Speakers
Lorna Somers
Lorna Somers is recognised internationally as a teacher/facilitator in the field of Higher Education and Institutional Advancement speaking at educational and arts organisations throughout the world. On August 15, 2022 she became Executive Director of the Mohawk College Foundation.
An accomplished and successful fundraiser, Somers spent the past 35 years at McMaster University where she has been engaged in securing some of the largest charitable gifts in Canadian history. She led two university-wide, comprehensive campaigns, both with a focus on volunteer and academic participation. She has also structured and led targeted campaigns for McMaster's Museum of Art and Faculty of Health Sciences, the University's Student Centre, and secured support for numerous endowments establishing scholarships, bursaries, chairs, and professorships.
Somers is co-author of the definitive Canadian fundraising text, Planned Giving for Canadians and the recipient of numerous international awards for excellence in teaching and leadership.
Kate Bond
Kate is the Director of Advancement, Trinity College Dublin and the Chief Executive Officer of Trinity Foundation. She led Trinity’s first comprehensive philanthropic campaign – the €400M Inspiring Generations campaign. Kate is responsible for the strategy and operations of philanthropy, alumni engagement, regular giving, corporate and foundation relations, development and alumni communications and donor relations.
Kate is a member of the CASE Commission for Philanthropy.
Kate has held a variety of senior university fundraising and administrative roles over the past 20 years. She has particular expertise in establishing and improving the performance of advancement teams and enjoys identifying and managing the change required for this.
Before joining Trinity in 2016, Kate was the Deputy Director of Alumni Relations & Philanthropy at the Australian National University where she led the establishment of the philanthropy and donor relations teams and prior to this was the Director of Development & Alumni Relations at Ulster University in Northern Ireland.
An English graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, Kate began her career in marketing and fundraising for professional theatre and worked in the arts for over 10 years. As a fundraiser she has drawn on this experience to create authentic narratives that inspire supporters.
Andrew P. Daire
A driven and enthusiastic leader, Dr. Andrew P. Daire joined the VCU School of Education as its new dean in June 2016.
Daire came to VCU from the University of Houston, where he served as the College of Education’s associate dean for research for nearly two years. His resume also includes more than 25 years of experience in higher education, 13 of which came at the University of Central Florida, where he co-founded the university's Marriage and Family Research Institute, also served as the College of Education’s associate dean for research, among other accomplishments. A prolific researcher and scholar, Daire has received over $16 million in external funding to support his research in family stability and mobility with economically marginalized couples and families and his secondary research interest in career development STEM recruitment and retention. He remains research and scholarly active in these areas through refereed and scholarly publications and presentations along with being a Senior Fellow in the Consortium for Family Strengthening Research.
Combining an academic and clinical background in counseling and psychology with expertise in research, Daire's style of transformative leadership emphasizes personal and professional development, and motivating faculty, staff and students towards excellence, innovation and impact in their work every day.
A big believer in the value of community engagement as well, Daire believes research and instruction are at their best (and most innovative) when focused on serving the public, particularly those most in need.
Jay Davenport
Jay Davenport, CFRE, serves as vice president of Development and Alumni Relations for Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health.
As VCU’s chief development and alumni officer, Jay leads fundraising and engagement efforts for the VCU enterprise, including the Monroe Park Campus, the health sciences campus and VCU Health. Areas under his purview include Advancement Solutions, alumni relations, annual giving, corporate and foundation relations, development and alumni communications, donor engagement, planned giving, presidential advancement, principal giving, regional philanthropy and the universitywide development staff.
Jay joined VCU and VCU Health in 2017 in the middle of a $750 million campaign and helped steer the campaign to a successful conclusion, raising over $840 million. In the past six years, Jay has helped VCU and VCU Health raise over $1 billion and is currently designing the first comprehensive campaign for the VCU and VCU Health.
Jay has previously led fundraising teams at Wake Forest University, including as assistant vice president of college development, assistant vice president of major gifts and associate vice president and campaign director. He has also served as director of development and team leader at Rice University and held fundraising positions as a college development director at the University of Memphis College of Business and Wright State University College of Engineering. He began his higher education career as an assistant dean of admissions at Wittenberg University.
Jay has served on the board of directors for Make-A-Wish of Greater Virginia and the Benedictine Schools of Richmond. Jay holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Xavier University and a master's degree in higher education administration from Ball State University.
