Robert MacKinnon has been a Senior Account Executive with iWave for over 13 and a half years. I am involved with the Make a Wish local PEI Chapter and the alumni association of UPEI. I am passionate about working with nonprofits to help them increase their reach and goals.  

Ann A. Deppman, J.D., serves as Assistant Vice President, Planned Giving at Virginia Commonwealth University.  At VCU Ann has been charged with building the university’s first comprehensive gift planning program with an emphasis on collaborative fundraising in a highly matrixed organization. Previously, Ann led gift planning efforts at the MCV Foundation on VCU’s medical campus and at Oberlin College. At Oberlin, Ann oversaw a program that was consistently recognized as an industry leader with one of the highest constituent participation rates in planned giving among peer institutions. Ann’s prior experience at Oberlin includes serving as a dean, program director, and pre-law advisor. Ann began her career as general practice attorney. Ann graduated with a B.A. from Middlebury College and received her J.D. from Vermont Law School. She is member of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners and a board member of the Virginia Gift Planning Council. In her free time Ann enjoys baking, walking her dogs, and spending time with her husband and children.

Wayne is the Chief Development Officer for New Life Ministries, a national charity devoted to helping people with mental health and life coaching from a Christian perspective. Wayne heads fundraising for the organization. Prior to that, Wayne headed planned giving for Intermountain Health Care Foundation, one of the largest healthcare systems in the world. He has served as a consultant to corporations and charities where he advised them on fundraising, sales, customer service and building stronger relationships with customers and constituents. He is a leading expert on planned giving and donor relations. An attorney with more than 20 years’ experience, he has worked with donors on tens of millions of dollars in donations and helped countless nonprofits build effective and dynamic fundraising and planned giving programs.

He is a sought-after trainer, consultant and speaker on motivation, customer service and leadership. In 2014, Fundraising Success Magazine honored him by awarding Wayne “The Most Inspirational Speaker of the Year.” Wayne is the author of six books including: Fundraising for Nonprofit Board Members, which is available on Amazon and at Wayneolson.com. His other works include: The Disney Difference, How to Give a Great Speech or Presentation, Big Gifts, Small Effort, and Think Like a Donor. His newest book, Words of Encouragement, is now available.

Wayne has worked as a consultant or trainer for dozens of charities in Canada and the U.S. Hundreds of charities depend on Wayne to broaden and grow their fundraising. They use his writing in their websites, magazines, brochures and newsletters. He has been published in many periodicals including Planned Giving Today, Advancing Philanthropy, Nonprofit Times, 256 Magazine, and has twice been featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Wayne has spoken to AFP International Conferences, Mensa, NASA, AFP Congress Toronto, Space and Missile Defense, Synovus Bank, Leadership Huntsville, Rotary conferences, Nonprofit University, National Philanthropy Day and many more.

Wayne has served on the boards of three charitable organizations and volunteers for several more. Wayne earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Florida and a law degree from Stetson University College of Law. He is an Eagle Scout and the father of two Eagle Scouts.

I'm a consummate learner. I'm always learning something new and known for sharing what I’ve learned with others. From the practice of law to fundraising and management positions with Southwestern University School of Law, American Heart Association, Colorado Public Radio, National Multiple Sclerosis Society (HQ), and now at Blackbaud as a strategic analytics professional for 15 years, I've been learning about the planned gift donor and the data behind them. Planned gifts aren’t made in a vacuum; the speed of knowledge in our industry is increasing as are the tools we use to identify the best prospects for these gift types. Nothing is the same as it was when I started fundraising in 1989. Today, teams of data scientists combine thousands of bits of information with AI and robust analytics to understand the donors that make planned gifts. Lawrence and I are honored to share what we've found out to help us all better understand the planned gift donor and explore the data behind them.

I am committed to increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of fundraising and ancillary programs using data-driven strategies

Lawrence Henze is the Senior Principal Analytics Architect for Blackbaud. During his career at Blackbaud, he has worked with nonprofits, colleges, and universities in both consultative sales and strategic implementation roles to encourage and facilitate the use of predictive analytics and related tools to promote fundraising success.

