Conf09Speakers

Aaron Bartley grew up in Buffalo and attended Buffalo Public Schools. He is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School. While at Harvard, he co-founded the Harvard Living Wage Campaign, which advocated on behalf of more than 2,000 of the university's service workers. The campaign resulted in $10 million in annual wage and benefit increases for the low-income workers it represented. Aaron was awarded the Gary Bellow Memorial Award by Harvard Law School for his advocacy on behalf of Harvard's service workers.

Following law school, Aaron served as a labor organizer in SEIU's Justice for Janitors campaign in Boston, MA. He helped to organize a citywide strike of more than 3,000 janitors which resulted in significant wage and benefit gains for a primarily low-wage, immigrant workforce.

In 2005 Aaron returned to Buffalo to co-found People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH Buffalo) with a grant from Echoing Green, a New York City-based foundation that supports emerging social entrepreneurs.

PUSH's mission is to address the lack of living-wage jobs and the poor housing conditions on Buffalo's West Side and to create a replicable model of grassroots neighborhood organizing and community-led development.

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William Dessingue

Executive Director, Charitable Venture Foundation, Clifton Park
Senior Program Officer of Housing, Charitable Leadership Foundation
Restructuring the Nonprofit Landscape: Lessons Learned

Bill has dedicated his efforts in the growing field of high engagement venture philanthropy. He is Executive Director of Charitable Venture Foundation and Senior Program Officer of Housing for Charitable Leadership Foundation. Charitable Venture Foundation and Charitable Leadership Foundation fund programs in housing, education, job development, human service and capacity building that are innovative, entrepreneurial and outcome based. Bill’s roles include strategic development, administration, evaluation, program monitoring and technical assistance.
Dessingue serves on the leadership committee of the regional Albany County Housing Trust Fund, the executive team for the Rensselaer County Taskforce to End Homelessness, the Albany South End Action Committee, the Enhanced Supported Housing Program committee, the University at Albany/High School Alliance committee, the president’s advisory council of Hudson Valley Community College and the advisory team for the Capital District Homeownership Collaborative.

Bill has an extensive background in corporate and entrepreneurial management. Involved with numerous start-up companies, Bill has been in medical services, computer technology, food service, manufacturing and property development. He has also worked for major, publicly-held corporations rising to the position of Divisional Vice-President with Primacare Health Resources, Inc. and later, CEO of American Technical Products, Inc. After leaving the corporate world, he started a general business and finance consulting practice. Soon after, he developed a consulting practice focused on micro-enterprise planning and development.

Bill has written and lectured to statewide audiences on the topics of venture philanthropy, social enterprise, not for profit re-engineering and entrepreneurial ventures for non-profits. He has been a guest lecturer and panelist for Russell Sage College, Siena College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and University at Albany. He is a graduate of the Saratoga Leadership Executive program sponsored by the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce. In his spare time, he is a baseball coach with the Lansingburgh Royals and a PSIA certified ski instructor at Bromley Mountain in Vermont.

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Dr. William Dietz

Director, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA

Healthy Lifestyles, Healthy Communities

William H. Dietz, MD, PhD, is the Director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta GA. Prior to his appointment to the CDC, he was a Professor of Pediatrics at the Tuft's University School of Medicine, and Director of Clinical Nutrition at the Floating Hospital of New England Medical Center Hospitals. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970 and a Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He is a member of the Institute of Medicine, a recipient of the Holroyd-Sherry award from the American Academy of Pediatrics for his contributions to the field of children and the media, and the recipient of the 2006 Nutrition Research award from the AAP for outstanding research in pediatric nutrition.

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Peter Dunn

Central New York Community Foundation, Syracuse

Beyond Grantmaking: Program Related Investing

In June 2008, Peter Dunn became President and CEO of the Central New York Community Foundation in Syracuse, NY. With more than $90 million in assets and more than 500 individual charitable funds under administration, the Community Foundation is a leader in promoting philanthropy for the benefit of Central New York communities and distributed more than $5 million in grants in its most recent fiscal year.