Jean Giddens
Jean Giddens is Dean and Professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing in Richmond Virginia, a position she has held since July 2013. Prior to her position at VCU, she held various leadership positions at the University of New Mexico College of Nursing. Dr. Giddens has had significant national influence on nursing education through her involvement with the revision of the AACN Essentials, academic progression in nursing, curriculum expertise, as a consultant, and as an author of multiple journal articles, nursing textbooks, and electronic media. Dr. Giddens received a BSN degree from the University of Kansas, MSN degree from University of Texas, El Paso, and a PhD degree from Colorado State University. She is also an alumna of the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow program, 2011 Cohort.
Peter Hayashida
Peter joined Marts&Lundy in 2022, bringing experience in advancement leadership, organizational culture, and talent management, as well as planning for and executing university campaigns.
As Vice Chancellor for Advancement at University of California, Riverside from 2009 through 2021, Peter led development, alumni engagement, and communications & marketing at a Carnegie Research 1 institution enrolling 26,000 students in Southern California. In this role, Peter led UCR's first comprehensive fundraising campaign, surpassing its $300 million goal; oversaw an institutional rebranding and visual identity initiative; launched an alumni census and facilitated a transition away from dues-based alumni membership; and served in a campus leadership role during The Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. UCR is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU).
Previously, Peter spent 19 years at UCLA and was on the advancement executive team that ran and closed UCLA's second comprehensive fundraising effort. Campaign UCLA generated $3.053 billion for faculty research, student success, programs, and facilities and transformed the University's culture of philanthropy. Peter is an active CASE volunteer, former trustee, and frequent speaker and conference chair. He served for a decade on the faculty of the CASE Summer Institute in Educational Fundraising and was recognized with the Crystal Apple for Teaching Excellence.
Peter has contributed chapters to published books on campaign management; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and advancement leadership. Peter spent 10 years on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the world's largest healthcare, social service, and arts & culture organization serving LGBTQ+ individuals and communities. He earned a BA in communication studies from UCLA and an MBA from California State University, Northridge. Peter resides in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Maureen MacDonald
Maureen J MacDonald received her Honours BSc in Chemistry from Acadia University, Canada, in 1991 and her MSc (1993) and PhD (1998) in Kinesiology from the University of Waterloo, Canada. After post-doctoral research fellowships at the University of British Columbia and the University of Western Ontario she started her academic career as a faculty member at Wilfrid Laurier University. Since 2000 she has been a faculty member in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, where she is a full professor and the Dean of Science.
Dr. MacDonald the director of the Vascular Dynamics Laboratory and is an active member of the Exercise Metabolism Research Group in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster. Her research interests are in exercise physiology with specialization in the application of ultrasound techniques to the assessment of the peripheral blood vessels. Most recently, together with her research team, she has been examining impact of high intensity interval training on the blood vessels and heart in individuals with coronary artery disease and the use of heat therapy as an alternative to exercise training and focussing on inclusion of women in these areas of research. She has directly supervised over 200 undergraduate and graduate students since her appointment in 2000 and was awarded the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology Mentorship award in October 2018. Dr. MacDonald has been continually funded by The Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada since 2001, and currently is also funded by Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
Dr. MacDonald is a member of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Physiological Society, and the European College of Sports Science and. Two research leaves at Stanford University (July 2006-June 2007) and Loughborough University (July 2013-June 2014) provided Dr. MacDonald with international academic exposure and fostered lasting international research collaborations. She retains a Visiting Professor position in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University and is currently on research leave and appointed as a Global Chair at Manchester Metropolitan University in the Institute of Sport.
Gerard McHugh
Professor Gerard McHugh is Associate Professor of Accounting, and University Dean of Development at Trinity College Dublin.
Gerard qualified as a Certified Accountant with the Dublin Office of Deloitte. Subsequently, he earned his masters and doctoral degrees in the UK at the University of Sheffield and Loughborough University respectively. Gerard served as Dean of Trinity Business School from 2001 through 2011 and was instrumental in preparing the School for a period of sustained growth beginning in 2008. Working with Trinity Development & Alumni, he led the philanthropic campaign for Trinity’s new Business School which opened in 2019.
