gift Planning at Dartmouth College. Previously, he
was Relationship Manager
at Kaspick & Company, an
investment firm
specializing in
charitable trusts and
endowments; Vice
President at PG Calc
Incorporated, a
development software
company; and Director of
Development Relations at
Harvard Business School. Thom has made
presentations to
regional and national
conference audiences and
his articles have
appeared in
Planned Giving Today
and the
Journal of Gift Planning.
He serves on the
board of the Partnership
for Philanthropic
Planning (formerly
NCPG), is a past
President of the Planned
Giving Group of New
England, and is a
graduate of Harvard College.
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Bruce B.
Makous is a consultant with Barnes & Roche, Inc., a
full-service development consulting firm in Rosemont, PA. He has
been a professional fundraiser for over twenty-six years and most
recently served as vice president for development at Multiple
Sclerosis Association of America. Previously, he was major gifts and
planned giving officer for the American Association for Cancer
Research, Philadelphia; assistant vice president for major and
planned gifts with Drexel University; and director of planned giving
with The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Makous has served on the faculty of the Chartered Advisor in
Philanthropy (CAP) program at The American College. He has been
granted the Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) status by the
International CFRE Board and the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy
by The American College. He has an MA in Nonprofit Cultural
Administration from New York University, and a BA in English from
Oberlin College.
In 2009, Makous was named one of the "Most Influential and
Effective" fundraisers in the US by The NonProfit Times. He is
immediate past president of the Planned Giving Council of Greater
Philadelphia, a past president of Association of Fundraising
Professionals Greater Philadelphia Chapter, and a former member and
officer of the International Board of Directors of the Association
of Fundraising Professionals.
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Timothy J. Prosser is vice president, institutional trust
consulting, for TIAA-CREF Trust Company, St Louis, Missouri, where he
directs the delivery of planned giving technical consulting services
to the companys institutional clients. Prior to joining TIAA-CREF,
he practiced law, assisting high net worth clients in estate
planning, charitable giving and business succession planning,
advised fiduciaries in administration of estates and trusts and
represented parties in complex litigation. Prosser received his JD
degree and MA degree in Public Administration from St. Louis
University and his BA in Russian Area Studies from Loyola
University.
Prosser is past president of the St Louis Planned Giving Council,
and currently serves on the board as vice president of education. He has also served the council as program chair, past chair of LEAVE A
LEGACY St. Louis, and delegate to the NCPG Leadership Assembly.
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Brian M. Sagrestano
is the President and founder of Gift Planning Development,
LLC, a full-service gift planning consulting firm providing
strategic planning, marketing training seminars, start ups and
assessments. Prior to starting GPD, he worked as a charitable gift
planner, directing the gift planning efforts for the University of
Pennsylvania, Middlebury College and Meridian Health Affiliated
Foundations. He has also worked in gift planning at Hamilton College
and Clarkson University.
Sagrestano is a nationally known speaker on gift planning topics,
having presented over 175 educational and training sessions in his
gift planning career, including sessions at the PPP Conference and
AFP International. He serves on the editorial boards the Journal of
Gift Planning and has been published and cited in several national
publications. He is a former board member of the Gift Planning
Council of New Jersey and the Planned Giving Council of Greater
Philadelphia and former editorial board member of Planned Giving
Mentor. His service to the Partnership has included attendance at
the Leadership Assembly since 2006, participation on the 2009-2010
Web 2.0 Task Force, 2009 Conference Planning Task Force, 2007 Gift
Planner Profile Task Force and the 2006 Conference Committee. An
honors graduate of Cornell University and Notre Dame Law School,
Brian lives with his wife and three daughters in the foothills of
the Adirondacks in New Hartford, New York.