Prior to joining the Community Foundation, Peter was Vice President, Philanthropic Services with the California Community Foundation in Los Angeles, CA. Peter joined the California Community Foundation as Gift Planning Officer in 1996, became Director of Gift Planning in 1998 and the foundation’s chief development officer in 2006. During his tenure, the foundation’s assets grew from $200 million to more than $1.3 billion and it received more than $1.2 billion in charitable contributions. From 1994 to 1996, Peter was Program Coordinator for Community Foundation Services at the Council on Foundations in Washington, DC. At the Council, Peter managed programs addressing legal, development, marketing and investment issues affecting community foundations, the creation of foundations resulting from the conversion of nonprofit hospitals to for-profit status and the issuance of FASB SFAS 136 (governing nonprofit accounting standards). He began his nonprofit career as a campaign fundraiser for the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County in 1993.

Peter received a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the University of Notre Dame in 1987 and a Juris Doctor from the University at Buffalo School of Law in 1990. He was admitted to practice law in New York State in January 1991 and practiced with a focus on civil litigation in Buffalo until 1993. He is a former Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Tax Exempt Organizations Committee, board member of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley estate planning councils and Planned Giving Roundtable of Southern California, member of the Finance Committee of Holy Family Catholic Parish in South Pasadena, CA and was a Civil Service Commissioner for San Gabriel, CA. He is currently a member of the Council on Foundations Legal and Regulatory Action Team for Community Foundations and a board member of the Near Westside Initiative in Syracuse.

Peter and his wife Brigid reside in Fayetteville, NY, with their daughters, Katharine (5) and Elisabeth (3).

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Joanne Florino

Executive Director

Triad Foundation, Ithaca

Restructuring the Nonprofit Landscape: Lessons Learned

Joanne Florino has worked in philanthropy for over 25 years and has been the Executive Director of the Triad Foundation of Ithaca, New York since April 2003. The values which drive the philanthropic mission of this family foundation reflect the desire of its donor, Roy Hampton Park, to encourage Americans to take advantage of the opportunities offered by their country. Triad’s grantmaking moves forward his commitment to democracy and free enterprise, to religious liberty and freedom of thought, and to broad access to education and employment. The Triad Foundation has made $60 million in grants since 2003 - primarily for graduate fellowships at Cornell University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, educational programs serving children and youth, marine and tropical ecology, scientific research, and human services. Its grantmaking is concentrated on the East Coast, primarily in Central New York; Chapel Hill, Charlotte and coastal North Carolina; and Tampa and the Gulf Coast of Florida.

Prior to joining Triad, Joanne served from 1996 until 2003 as the Executive Director of the Park Foundation where she administered a grantmaking program of $20 million to $30 million each year. The primary focus of Park’s grantmaking during Joanne’s tenure was higher education, specifically scholarship and fellowship programs at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, Ithaca College’s Park School of Communications, North Carolina State University and UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Park also directed significant funds to public television, the environment and a broad spectrum of community-based programs in the East Coast communities where family members and other trustees resided. From 1984 until 1996 Joanne served as a program associate in the Ithaca office of The Atlantic Philanthropies, working primarily in the fields of higher education and aging. Joanne earned degrees in history from Georgetown University and Cornell University.

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Christine Grumm

President and CEO

Women's Funding Network, San Francisco, CA

Women in Philanthropy

Christine Grumm, President and CEO of the Women’s Funding Network, has more than three decades of experience as a leader in effecting social change through civil society, and especially through women’s philanthropy. Chris passionately believes in the power of women and girls’ solutions and is dedicated to helping unleash that potential to help transform the world.

As President and CEO of the Women’s Funding Network, Chris has shown dynamic leadership in guiding over 140 women’s and girls’ funds, in the U.S. and abroad, through an ambitious program of expansion towards a goal of $450 million in assets by 2008. Chris has also raised awareness of the make-a-difference philanthropy practiced by women’s funds that emphasizes the active role of women as donors and grantee partners.

