Jon Paparsenos is the vice president, university advancement at Seton Hall University. He provides leadership and oversight over the University’s fundraising and alumni efforts and serves as the institution's chief fundraising officer. He brings more than 17 years of experience in the planning and execution of fundraising campaigns and building high performing Advancement teams.  

Prior to Seton Hall, Paparsenos served as the vice president for philanthropy and CEO UNSW Foundation at UNSW Sydney in Australia, with Caltech (the California Institute of Technology), with Marquette University in Wisconsin and with Community Counselling Co., LLC in New York. 

Paparsenos is an active volunteer for CASE serving as chair and a member of faculty for the CASE APIEF Institute in Melbourne, Australia.  

Paparsenos came to philanthropy following an eight-year service with the US Marine Corps. He holds a BA from Seton Hall University. He is a fluent Greek speaker and emigrated from Greece at the age of 18 to the United States of America.

Deborah Carr joined WEHI (the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) in December 2019, moving from Western Sydney University where she held senior Advancement roles since 2013, including Executive Director, Advancement from 2015 to 2019.Deborah is a passionate fundraising leader and practitioner, with extensive experience across the university sector, charities and medical research.

Deborah loves the world of fundraising and philanthropy - advancing the mission and goals of the organisations she works for by connecting passionate and committed supporters with what they care about most.

Deborah has a demonstrated track record of engaging leaders across large and complex organisations to help elevate a strategic philanthropic agenda.

Deborah has consistently built and enabled high performing fundraising teams, collaborated with internal stakeholders to drive change and developed long term, impactful relationships with generous donors and philanthropists.

Marcus Ward is the Vice President (Advancement) at Griffith University in Queensland and is an accomplished advancement leader and philanthropy expert with international experience at leading organisations including The Prince’s Trust in London. 
 
Previously Chief Philanthropy Officer at Monash University, Marcus oversaw their first ever comprehensive fundraising campaign 'Change it. For good.' one of Australia’s most successful philanthropic campaigns and establishing Monash as one of Australia’s leading universities for philanthropic partnership. This included some of the largest philanthropic investments in Australian HE and building a community of 43,000 donors to inspire transformational support for breakthrough research and education for all. 
 
Prior to moving to Australia in 2013, Marcus was Head of Major Gifts at Queen’s University Belfast, where he worked on two comprehensive fundraising campaigns which redefined the importance of philanthropy in Northern Ireland and culminated in the team being recognised as the Times Higher University Fundraising Team of the Year 2012. 
 
Before that Marcus led the Corporate and Trust Fundraising Team at The Prince's Trust in London, the Prince of Wales's largest charity, securing its largest ever philanthropic relationship with the English Premier League, still in place over 20 years later. 
 

Lesley Gillespie OAM is director and co-founder of Bakers Delight, the largest national chain of bakeries in Australia.

Gillespie took a full-time job teaching at Footscray High School after completing her bachelor's degree in science (honours) and diploma of education at Monash in 1977. Whilst studying at the University, she gained extensive bakery experience working in the Old Style Bread Centre chain. In 1980, she launched Bakers Delight with her husband, Roger Gillespie and another partner, Gary Stephenson.

In 1983, the Gillespies bought Stephenson and began to develop Bakers Delight, which today boasts more than 700 bakeries operating throughout Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America. In 2004, the company teamed up with the Breast Cancer Network of Australia and became a finalist in the Prime Minister’s Award for Community Partnerships. The Gillespies shared 2002’s Boroondara Citizen of the Year award. The couple has also been inducted into Swinburne University’s Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. This year, the Gillespies were jointly awarded honorary doctorates of Monash University in recognition of their exceptional leadership and dedication to causes of importance to all communities.

Gillespie was awarded the Order of Australia in 2006 in recognition of her work in business and philanthropy. She received a Fellowship from Monash in 2013 and in 2015 was appointed chair of Swinburne’s Business School Advisory Board.

The Gillespies have recently stepped back from the active running of Bakers Delight, sitting only on its board. Their son, Aaron, oversees the company’s North American operations while their daughter, Elise, and son-in-law, David Christie, oversee operations in Australia and New Zealand.

Roger Gillespie OAM is co-founder and executive chairman of Baker’s Delight, the largest national chain of bakeries in Australia with over 700 bakeries operating throughout Australia, New Zealand and Canada. He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame for both Swinburne University of Technology’s Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship and the Franchising Council of Australia. Gillespie has been named ‘Citizen of the Year’ for the City of Boroondara and was granted an Order of Australia for his tireless work within the community.

Gillespie served as president of the Australian Retailers Association for 10 years till February 2018. He is a board member of the Bionics Institute, and is also a board member of several other private companies. This year, he and his wife, Lesley Gillespie were awarded honorary doctorates of Monash University in recognition of their exceptional leadership and dedication to causes of importance to all communities.

A native of Ottawa, Ms Labarge holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from McMaster University and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.

Ms Labarge joined Royal Bank in 1971 and held a variety of positions within the bank prior to being appointed an executive officer in 1979. She left the bank in 1985 to join the federal government as assistant auditor general where she was responsible for a report on Financial Management and Control in the Government of Canada.

She joined the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada in 1987 as deputy superintendent, policy responsible for developing regulatory policies for Canadian financial institutions. She was a member of the BIS Committee for Bank Supervision. In her last position as deputy superintendent, deposit-taking institutions, Ms Labarge was responsible for all matters relating to deposit-taking institutions.

Ms Labarge returned to the bank as executive vice-president, Corporate Treasury, in April 1995. She assumed the role of chief risk officer in October 1998 and was appointed vice chairman and chief risk officer in February 1999. She retired from that position in December 2004.

Ms Labarge was a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit Committee of Coca-Cola Enterprises. She also served on the Board of Directors, the Audit Committee and the Risk and Finance Committee of XL Group and was trustee for a Canadian family trust and director of associated companies. She has served as a member of the Supervisory Board and Risk Committee of Deutsche Bank, as a director and chair of the audit committee of Novelis Inc and was also a member of the Board of the Bank of China, Beijing.

She served on the Board of Governors for McMaster University for twelve years. She was appointed Chancellor of McMaster University in September 2013. She also serves on the board of the Ontario Brain Institute.

She was granted an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from McMaster University and is a recipient of the Queen’s jubilee medal.