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William D. Samers
is vice president of planned
giving and endowments for UJA-Federation of New York, the largest
local not-for-profit in the country, where he leads a 20 person gift
planning department. For the past nine years he worked for the
American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science (ACWIS)
most recently as the vice president of gift development and
compliance. He recently completed his two year term as president of
the Planned Giving Group of Greater New York (PGGGNY) and currently
sits as one of sixteen members of the board of directors of National
Committee on Planned Giving. He is a former member of the faculty of
the New York University Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising. Samers has published in the The Journal of Gift Planning and
has presented to the National Conference on Planned Giving, and the
Planned Giving Councils of New York, San Francisco, Houston, New
England and Connecticut, as well as to the Association of Fund
Raising Professionals (AFP). Samers is also a co-developer of tools
for measuring fundraising effectiveness and managing campaigns.
Before joining ACWIS, Samers was affiliated with the American
Society for the Technion. Previously he was an associate at Heidell,
Pittoni, Murphy & Bach, P.C. He is a graduate of the University of
Pennsylvania and received his J.D. degree from Boston University Law
School.
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Larry P. Stelter is president
and CEO of The Stelter Company, a leading source on gift planning
marketing for 2,000 print clients and 1,300 Web clients nationally.
Larry has almost 40 years of experience as a marketing specialist
and is a frequent speaker and author on gift planning topics,
including presentations at the National Conference on Planned
Giving. The Stelter home office is located in Des Moines, Iowa, and
has regional marketing consultants nationwide. Larry is a graduate
of the University of Iowa.
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Robert E. Wahlers
is senior director of development and gift planning for Meridian
Health Affiliated Foundations in Neptune, NJ. He was previously
associate vice president for major & planned giving for Virtua
Foundation. Robert has worked in financial and estate planning for
20 years including the last 17 in nonprofit fundraising with the Boy
Scouts of America and the American Cancer Society. He serves on the
board of the Gift Planning Council of New Jersey, and is past
president of the New Jersey Chapter of the Association of
Fundraising Professionals. He is also a member of the Association of
Donor Relations Professionals. He holds a Master of Science degree
in Human Development & Leadership with a concentration in Nonprofit
Management from Murray State University and a BA in Psychology from
Muhlenberg College.
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Craig C. Wruck is vice president, University Advancement at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, MN. Previously, he was senior vice president of development and alumni relations for Hazelden in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was associate vice president of development & director of gift planning at University of Minnesota Medical Foundation. Wruck is a
former director of client
development for Kaspick & Company, has served as director of gft
planning for the University of Minnesota and vice president of
development for The Saint Paul Community Foundation, as well as vice
president for U. S. trust Company and national manager of Charitable
and Nonprofit Services for U.S. Bank, where his work focused on the
needs of individual donors and charitable organizations. His career
in development also includes experience at William Mitchell College
of Law in Minnesota, and Claremont University Center in California.
Wruck is past chair of the National Committee on Planned Giving (NCPG)
and currently chairs its Government Relations Committee. In 1993 he
was chair of the Sixth National Conference on Planned Giving and is
a frequent speaker and writer on planned giving topics.
In the fall of 2002 he was presented with a Distinguished Service
Award from the National Committee on Planned Giving in recognition
of his work in the field. In 1999 he was recognized with a David M.
Donaldson Distinguished Service Award presented by the Planned
Giving Group of New England.
He is past president of the Minnesota Planned Giving Council and was
a founding member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the newsletter
Planned Giving Today. Beyond his professional involvement,
Wruck
serves as a member of the Board of Education for South Washington
County Schools in Minnesota.
Wruck holds an MBA from the University of St. Thomas and a
bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Utah.
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Chris Yates is director of
Stanford University's Office of Planned Giving. He earned his J.D.
from the University of Chicago, and then joined the law firm of
Morrison and Foerster, where he practiced for three years. Yates
joined Stanford in 1989 as associate director of undergraduate
admission. Prior to leading the Planned Giving team, he served as
associate director of Planned Giving at Stanford and as director of
gift and estate planning for the California Institute of Technology.
Yates is a past chair of NCPG/PPP.
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