Shara Freeman Hoefel joined Francis Parker School in San Diego, California, as head of advancement in 2013 and was named assistant head of school for external relations in 2020. She oversees fundraising, parent and alumni relations, communications, marketing, and admissions.

Her career in development started in 2004. She has worked in Boston and New York City for Cornell University, Fordham Law School, and the Chapin School. She has expertise in campaign fundraising, donor engagement, strategic planning and communications, board governance, and development operations. She has spoken at CASE regional and national conferences and has served on two CAIS accreditation teams.

Hoefel received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Cornell University and a master's degree in sport psychology from Ithaca College.

Mark Aimone serves as the director of advancement at Wilbraham & Monson Academy. Since joining the academy in 2016, he has reorganized and refocused the development program and expanded the outreach to its alumni and parents. He’s overseen the redesign of the school’s annual fund communications and messaging, which has led to a record level of annual support over the past three years. A recently completed campus master plan begins with a new $4.5 million library that will be completed in January of 2020. Additionally, WMA is in the planning stages of a comprehensive capital campaign, the academy’s first in more than a decade.

He has spent more than 25 years advancing independent schools in an array of roles—from fundraiser to administrator to teacher, advisor and coach. His full-time development career began in 2006 at Phillips Exeter Academy, where he served as regional director of major gifts and was part of a team that raised $352 million, the most by a secondary school at that time. In addition to his development work for Exeter in the United States, he spurred the growth of Exeter’s United Kingdom Association and built and maintained connections with more than 100 U.K.- and European-based alumni/ae.  

In July of 2010, Aimone returned to his alma mater, Tabor Academy, as director of advancement. While at Tabor, he oversaw the creation of the Fund for Tabor, a complete redesign and rebranding of Tabor’s annual fund communications, which led to a significant increase in the annual fund. He oversaw the fundraising for the completion of two E.E. Ford Challenge matches, the renovation of the athletic complex and the academic building, installation of a three-turf field athletic complex, a crew rowing tank and the construction of a new residence hall.

Throughout his career, he has traveled extensively in the United States and throughout Asia, Europe and South America recruiting students and building relationships with alumni/ae and parents. He has presented at numerous conferences including NAIS, SSAT and the TABS Global Symposium. He serves on the Development Committee for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation.

Aimone is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College and holds a master’s degree in nonprofit management from Hamline University.  

Brent Caburnay is the John G. Levi Director of Development at the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. Brent serves as a key member of the School's senior administrative team overseeing the engagement, fundraising and stewardship efforts among parents, alumni, grandparents, parent emeriti, faculty, staff, foundations, corporations and community members.

An experienced development professional with over 17 years of fundraising experience, Brent has been with Parker for nine years. Prior to Parker, Brent held key development positions with respected non-profit institutions throughout Illinois. He served as the Director of External Programs and Annual Giving in the Columbia College Chicago Office of Institutional Advancement, helping to complete the College's $100 million campaign and as the Manager of Special Events within the Resurrection Health Care Foundation, supporting three hospitals in the Resurrection Health Care system.

Brent earned his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Michigan.

As the Director of Institutional Advancement, Jen oversees all fundraising and alumni programs for The Episcopal Academy including overseeing the school’s $7 million annual giving program, developing sophisticated constituent engagement and donor stewardship programs, and serving as a member of the school’s leadership team and the liaison to the Advancement Committee and Governance Committee of the Board of Trustees. In 2023, Jen and her team successfully closed the Shape Tomorrow campaign which raised over $125 million in support of financial aid and teaching and learning at EA.

Jen joined The Episcopal Academy Development Office in 2004 and was named Director of Institutional Advancement in 2017. She has expertise in alumni engagement, annual giving, campaign fundraising, donor relations, board governance, and development operations. Jen has presented at CASE Conferences nationally and has been a faculty member for CASE's School Advancement Institute for three years. She received her bachelor’s degree in Communications and her Masters of Business Administration from Villanova University.

