Apra Premier Webinar: Building a High Performing Team in the New Normal

Joe Gonzales is Associate Director of Foundations Systems and Operations at Earthjustice where his passion for the environment and social justice are finely balanced. His tenure in the non-profit sector spans institutions of higher education, university medical centers, and mission driven organizations in a variety of roles with fundraising teams. While he currently lives and works in the Midwest, Joe is a native Texan who prefers to spend his summers up north and winters down south

Chandra Montgomery is a veteranfundraising strategist and certified diversity, equity, and inclusion educatorand speaker. Her background in philanthropy spans academic medicine, highereducation, public media, and social services. She is an Apra volunteer leaderand an alumna of CASE’s Minority Advancement Institute. Chandra currentlyserves as chair of Apra’s Advocacy Committee and is a founding member of theorganization’s inaugural DEI Committee. She is also founding co-chair of theAdvancement DEI Task Force at the University of Southern California where sheis the director of pipeline and prospect development for Health Sciences. Priorto USC, she led prospect development teams at National Public Radio andVirginia Commonwealth University. Chandra holds a BA from Hampton Universityand is pursuing a master’s degree at USC’s Gould School of Law. 

Dr. Rodger Devine is the Assistant Vice President for Advancement Operations at Pomona College. As a senior member of the Advancement team, Rodger provides strategic leadership for the college’s development infrastructure, leads annual giving and stewardship strategy, and utilizes data and analytics to drive fundraising success. Rodger also works in close collaboration with the CIO and ITS leadership on advancement technology vision, systems, and resource management.
Rodger previously served as the Associate Dean of External Affairs for Strategy and Innovation at USC Dornsife College of Letters Arts and Sciences, where he built and led a comprehensive advancement operations and data analytics program. Prior to USC, he was Director of Information, Analytics and Annual Giving at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, following expanding leadership roles in information technology at University of Michigan.
Rodger earned his Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Japanese, University of Michigan; Master of Science in Information, Analysis and Retrieval, University of Michigan; and Doctor of Education in Organizational Change and Leadership, University of Southern California. In his spare time, Rodger speaks at various conferences, teaches workshops, and volunteers on projects that benefit non-profit organizations and diverse communities of professional practice.

Kate Aitken is the Senior Director for Talent Management and Strategy and member of the Executive Team in Georgetown University’s Office of Advancement. At Georgetown, her team’s mission is to drive and inspire talent to be the best they can be, and create a safe, inclusive, work environment with a mission-oriented, high performing team.  This includes serving as the chief strategist and trusted thought partner to all in the Office of Advancement in the deployment of talent management strategies.

Previous to joining Georgetown in October 2017, Kate served as a Director, Career Management at EAB where she was the lead HR business partner to the marketing and account management teams for talent acquisition, retention, engagement, organizational planning, performance management and career development.

Earlier in her career, Kate held positions in a non-profit sports association and international consumer goods company where she created and supported programs for enhanced customer engagement.  

Kate holds a B.A. in Psychology from Middlebury College.

Paul Wiklanski is the Senior Associate Director of Prospect Development at the University of Michigan and is a visionary thought-leader who encourages change management with executive teams and organizations. A problem-solver who leverages analytics, creativity, and experience to develop actionable and compelling strategic insight. A leader who delivers results and empowers the success of his team. In his current role as the Senior Associate Director of Prospect Development - University of Michigan; Paul is dedicated to increasing frontline fundraiser effectiveness by integrating information and fundraising intuition. He is focused on improving fundraiser user experience with available data; visualizing that data and transforming it into actionable insights and amplifying donor-centric practices. He is the former president of APRA - Michigan and currently a member of the APRA Advocacy Committee. Paul has previously held positions in Marketing and Annual Giving with the university. Prior to joining Michigan Paul worked in the corporate sector with an emphasis on international markets.

Janna Lee (she/her) is the Director of Philanthropy Operations at The Trust for Public Land, a national organization that creates parks and protects land for people. She and her colleagues oversee the philanthropy CRM, handle gift administration, and provide prospect research, portfolio management, and analytics services to 70 philanthropy staff across the country. Previously, Janna worked at Johns Hopkins Institutions in Baltimore as the Director of Relationship Management and Customer Support. Janna is a volunteer with Apra International, has served as president of Apra Maryland, and currently sits on the board of Apra Minnesota.