In 2015, Gerard was appointed as Trinity College’s first Dean of Development, working closely with the President and Trinity Development & Alumni on the College’s first ever comprehensive philanthropic campaign, Inspiring Generations. He serves as a non-executive director on a number of boards, audit committees, and advisory bodies.
Karl Miller Lugo
Karl Miller Lugo is Vice President of Advancement and Alumni Engagement at The University of Texas at San Antonio, where he serves as a member of the President’s Cabinet and University Leadership Council and oversees an operation comprising University and Athletic Development, Corporate and Foundation Engagement, Donor Engagement, Alumni Engagement and the Alumni Association, Operations and Advancement Services.
Prior to joining UTSA, Karl was a Vice President with the international fundraising consulting firm Bentz Whaley Flessner (for four years), where he focused on campaign planning and management, major and principal gifts, advancement assessments, and building processes for comprehensive fundraising strategy and accountability.
Karl spent 10 years at the University of Texas at Austin and finished his UT Austin career as Executive Director for Fundraising, where he oversaw principal, major, and annual giving programs, and led the successful completion of the $3 billion Campaign for Texas in partnership with campus chief development officers. With over thirty-two years in development and higher education, Karl has held senior leadership positions at public and private universities.
An active member of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Karl was a member of the inaugural CASE Minority Advancement Institute class. He currently serves on the US/Canada Council, has chaired three district conferences, served on the CASE Commission on Philanthropy, the CASE Diversity Recruitment Advisory Group, and the faculty of several conferences. He was awarded the CASE Crystal Apple Award for Teaching Excellence and holds the CASE Laureate distinction.
He holds bachelor’s degrees in public relations and Spanish from Western Kentucky University and an MBA from the Gordon Ford College of Business at Western Kentucky University.
Karl is a native of Puerto Rico before relocating to Kentucky for 28 years, then settling in Texas. He is an Ironman triathlon finisher and the proud holder of a Ducktorate Degree from the Disney University. Karl and his wife have two children.
Deirdre Tracey
Deirdre has almost 20 years of senior fundraising experience and is currently the Director of Campaigns for Trinity College Dublin. She played a central role in the strategic planning of Trinity’s first ever philanthropic campaign Inspiring Generations which has a philanthropic target of €400m. Deirdre leads a team of nine fundraisers along with support staff and is responsible for securing major and principal gifts for the campaign whilst ensuring processes around research, pipeline development, stewardship and volunteer engagement are embedded for the long-term success of philanthropic activity in Trinity.
Deirdre has led a number of capital campaigns, including the newly opened Trinity Business School and Science Gallery Dublin which pioneered a Global Science Gallery Network currently being rolled out in eight countries.
Prior to working in Trinity, Deirdre spent two years as the Fundraising Manager for the National Children’s Hospital. Working closely with the Deputy CEO, she was responsible for all fundraising activities and outcomes for the hospital.
Deirdre’s previous experience was as Marketing Manager with Reuters for six years and European Account Manager with Maxwell Online, London, an online patent and scientific database company. Deirdre holds a B.Sc. from University College Dublin.
Dale Wright
Dale Wright serves as associate vice chancellor for advancement at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (UIUC). In this role, besides managing a small portfolio of donors and prospects, he provides vision, strategic leadership, mentoring, and coaching to a portfolio of chief advancement officers and deans and academic and university leaders.
Prior to this position, he served at UIUC as the associate dean & chief advancement officer for The Grainger College of Engineering with responsibility for the strategy and operations in fundraising and constituent engagement. As campaign director for the college’s $550M goal, as part of the "With Illinois" $2.65B campaign (original goal of $2.25B), he led the college in exceeding the goal by 21%. Additionally, the college secured 25% of the overall campaign total.
Over the last 20+ years, Wright has held a variety of alumni and fundraising engagement roles in higher education. He has guided several deans, academic leaders and university leadership through the campaign planning process and execution, over three $1B+ comprehensive campaigns. He is an experienced principal and major gift fundraiser, mentor, and leader, designing engagement programs to help teams and volunteers meet philanthropic goals.
Wright is an active CASE volunteer, having served on district and national committees, and presently as a faculty member/speaker at CASE conferences and other CASE educational programs. Wright also holds membership in organizations such as the African American Development Officers Network, the Association of Fundraising Professionals and is involved in other non-profit work, including serving on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the American Legion Boys State of Missouri (Missouri Boys State). He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Missouri (Mizzou).