Prior to joining WFN, Ms. Grumm served as executive director of the Chicago Foundation for Women, where, under her leadership, the organization increased its grantmaking to $1 million dollars annually and completed an endowment campaign surpassing its $5 million goal with a final pledge total of $7 million. Previously, Ms. Grumm served as deputy general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva, Switzerland, representing over fifty-five million Lutherans worldwide and providing emergency humanitarian and long-term development aid. She was also executive director of Education Program Associates, a non-profit public health, education, and training organization in Campbell, California, founded to meet the health-care needs of women, children and families in California.

In addition to her work with WFN, Chris has served on the board of Mayaworks, an organization that provides opportunities for partnership between Mayan women artisans in Guatemala and women in the United States through fair trade marketing and sales.

Chris holds a B.A. in health education and community organizing, as well as an M.A. in women's studies from Antioch University, Yellow Springs, Ohio.

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Stuart Hart

Samuel C. Johnson Chair of Sustainable Global Enterprise and Professor of Management

Cornell University, Ithaca

Sustainable Economy/Sustainable Communities

Stuart L. Hart is the Samuel C. Johnson Chair of Sustainable Global Enterprise and Professor of Management at Cornell University's Johnson School of Management. Before joining Cornell in 2003, he was the Hans Zulliger Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Enterprise and Professor of Strategic Management at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School, where he founded the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise and the Base of the Pyramid Learning Laboratory. Previously, he taught corporate strategy at the University of Michigan Business School and was the founding director of the Corporate Environmental Management Program (CEMP).

Professor Hart is one of the world’s top authorities on the implications of sustainable development and environmentalism for business strategy. He has published over 50 papers and authored or edited five books. His article “Beyond Greening: Strategies for a Sustainable World” won the McKinsey Award for Best Article in the Harvard Business Review for 1997 and helped launch the movement for corporate sustainability. With C.K. Prahalad, Hart also wrote the pathbreaking 2002 article “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid,” which provided the first articulation of how business could profitably serve the needs of the four billion poor in the developing world. His book, Capitalism at the Crossroads, was published by Wharton School Publishing in 2005. The second edition (2007) includes a new Foreword by Al Gore.

Stuart Hart has received numerous honors and awards for his work in the area of sustainable enterprise. He was recognized as a “Faculty Pioneer” by the World Resources Institute in 1999 for his work in integrating environmental and social issues into the management education curriculum.

Stuart Hart earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester (General Science), Master’s degree from Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (Environmental Management), and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan (Planning and Strategy).

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Heidi Holtz

Rosamond Gifford Foundation, Syracuse

Embracing Failure: Learning from Your Grantmaking

Heidi Holtz was appointed Program Director for Community Grantmaking at the Rosamond Gifford Foundation in February 2005. Prior to Gifford she worked at Syracuse Stage for nine years, ending her tenure as Director of Communications and Educational Outreach. In 2002 she was instrumental in the establishment of CNY Reads, the ongoing community-wide reading program.

Heidi has over 25 years experience working in the not-for-profit world, specializing in arts management, marketing, board development, fundraising and public relations. She has worked for Circle in the Square Theatre in New York City, the McCarter Theatre Center for the Performing Arts in Princeton, NJ, Montgomery Community Television in Rockville, MD, as Executive Director of the New Jersey Theatre Group, and as a private consultant. From 1994 to 2005 Heidi taught a variety of theatre history classes as an Adjunct Instructor with the Syracuse University Department of Drama and also was an Interim Adjunct Professor at Ithaca College, teaching courses in Theatre Organization and Management, Board Development and Public Relations.

She serves or has served on the boards of the Arts Branch/YMCA, the Onondaga Citizens League, ThINC, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, A Better Chance of Manlius and the Fayetteville Playhouse. Her volunteer work includes service on Congressman Dan Maffei transition team’s subcommittee on the arts, the Program Committee of Grantmakers Forum of New York and the Marketing Committee of The Redhouse Arts Center. Heidi has adapted, directed or performed in radio plays including the recent production of L. Frank Baum’s The Maid of Arran for the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation; Swan Song for Women's Voices Radio and all of Syracuse Stage’s Old Time Radio Theatre fundraisers.

