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Leadership
2012 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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Wendy Chou joined
Silicon Valley Community Foundation in 2011 as the director of
planned giving and advisor relations. Her primary responsibilities
are to establish mutually beneficial working relationships with
professional advisors and to generate interest and provide education
about creative ways to fulfill donors’ philanthropic objectives,
especially in the area of planned gifts. Prior to arriving at the
community foundation, Wendy worked as a relationship manager for
Kaspick & Company. Before joining Kaspick, she worked at Boston
College as the director of gift planning, and Santa Clara
University, where she got her start in the planned giving field.
Wendy has a BA from Tufts University and a JD from Santa Clara
University.
In 2010, Wendy completed a four-year term as a member of the Board
of Directors for the Planned Giving Group of New England. She is
currently a member of the Northern California Planned Giving
Council.
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Steven T. Clark is
the director of gift planning at Virginia Tech, a position he has
held since 1998. He has been with the university since 1994,
previously serving as Associate Director of Planned Giving. Prior to
his career in philanthropic planning, he practiced law with firms in
Richmond, VA and Abingdon, VA. He holds both a BA in government and
economics and a JD from the University of Virginia.
Steve is a former member of the Virginia Gift Planning Council and a
current member of the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning of the
Blue Ridge, where he has served as President and Vice President for
Programs
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Laura Hansen Dean is executive
director of gift planning at the University of Texas at Austin in
Austin, Texas. For over 20 years she has assisted individuals and
families in estate planning, incorporating charitable giving in
financial and estate planning, the creation of charitable
organizations and the selection of recipients of charitable grants.
She is a frequent speaker to estate planning councils, professional
advisor associations and national conferences on resource
development. She served on the board of directors of the National
Committee on Planed Giving from 1991 through 1993, authored the 1992
Gift Planner Profile, the 1995 Gift Planner Profile and was the 1993
Chair of the Education Committee. She served as the 1995-97
President of The Planned Giving Group of Indiana.
She serves on the editorial review committee for the Journal of Gift
Planning and is a member of the board of directors of the Ball State
University Foundation. She has served as associate director and
legal counsel for the Ball State University Foundation, Senior Legal
Counsel and Director of Gift Planning for the Central Indiana
Community Foundation, Inc. and its affiliated foundations, and as
President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana.
She is a magna cum laude graduate of Indiana University School of
Law at Indianapolis. She is a member of the Planned Giving Council
of Central Texas.
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Jill S. 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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Joe Hancock currently serves as trust counsel for
Baptist Foundation of Texas and its subsidiary, Concord Trust
Company, located in Dallas, Texas, having rejoined the Foundation
staff in 2002 after three years as Trust Counsel at Children’s
Medical Center of Dallas. He has practiced exclusively in the area
of charitable gift planning for the past 15 years, focusing on
technical issues related to the research, drafting and
implementation of all types of charitable gifts.
Joe’s responsibilities include counseling with nonprofit
organizations and prospective donors regarding matters of taxation,
trust law, estate planning and administration, and charitable
giving. Joe holds a BBA from Baylor University and MBA and JD
degrees from the University of Arkansas and is admitted to practice
in Texas and Arkansas. Joe is a member of the North Texas Chapter of
the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning.
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Julie Heggeness is an attorney with over 10 years
experience in the planned giving field. Julie deals with high net
worth individuals and their estates. She most recently served as the
planned giving director for a nationally recognized healthcare
foundation, dealing with philanthropic gifts, grants and outright
pledges through charitable gift planning. Julie is an expert in a
variety of financial vehicles, including charitable remainder
trusts, charitable lead trusts, charitable gift annuities and
charitable life estates. She graduated from the University of
Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and then
attended Western State University School of Law where she obtained
her JD. She earned the CSPG designation from the American Institute
of Philanthropic Studies.
Julie began serving a three-year term on the National Board of PPP
in January and served as the Orange County Chapter President in
2007. She is a member of the City of Long Beach Redevelopment Agency
Board and serves as Chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee for the Arts
with the City of Long Beach. Julie was recently presented with the
Long Beach Business Journal’s Business Woman of the Year Award. She
has been a member of the PPP Nominating Committee and has been a
delegate to the Leadership Assembly.
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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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Scott Janney is the executive director of planned
giving at Villanova University. He has served as the director of
planned giving at Main Line Health and St. Mary Medical Center and
the assistant director of planned giving at Temple University. He is
also the senior consultant with PlannedGiving.Com. Scott is a
co-founder and presenter of Planned Giving Boot Camp and The Planned
Giving Course, and has been a driving force behind Philadelphia’s
Planned Giving Day for the past eight years.
