Apra Premier Webinar: Data Privacy and Ethics

Giuliana Bighi is an Assistant Director of Prospect Research at New York University, where she leads prospect research for the Faculty of Arts and Science, the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and the university's Provost Initiatives. She also leads and manages the team's suite of prospect research trainings for development staff. Prior to NYU, Giuliana held prospect research positions at The New School and City Harvest. She is a member of Apra's Online Content Committee, and previously served as treasurer of Apra of Greater New York, where she also co-chaired ProspectCon 2019, the chapter's annual conference.

Sarah Balogh is an Assistant Director of Alumni Programs at NYU. She previously served as a Senior Research Analyst on NYU's Strategic Planning and Analytics team and chaired the Ethics and Due Diligence committee. Sarah holds an MPA in policy analysis and program evaluation from Baruch College and a BA in political science from Bridgewater State University. From 2018-2020, Sarah served as the Director of Programming and Communications for Apra of Greater New York, where her events were synonymous with high/low charcuterie plates and strengthening collaborations between prospect research and the advancement field at large. In her spare time, you can find her inhaling as many dumplings as humanly possible.

Megan has been working with UC San Diego Advancement since 2015 where she has worked with campaign operations, Corporate & Foundation Relations, and is now involved in both Prospect Research and Prospect Management. She currently serves as Chair of the Apra Ethics & Compliance Committee, and has presented at several conferences including Apra Prospect Development, AFP ICON, and CARA. Before coming to San Diego, she worked in El Salvador and Washington, D.C. where she worked in violence prevention and Latin American social justice nonprofits. Megan has a BA in International Affairs from George Washington University, and an MA in Latin American Studies from UC San Diego. 

Mary Kiolbasa is the director of the Research Projects team in the Development and Alumni Relations department at Vanderbilt University. This team identifies potential donors to Vanderbilt University, primarily determining the donor capacity of undergraduate parents. Mary manages other special projects and is a subject matter expert in public records research. 

Mary began her career with Vanderbilt in June 2015 as a research specialist. Previously, she was a research analyst in the executive intelligence division at HireRight (formerly Kroll Background America), an international background screening company where she performed in-depth investigations and case management. She held a private investigator license with the Tennessee Private Investigator and Polygraph Commission from 2012 to 2015.

Mary received a B.A. in creative writing and classics from Knox College and an MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Erynn Sarno has more than a decade of experience in prospect development. She is the Senior Director of Prospect Research, management, and Strategy at NYU Langone. This new position is focused on pipeline building and revenue. Previously, Erynn was the Senior Director of Prospect Research at Mount Sinai Health System, where she and her team were responsible for building the pipeline for the health system’s $2 billion campaign. Erynn also had a hand in in Mount Sinai’s first campaign which exceeded its initial goal by more than $500M. Erynn loves campaigns, and was part of the planning and silent phases of Northwell Health’s $1B campaign. She has also worked with international science and technology non-profits in China and the Netherlands, where she wrote grants, edited manuscripts, and researched potential donors. In between analyzing suspect to prospect ratios, pipeline building for strategic priorities, and tweaking prospect models, Erynn enjoys visiting museums, playing with her cats, and tending to her plants.

Laura is a Prospect Research Manager at UNICEF UK and was the Data Protection Officer for the Researchers in Fundraising Committee from April 2016 to November 2019. She has spoken at several RiF and Apra events and is a member of Apra’s Ethics & Compliance Committee.