Heidi holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Denison University and a Master of Arts in Theatre History and Certificate in Women’s Studies from Syracuse University. An 19-year resident of Fayetteville, Heidi has two children, one a recent graduate of Swarthmore College, the other a Junior at American University.

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James Knickman

President & CEO

NYS Health Foundation, New York, NY

Embracing Failure: Learning from Your Grantmaking

James R. Knickman is the first President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York State Health Foundation (NYSHF). The Foundation, which began operations in May 2006, is a private philanthropy established with resources from the conversion of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield from a non-profit to a for-profit corporation. NYSHF received $260 million in assets and expects to make grants throughout New York State totaling approximately $15 million annually. The Foundation focuses on three funding areas: expanding insurance coverage for New Yorkers, improving access to high quality health care, and helping communities improve the health of the public.

Prior to joining NYSHF, James Knickman was Vice President for Research and Evaluation at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey. At RWJF, Dr. Knickman was responsible for external evaluations of national initiatives supported by the Foundation. He and his staff also took lead roles in developing research initiatives supported by the Foundation and conducting internal analysis related to the Foundation’s grant-making priorities. At various times during his fourteen year tenure at the Foundation, Dr. Knickman led grant-making teams in three areas: clinical care for the chronically ill, long-term care services, and population health.

Between 1976 and 1992, Dr. Knickman was on the faculty at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and directed the university’s Health Research Program, where he conducted research on a range of issues related to health care delivery. Dr. Knickman is currently Chair of the Board of Directors for The Robert Wood Johnson Health System in Central New Jersey. He also is on the Board of the New York Catholic Health Care System and on the editorial boards of the Milbank Quarterly and Inquiry. Dr. Knickman previously served as a chairman of the New Jersey Department of Health’s Cardiac Health Advisory Council and was also a board member of the Academy Health in Washington, DC. He is a graduate of Fordham University (BA) and received a Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Jennifer Leonard

President & Executive Director

Rochester Area Community Foundation, Rochester

Community Foundation Issues : National Standards and More

Jennifer Leonard is president and executive director of the $225-million Rochester Area Community Foundation, which engages area philanthropists in strengthening greater Rochester, New York. The Community Foundation grants more than $20 million annually for the arts, civic engagement, education, environment, health and historic preservation, and for programs benefiting children, youth, women and seniors.

With 25 years in her field, Leonard has chaired the national Community Foundations Leadership Team, Standards Action Team, and the Coalition of Community Foundations for Youth. In Rochester, she serves on the Mayor's Literacy Commission and Educational Leadership Council and on the boards of Odyssey of Humanity and the Genesee Valley Club. In 2003, Rochester Business Journal named Leonard to its inaugural class of “20 Most Influential Women.”

Leonard graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley College and was a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs. She holds an urban studies master's degree from Occidental College. She lives in Rochester with her husband, New York Times reporter and author David Cay Johnston, and three daughters

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Martin Lehfeldt

author, Notes from a Non-Profitable Life

Martin Lehfeldt is an author, consultant, speaker, and facilitator with 44 years of experience in the not-for-profit sector. He has been a newspaper reporter, a foundation program officer, a college development officer, head of his own consulting firm, and the President of the Southeastern Council of Foundations. When he retired from the Southeastern Council, that organization published Thinking about Things, a compendium of his monthly newsletter columns from the past decade. Last November he published Notes from a Non-Profitable Life. He also writes a bi-weekly blog for philoptima.org.

Lehfeldt is the author of The Sacred Call, the biography of civil rights attorney Donald Hollowell, and he edited and contributed to On Our Way Rejoicing, which celebrated the 150th anniversary of Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. Lehfeldt has written Lead Me Home, an unpublished novel, and is working on The Promise, a history of philanthropy in the South.

Lehfeldt has been a board member and chair of the Academy Theatre, the Center for Positive Aging, Literacy Action (all in Atlanta) and the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. His current volunteer responsibilities include serving on the boards of the Georgia Humanities Council and the Interdenominational Theological Center. He is an Elder of Central Presbyterian Church and president of his college class. He and his wife, Linda, have three productive, mortgage-paying children and three grandchildren.