He is a highly
effective communicator and sought-after speaker at the National
Conference on Philanthropic Planning, Gift Planning Councils, AFP
Chapters, as well as an author of numerous articles including, “All
Annuitants are Women, and They Lie about Their Age.” Scott earned
his Ed. D. in educational administration from Temple University,
where he wrote his dissertation, “The College President and Fund
Raising Effectiveness.” He holds a master of divinity from Princeton
Theological Seminary, and an undergraduate degree from Asbury
University. He is a Certified Fund Raising Executive and Registered
Financial Consultant.
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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
20 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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Christopher L. Kelly is vice president and senior
philanthropic advisor of the Comerica Charitable Services Group. In
this capacity, Chris works with various nonprofit organizations
nationally, focusing on the benefits of the planned giving
infrastructure in meeting donor expectations. Prior to joining
Comerica, Chris served as a vice president and senior philanthropic
consultant with Merrill Lynch Trust Company and the Merrill Lynch
Center for Philanthropy. During his tenure, Chris also managed the
original Merrill Lynch Community Foundation Alliance. Prior to his
work in philanthropic planning, Chris was a professional opera
singer and has sung with opera companies and orchestras throughout
the United States and in Europe.
Chris has served on the Board of the Planned Giving Roundtable of
Southeast Michigan since 2001 and is the current council president.
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Jeff Lydenberg is a vice president of consulting at
PG Calc, a planned giving services firm headquartered in Cambridge,
MA, with offices in Seattle and Cincinnati. Jeff joined PG Calc in
1999. Throughout his career at the firm, he has participated in
client support, product development and product training for the
company’s software products, Planned Giving Manager and GiftWrap.
Jeff previously served as assistant director of planned giving at
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and in a similar capacity at the
Cleveland Foundation. Prior to that, he practiced law with the
Cleveland-based law firm of Thompson, Hine, and Flory. Jeff has a BA
in American studies from Kent State University and a JD from Case
Western Reserve University School of Law.
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Melanie J. Norton is consultant
with Johnson Grossnickle & Associates in Greenwood, Indiana. Her
experience working with donors for more than ten years has provided
her with extensive knowledge on the legal and financial mechanisms
of planned gifts. She understands the importance of creating a
mutual satisfaction between the donor and non- profit organization
to create a positive legacy for both.
Prior to joining JGA, Melanie was the Director of Gift Planning at
DePauw University. She was responsible for the oversight and
administration of DePauw’s $180 million planned gift program and
provided advice and assistance to major donors. Her personal
portfolio consisted of more than $20 million in secured and
documented gifts. Prior to joining DePauw, she was the Director of
Major and Planned Gifts at Franklin College where she gained
valuable experience serving behind the Vice President for
Institutional Advancement.
Melanie was recently appointed to the national board of the
Partnership for Philanthropic Planning (PPP). She is a past
president and board member of the Planned Giving Group of Indiana
and also recently ended her term of service on the board of the
Independent College Advancement Associates.
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Greg Sharkey serves as senior philanthropy advisor
for The Nature Conservancy. He assists donors in considering various
gift plans to accomplish their philanthropic goals, and helps
state-based fundraising teams with strategies for their donors. Greg
also counsels donors on the features, benefits and limitations of
charitable giving platforms like donor advised funds and private
foundations.
Prior to joining The Nature Conservancy in January 2008, he served
as director of planned giving/senior development officer at his alma
mater, Denison University. Greg directed all aspects of Denison’s
well-established planned giving program, and managed a traditional
portfolio of major gift prospects as well. He was a trial lawyer and
partner in the Philadelphia law firm of Sweeney, Sheehan and Spencer
prior to his career in philanthropy. He is a graduate of Denison
University (1984) and Villanova University School of Law (1987).
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Jay Steenhuysen is the founder of Steenhuysen
Associates and co-founder of Covenant Calls, which have assisted
numerous charitable organizations in soliciting hundreds of
thousands of donors for bequest commitments. He has consulted with a
variety of national charitable organizations, including The Nature
Conservancy and the American Cancer Society, refining and refocusing
their gift planning, major gift and marketing programs to meet the
needs of donors at all wealth levels.
Jay developed Brown University’s philanthropic planning program
within the principal gifts department. He served World Vision as
private giving counsel, facilitating the philanthropic planning
needs of its most significant donors. Prior to that role, he
directed World Vision’s Gift Planning Program, including all aspects
of marketing and solicitation of planned gifts. He also served as
director of philanthropic services for myCFO, a wealth management
firm. Jay holds a BA from Seattle Pacific University, an MA in
theological studies from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and an
MBA from Pepperdine.
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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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