Christina was appointed Episcopal’s Assistant Head for Advancement in 2019 after serving six years as director of institutional advancement, six years as director of communications, and three years also serving as a major gifts officer. Christina oversees the School’s fundraising, communications, and alumni and parent programs. As the mother of three Episcopal alumnae, and as the daughter of a lifelong educator and retired Assistant Head of Episcopal, Christina understands and believes in the ideals and values of independent school education and is committed to securing a strong future for EHS.

Prior to joining Episcopal, Holt worked as a public information and communications consultant to government agencies and as a legislative correspondent in the U.S. Senate. An advocate of community engagement, she has served in numerous governance capacities, including three terms as president of the board of trustees of an independent day school. It was this experience that inspired her to pursue a career in school leadership. She serves on the Development Advisory Committee of the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington (AISGW), the planning committee for the CASE-NAIS Independent Schools Conference, the Association of Boarding School’s North American Boarding Initiative, and the Seminary Hill Association Board of Directors.

She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University, a master’s degree in independent school leadership from the University of Pennsylvania, and a certificate in business administration from Georgetown University. She served in Ecuador as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer.

As the principal of David Smith Consulting, David develops fundraising strategies and practices that effectively address the modern concerns of independent schools.

Previously David served as the Director of Advancement at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn. He began his career as a history and government teacher in the New York City public schools and then taught at Friends Seminary in Manhattan. He started his career in development working with CCS Fundraising, where his clients included Women for Women International and the NAACP.

David returned to independent schools as the Director of Development at the Calhoun School and then became the Director of Development at The Allen-Stevenson School, where he led a successful $50 million capital campaign. He has presented sessions on major gifts, capital campaigns, and diversity, equity and inclusion in advancement at NAIS, CASE, AFP, NJ Associations of Independent Schools and New York State Association of Independent Schools conferences. He recently concluded two terms on the board of trustees of the Caedmon School in Manhattan and currently serves on the faculty of the CASE School Advancement Institute. 

David received a bachelor's degree in government from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in history from Rutgers University. 

Amy Smucker is the assistant head of school for external affairs at Berwick Academy in South Berwick, Maine where she leads the offices of admission and financial aid, communications and marketing, and advancement. Since her arrival to Berwick in 2013, Amy has successfully led her team through the rebranding of the School’s exciting and innovative curricular evolution. She has focused on bringing the School’s external facing offices together to strategically message the School, resulting in increases to funds raised, leadership giving, alumni engagement, and admission inquiries.

Having previously served as the Director of Admissions at Kents Hill School in Maine where she led the school to its most robust enrollment in decades, Amy brings to Berwick a strong background in leadership and staff development, strategic enrollment management, and building and nurturing relationships across multiple internal and external constituent groups.

At Berwick, Amy serves on the School’s administrative team as well as the Committee on Trustees, Financial Affairs, Investment, and Advancement Committees of the Board of Trustees. Amy believes in the power and life-changing nature of independent schools. She grew up on the campuses of three different New England boarding schools where her parents worked, and is a graduate of the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut.

Amy has served as the Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Independent School Association of Northern New England (ISANNE), where she also served as a mentor for the organization’s LEADS program. Additionally, Amy is a member of the Board of Directors of the Birchtree Center in Newington, New Hampshire.  Amy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from Colby College and a Masters Degree in Nonprofit Management with a focus on Leadership from Northeastern University.  Amy has presented at numerous conferences including CASE-NAIS, NAIS, IECA, and ISANNE.

Ann Snyder is Senior Director, Communities Engagement at Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Prior to joining CASE, she was Director of External Affairs at Stuart Hall School in Virginia, United States. With more than a decade of experience in student and family marketing, school leadership, enrolment, fundraising, and external affairs, Snyder is a seasoned school leader and industry expert. 

In her role at CASE, Snyder serves as the industry insider, expert, and thought leader for schools globally. Professional facilitation and speaking engagements include serving as a key speaker and collaborator for the Canadian Association of Independent Schools, the National Association of Independent Schools (U.S.), the Association of American Schools in South America, and regional associations throughout the United States.