Before joining Blackbaud, Lawrence founded Core Data Services, a groundbreaking analytics approach to fundraising, in 1998. (Blackbaud purchased Core Data in 2001, creating Blackbaud Analytics). Lawrence’s experience as a development officer at Carroll University (WI), the University of Wisconsin Foundation (Madison), and the University of Dayton provided the understanding and motivation to use statistics to challenge fundraising axioms and create data-driven solutions.

Matt Thompson is Senior Director and Head of Education & Healthcare at Altrata. Matt joined the Altrata team in 2019 and has excelled recognizing opportunities and maintaining long-lasting partnerships thanks to his comprehensive product knowledge and understanding of industry trends.  

Matt has extensive sales experience having worked as a Strategic Account Executive for Blackbaud for more than 4 years.

Matt also holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Iowa.

Brett Herzog is a seasoned product development and technology professional – having served at industry-leading companies such as Thomson Reuters, Follett Corporation, and LexisNexis for the past 20 years. He brings a unique perspective to his role (product leader for Nexis® for Development Professionals) based on his experience working on the client and vendor side in legaltech, edtech, and most recently in non-profit and faith-based markets. He lives in Greenville, SC with his wife where they have become obsessed with pickleball as they transition to empty-nesters.

Margaret Hart has worked with thousands of philanthropic organizations, academic institutions, and businesses during her tenure at LexisNexis. As a Client Success Manager, she combines the knowledge gained as a prospect researcher and non-profit development officer, with an understanding of how development professionals need to use information to maximize donations and nurture relationships.

Michael has worked with higher education institutions as a trainer and strategic consultant for the past six years. Michael has over 12 years of experience in the world of fundraising holding a variety of roles, from director of development to grant writer to donor relations, but the majority of her time was spent in the prospect research/manager role. She has also worked with a variety of organizations, ranging from non-profits to faith-based to higher education. Taking a break from fundraising before coming to Blackbaud, she taught Information Literacy and Research Skills at the community college level. With her background in library and information science and prospect research, Michael has honed the skills of organizing information and resources to help create more streamlined processes. Throughout her career, she has remained passionate about empowering people to use technology and information to make better decisions and drive towards improved results. Michael holds a B.A. in communications from Saginaw Valley State University and Masters in Library and Information Science from Dominican University/St. Catherine University.

Katie Pierce has a B.A. in Physics from Hamilton College and is currently in the Applied Data Science M.S. program at Syracuse University.  She is the Assistant Director of Data Analytics in the office of Prospect Development and Analytics at Syracuse University where she develops analytic tools for pipeline analysis, forecasting, predictive analysis and data visualization reporting for both senior leadership and school/unit officers.

Lindsay Scheuer joined Syracuse University's Prospect Development & Analytics team in 2017, having previously worked in relationship management roles in secondary education and professional theater. She leads a team that directly supports advancement operations through strategic planning, goal setting, prospect pool development, and portfolio review.

Melissa Yale (she/her/hers) is a Prospect Research and Management Developer. She has been in prospect development for 4 years and at Oregon Food Bank (OFB) for 8 years. Prior to joining the prospect development team, she was a frontline fundraiser working with affinity groups to coordinate and manage large annual fundraisers. She was a mechanical engineer developing technology consumer products for 14 years and earned her MBA from Portland State University before finding a profession that fit her purpose.

Her work at OFB has allowed her to take the systems approach from engineering and apply it to evaluating supporters’ potential, allowing for the creation of new processes and evaluation tools while keeping the bigger picture of community centric philanthropy in mind. Plus, she loves data, making it engaging for all, and figuring out how we can use it to inform decisions.

A 20 year Oregon transplant, Melissa enjoys spending time at the theater as a volunteer usher, growing tomatoes, cooking experiments, and planning for the next travel adventure around the Pacific Northwest when her parents visit.