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Donald W. Matteson

Senior Program Officer

The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation, Getzville

Philanthropy 2.0 Basics

Don Matteson is Senior Program Officer at The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation. Trained as an academic sociologist specializing in demography, research methods, and statistics, he has spent his entire professional career working with not-for-profit organizations in roles ranging from information technology specialist to operations director or as a consultant.

Matteson did his undergraduate studies at Oberlin College in Ohio, and earned Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Sociology at the University of Buffalo. Don is an avid marathon runner.

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Lindsay McClung

Rosamond Gifford Foundation, Syracuse

Embracing Failure: Learning from Your Grantmaking

Lindsay McClung was initially appointed as Office/Grants Manager at the Rosamond Gifford Foundation in April 2007. Her role with the organization has changed over time and she now is the Program Officer/Grants Manager at the Gifford Foundation. Since joining the foundation she has completed MicroEdge Gifts training and has fully integrated the use of Gifts within the organization. She is also certified in Advanced Knowledge Management Essentials by the KM Institute. In 2009, Lindsay implemented and continues to manage a resource sharing website for organizations in Central New York.

Lindsay serves on the Syracuse Community Geographer Steering Committee and on a variety of other neighborhood related committees. She developed a system to streamline the way the foundation received grants and created a flexible reporting procedure for grantees and for the organization to use internally. This formed a mechanism to talk openly about completed grants.

Lindsay holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics from Iowa State University. She is originally from Iowa and has lived in the Syracuse, NY area for 3 years.

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Donnell Mersereau,

Director of Community Foundations

Council of Michigan Foundations, Grand Haven, MI

Launch A New Initiative? Decisions, Decisions

Donnell Snite Mersereau is Director of Community Foundations for the Council of Michigan Foundations, a regional association of grantmakers with 400 member organizations. Her duties include management and implementation of services to 55 community foundations in Michigan with special focus on standards, regional marketing and youth grantmaking. Ms. Mersereau co-authored “Building Philanthropic and Social Capital: The Work of Community Foundations” in 2001 (second printing 2008).

Ms. Mersereau has traveled throughout North America and Europe providing technical assistance to emerging and existing philanthropic support organizations. She is the past chair of the Advisory Committee for Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support –Community Foundations (WINGS-CF), past chair of the Grant Committee and past member of the Management Committee for the World Bank Community Foundation Global Fund, and Ambassador for the Trans-Atlantic Community Foundation Network (TCFN). She was also a 6 year member of the Council on Foundations’ Standards Action Team, chaired the National Standards for US Community Foundations’ Re-Compliance Task Force and recently was appointed as a founding member of the Community Foundation National Standards Board—a supporting organization of the Council on Foundations.

Ms. Mersereau earned a Bachelor of Science/Communications (BSC) degree and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Media Management from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.

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Ann F. Monroe

President

Community Health Foundation of Western & Central New York, Buffalo

Community-Driven Planning: One Model for Impact

Ann F. Monroe is President of the Community Health Foundation of Western and Central New York, an endowed foundation with assets approaching $100 million. CHFWCNY serves the Buffalo and Syracuse regions and focused primarily on improving the health outcomes of frail elders and children in communities of poverty, as well as improving the systems that serve them.

From 1998 to 2003, she was the Director of the Quality Initiative at the California HealthCare Foundation, a catalyst in improving overall quality of health care through public accountability and consumer engagement.

She has 30 years experience in health and human services, including more than 10 years as a Senior Vice President with Blue Cross of California. She holds a BA in political science and an MA in human development from the University of Illinois.

She is currently Board Secretary of Grantmakers in Health, President of Western NY Grantmakers and a board member of Leadership Buffalo. She serves on the Consensus Standards Approval Committee of the National Quality Forum and is a former Board Member of The Leapfrog Group. Ann also chairs the Steering Committee for the WNY Community Health Planning Institute. She was a founding board member of CaliforniaKids, provider of health insurance coverage to undocumented children, and the California Breast Cancer Treatment Fund, provider of financial support for uninsured California women diagnosed with breast cancer.

