A past finalist with the Chartered Institute of Chartered Accountants and with a master's degree in enterprise management, Linda has worked in the education sector since 1992. After heading up the Development Services team at Durham University since 2010 and supporting the growth of cash income from £3M to almost £12M per year, Linda was appointed as Head of Development Operations and Insight at Nottingham Trent University in 2019. Linda has responsibility for database management, data and gift processing, reporting, stewardship, and prospect research.

Gemma Wicks is the Head of Fundraising and Communications at the RCN Foundation, leading their communications and fundraising programmes to enable the organisation to fulfil its purpose of supporting and strengthening nursing to improve the health and wellbeing of the public.

Prior to this, Gemma was Head of Supporter Engagement at Imperial College London, leading their strategic development events, development communications and donor relations teams and programmes. Gemma was the first Director of Development at Bancroft’s School from 2012-2016, raising more than £2M to support means-tested scholarships for the Bancroft’s Foundation. Gemma has more than fifteen years’ experience in educational fundraising; having also developed and delivered strategic stewardship, events and communications programmes and initiatives at various higher-education organisations including LBS, LSE and the University of Birmingham.

Susie is a 33-year Advancement veteran and experienced leader in higher education.  Over the course of her career, she led on the development and delivery of organizational strategy, global vision and mission, and the development of institutional ambition to underpin transformation.  She has led multiple advancement teams, delivering development and alumni relations programming for academic institutions across multiple countries.

With a proven track record in fundraising, she has been involved in 4 comprehensive campaigns, leading the effort on three, with goals totaling more than $600 million.  Susie has extensive experience with cross cultural and global relationship management.  Her work has included roles in the US at Harvard, in the UK at London Business School, and currently as the new Associate Vice Chancellor at NYU Abu Dhabi.

Susie is committed to the importance of people and relationships in advancement work and often cites the following quote from G.T. Smith … “Donors don’t give to institutions. They invest in ideas and people in whom they believe.”

Her relationship with CASE started in the early 90’s as an active member of CASE District I.  More recently she served as the inaugural Chair of the CASE UK & Ireland Cabinet before moving to Abu Dhabi. 

Grace joined Cancer Research UK (CRUK) in January 2018 to lead on the supporter experience of its Principal Gift donors. A graduate of the CASE training scheme, Grace has experience in both higher education and charity environments with a particular focus on major gift fundraising. As CRUK prepares for its next major campaign, Grace is leading on the strategy and implementation of several projects critical to its success.

As Executive Head of Campaign and Supporter Engagement, Kat provides strategic leadership across the four specialist areas of Campaign Relations, Donor Relations, Communications and Events. Together, these teams support both fundraising and alumni relations by delivering a comprehensive programme of engagement and stewardship that aligns with the priority projects of UCL’s ambitious It’s All Academic campaign. Prior to joining UCL in 2017, Kat worked as a fundraiser in a number of arts and cultural institutions across London, as well as on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park East Bank development, of which UCL East will be part.

Natasha Hopkins is the stewardship manager at the University of Bath. She is responsible for strategically developing their stewardship, commemorative giving and legacy programmes, major gift administration and scholar engagement.

Natasha has over 20 years of experience in relationship fundraising and donor development and is passionate about the art and science of relationship fundraising, and growing excellence in stewardship.

She has worked for a variety of charities including St Margaret’s Somerset Hospice, helping to raise £7 million every year from the local community to support people facing a life limiting illness. The Royal Horticultural Society, where she set up the fundraising activities and in the process helped to plant a Wild Wood, build a world-class educational glasshouse and an education centre. She set up the legacy team, headed up campaigns, set up a national raffle, a commemorative giving programme and raised over £2 million for the bicentenary capital appeal to help to make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.

Prior to this she ran a national historic events programme for English Heritage and volunteered for lots of wonderful charities.

Aimee Hudson is development events manager at Imperial College London, leading on the conception, strategy and delivery of events to support the identification, cultivation and stewardship of prospects and donors. In this role, Aimee liaises with senior stakeholders, both internally and externally, and with committees in relation to campaign events. Aimee is also experienced in arts fundraising, having been part of the development events team at Tate for a number of years. She delivered high-profile development events within the UK and internationally, including campaign completion events and high-level donor trips to the Venice Biennale opening week, and Kochi in India.