Lori Hood Lawson has spent nearly 25 years helping the fundraising sector adopt new technology to harness the power of actionable data leading to transformative insights. She recently joined Call Simulator, Inc. as the company’s Chief Experience Officer. Lori is the former Vice President of Advancement Insights for UC Innovation, for which she currently serves as an advisor to ascend AI, the product line she helped develop for UC Innovation clients. She co-founded WorkingPhilanthropy.com LLC and served as editor of several books, including Big Good: Philanthropy in the Age of Big Data & Cognitive Computing and The Nonprofit Buyer: Strategies for Success from a Nonprofit Technology Sales Veteran. She got her start in the fundraising sector at Florida State University Foundation, where she served as Associate Director of Prospect Research. She then joined Prospect Information Network (P!N) and had the opportunity to transition its flagship product, ProfileBuilder, to a SaaS CRM solution after Kintera’s acquisition of P!N. Many of her innovations, and those of her P!N team and colleagues, are still in use today. Lori is a long-time volunteer with both Apra and aasp. She is passionate about ethics and compliance, due diligence, data privacy and protection, and best practices in prospect development. You can find Lori on Twitter @workinglori. She lives with her husband David and their floofy corgi Cooper in Tallahassee, FL, while the kids are busy making our world a better place in various parts of the country.

Gareth Griffin is the Senior Director of Prospect Development at MIT, where he leads the institute's prospect research, prospect management, philanthropic due diligence, and prospect data integrity programs. Prior to heading back east, he was the Senior Director of Prospect Management & Analytics at Santa Clara University and Assistant Director of Prospect Management at UC Berkeley. Before heading west to California, he served as a Prospect Research Analyst at Clemson University. He currently serves as a Trustee of the Apra Foundation and was previously the Chair of Apra’s Ethics & Compliance Committee.

Liz is an expert development operations; with a focus on automation, workflows and prospect management. She has spent her entire career working in the not-for-profit sector with arts organizations, healthcare foundations, and higher education institutions. She has instructed at both Western University on the topic of technology in the not-for-profit sector and at Georgian College on prospect research. She has shared her knowledge and expertise on prospect research, database management, ethics in prospect development, and using social media for prospect research at numerous Canadian and international conferences including AFP Congress, Apra, Apra Canada, and AHP Canada. She is the co-editor and contributor to the book "Prospect Research in Canada: An Essential Guide for Researchers and Fundraisers". Liz is a Trustee of the Apra Foundation Board of Trustees.

As the Interim Director of Prospect Strategy & Research at the University of Florida I lead a very innovative team with seventy plus years of cumulative experience.  This year I successfully led a six-month remote work pilot with my team and together we achieved 124% of our goals.  Our pilot was a strong driver toward the UF Foundation's move to a hybrid working environment. 

My experience has taken me in many directions and all of my previous positions have been very rewarding.  I have worked in Higher Education, Healthcare, Corporate Law, Real Estate and the Communications Industries.  Over the years I have gained experience in Prospect Research, Relationship Management, Sales and Marketing, Contract Negotiations, Product Management, Customer Relations, Staff Planning and Management, Training and Development, Fundraising and Promotional Events, Strategic Planning and Financial Analysis.  Every day I learn something new and my journey is just beginning.

Beth Inman is the Senior Director, Prospect and Donor Research at Shriners Children’s. Prior to joining Shriners, Beth was in similar roles at The George Washington University, Colby College, JDRF, and the University of South Carolina. Before her development career, Beth was the associate curator of American and decorative art at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC. She is currently on the faculty of Apra Fundamentals and, for Apra International, she has served on the Ethics & Compliance committee and chaired the Awards committee. Additionally, Beth is a board member of NEDRA and is the former president of Apra Carolinas. She was the recipient of the 2017 Apra Carolinas Distinguished Service Award and the 2019 Apra International Distinguished Service Award.

Beth is a native of Charlotte, NC and holds a bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and a master’s degree in art history from the University of South Carolina. She is passionate about literacy, the arts, and women’s rights causes and is mom to a daughter who attends Auburn University. 

Sabrina Stradtner is the Director of Research and Prospect Management at Valparaiso University. In this role she manages Valpo’s prospect research and management program as well as the constituent records maintenance team. She has held this position since October 2015. She joined Valpo’s Advancement staff in 2012 as a Research Analyst.  She previously worked as a genealogist at the Valparaiso Public Library. Sabrina holds a B.A. in History with a minor in Humanities from Valparaiso University and a Master of Library Science from Indiana University Indianapolis. She currently serves as the membership chair for Apra Indiana.

Vibhas Ratanjee is a senior practice expert based in Gallup's Irvine, California office. He specializes in organizational development, culture change and executive-level engagement strategies, including strengths-based leadership and succession management. Vibhas is also an executive coach and leadership consultant to senior executives and CEOs. He works extensively in the healthcare, retail and financial services sectors.

A major focus of Vibhas’s work involves using large group change management techniques in organizational development, business processes, brand and customer engagement, employee engagement, and vision, mission and values consulting for private and government organizations. Vibhas also developed Gallup’s collaborative visioning approach to large-scale change management.