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Margaret O'Connell

Executive Director

The Allyn Foundation, Skaneateles

Successions and Transitions: Generational Issues of Family Foundations

Margaret “Meg” O'Connell is Executive Director of the Allyn Foundation, a private family foundation located in Skaneateles , New York . She served as Executive Director from 1994-1998 and then returned to the position in 2001. The Allyn Foundation, with assets of $26m, was founded in 1954 by William G. Allyn and his father, William N. Allyn, founder of Welch Allyn, Inc. Welch Allyn, Inc. is a privately-held family company which manufactures medical diagnostic equipment. Board members of the Allyn Foundation are comprised of 3 rd and 4 th generation members of the Allyn family as well as non-family directors.

Prior to joining the Allyn Foundation in 1994, Meg worked for 5 years at Planned Parenthood of Syracuse as Development Director, where she planned and implemented a $1.9m capital campaign. From 1998-2000, Meg lived in England . Upon her return in 2000, she coordinated the $9m capital campaign for the construction of the Skaneateles Community Center . In the past 9 years, Meg has consulted on numerous capital campaigns.

In addition to her work with the Allyn Foundation, Meg has served on numerous not-for-profit boards including Planned Parenthood of Rochester/Syracuse, WCNY, Skaneateles Library Association, Wells College Board of Trustees and Onondaga Community College Board of Trustees. She volunteers on the Program Committee of Grantmakers Forum of New York .

A graduate of Dartmouth College, Meg lives in Skaneateles , NY with her husband, Eric Allyn, and their three teenage daughters.

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Cynthia Pacia

Philanthropic Service Associate

Rochester Area Community Foundation, Rochester

Philanthropy 2.0 Basics

Cynthia joined Rochester Area Community Foundation in 2003 and currently serves as Philanthropic Services Associate where her primary focus is relationship management. At the Community Foundation, she has implemented high-technology solutions utilizing existing software to allow staff time to provide personalized and hands-on services to donors. Cynthia has spoken nationally at the Council on Foundation’s Advancement Network on utilizing FIMS, a relational database initially created for community foundations. MicroEdge, FIMS owner, has recruited her to co-conduct a training webinar and to participate on several user enhancement committees.

Prior to the Community Foundation, Cynthia served as Communications/Information Systems Manager at Grantmakers Forum of New York and Communications Assistant at Combined Jewish Philanthropies in Boston, MA.

In 2008, Cynthia became a featured blogger on the Democrat & Chronicle’s Young Professional section, where she includes posts that promote nonprofits and philanthropy to young professionals or support the professional development of young professionals working in the nonprofit sector.

Cynthia is co-creator of NextGen Rochester, a giving circle for young professionals (age 21-45) and has spearheaded the group’s efforts to utilize online technologies including Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, to recruit new members. The group also maintains a member-only group on LinkedIn.

Cynthia is an active member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Genesee Valley, and the Rochester Women’s Network, and serves on the boards of Rush Henrietta Soccer Club and Twelve Corners Day Care Center.

Cynthia received a Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from Roberts Wesleyan College in 2003 and holds a BA in Creative Writing from Binghamton University. She lives in Henrietta, NY with her husband and two young children.

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Doug Sauer

Chief Executive Officer

NY Council of Nonprofits, Albany

Restructuring the Nonprofit Landscape: Lessons Learned

Doug Sauer is Chief Executive Officer of the New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc. (NYCON), formerly the Council of Community Services of New York State, Inc. where he has provided leadership since 1980. He also is currently Chair, Board of Directors, National Council of Nonprofits, a network of 38 state associations and 22,000 NYS nonprofits, of which NYCON represents 1,600.

Under Doug’s leadership, NYCON has emerged as a nationally recognized leader in building innovative partnership initiatives with state government, foundations and United Ways with respect to board governance, entrepreneurial ventures, mergers and restructuring, and legal, financial and risk management services. He leads an experienced multi-disciplinary professional staff team that works closely with third-party funders to effectuate nonprofit restructuring solutions through a sequential and highly cost-effective process.

Doug is founder and Chair of Council Services Plus, a for-profit insurance brokerage subsidiary of NYCON, and founder of Innovative Charitable Initiatives, a nonprofit subsidiary providing fiscal sponsorship and employment administration services. Past board service includes Governance Matters, the National Association of Planning Councils where he also served as President, Center for Women in Government at Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy and as an elected school board member. Doug was a gubernatorial appointee on the NYS National Commission on Community Service.

Doug holds a Masters degree in Social Work with a concentration in community organization from the University of Pittsburgh. He also has a Bachelor’s in Social Work from the University at Albany and an AAS in Human Services from Hudson Valley Community College. Doug is a popular speaker and presenter, and has taught numerous graduate and undergraduate courses.

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Ralph Smith

Executive Vice President, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore, MD

Chair, Council on Foundations

The Power of Policy: Supporting Policy Work for Systemic Change

Ralph Smith is chair, Council on Foundations and executive vice president of The Annie E. Casey Foundation. He provides day-to-day leadership and management of the Foundation. As senior vice president and director of planning and development, he helped design the Foundation’s comprehensive effort to help communities improve outcomes for children by strengthening families and neighborhoods. Ralph serves on the Boards of the Foundation Center, Wachovia Regional Foundation, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, and Venture Philanthropy Partners.

A legal scholar and attorney, he was a member of the law faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and authored briefs in landmark cases before the United States Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals. He served in senior leadership positions for the Philadelphia school district and as senior advisor to the mayor. He is the founding director for the National Center on Fathers and Families and the Philadelphia Children’s Network.

Smith is an active participant in various councils and networks working to improve national and international philanthropy.

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Susan Kenny Stevens

Management consultant; Author, Nonprofit Lifecycles: Stage-based Wisdom for Nonprofit Capacity

Investing in Capacity: Stage-based Nonprofit Lifecycles

Susan is a nationally recognized consultant and advisor to many local and national foundations. Over the past twenty-five years, she has written extensively on financial and management issues pertaining to philanthropy and the nonprofit sector including five books, several journal articles, and a variety of case studies used in university-based nonprofit management courses throughout the country.

Her award winning book, Nonprofit Lifecycles: Stage-based Wisdom for Nonprofit Capacity, has sold nearly 15,000 copies and serves as the cornerstone for many capacity-building programs, including the ADVANS Program sponsored by the Rosamond Gifford Foundation in Syracuse.

Dr. Stevens holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior. Her doctoral dissertation examined the entrepreneurial behavior of nonprofit founders.

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Kathryn Thomas

Board Chair

Women's Foundation of Genesee Valley, Rochester

Women in Philanthropy

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Marianne Wilder Young

President, Market Street Trust Company, Corning

Successions and Transitions: Generational Issues of Family Foundations

Marianne Wilder Young has been with Market Street Trust Company since 1995, first as Vice President for Client Services where she was responsible for the management of client relationships for both individual and trust accounts, and then as President beginning in July, 1999. In addition to working with the Board of Directors on strategic issues, Marianne works with individuals and family groups to facilitate financial and estate planning. She also works with and advises several family foundations.

Before joining Market Street Trust, Marianne practiced law at Harris, Beach & Wilcox, where she focused on corporate and banking law. She received a B.A. Degree from Mount Holyoke College and a M.S. Ed. from the University of Rochester. She also holds a J.D. Degree from Cornell Law School where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. Marianne was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1992 and is a member of the New York State Bar Association, Trusts and Estates Law Section.

Young served on the Family Office Exchange Advisory Board for a number of years. She is a past President of the Board of Trustees of the Rockwell Museum in Corning, New York. She currently is a trustee of the Alternative School for Math and Science, a private middle school located in the Corning area, and a director on the board of the Finger Lakes Land Trust.

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Grantmakers Forum of New York, 75 College Avenue, Suite 311, Rochester, NY 14607-1009
ph. 585.232.2380 fax. 585.232.8413 email. gfny@grantmakers.org