Conference Chair

Nancy Katano
Executive Director, Corporate Foundation and Research Relations
University of California, Los Angeles

Nancy Katano is the executive director for corporate, foundation and research relations at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has been the deputy director in corporate, foundation and research relations at UCLA since 2003, focusing on campus-wide, large-scale priority and multidisciplinary projects. She also manages the UCLA Dream Fund, a donor-advised fund established in 2011 when the Lincy Foundation assets were transferred to UCLA.

Prior to her time at UCLA, she worked at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where as director of corporate and foundation relations, she maintained and cultivated all key corporate and foundation relationships for restricted, unrestricted and capital campaign giving to the museum. Her previous development experience included positions at NPR radio station KLON FM 88.1 as director of development and at PBS television station KCET, where she spent six years focusing on corporate relations and a capital campaign for an interactive media center and one of the first high-definition production and broadcast centers in the United States.  She has also served as a development consultant for KCET, Big Brothers of Greater Los Angeles and various other arts nonprofits.

Katano holds a bachelor's degree in communications from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and a mater's degree in communications from Ohio University.

Leadership Committee

Arminda Lathrop
Director, Corporate and Foundation Relations
Willamette University

Arminda Lathrop is the director of corporate and foundation relations in the office of development and alumni relations at Willamette University. She joined the Willamette development staff in 2008 after working as the communications director and project coordinator for the International Debate Education Association, where she developed and managed youth programs in Italy, the Czech Republic, Korea and Serbia.  

Lathrop holds a master's degree in English (rhetoric and composition) from Oregon State University and taught writing as a teaching fellow at OSU and as adjunct faculty at Chemeketa and Linn-Benton Community Colleges. She is a graduate of Willamette University.

Shelley Maddex
Senior Director of Foundation Relations
University of California, Davis

Shelley Maddex joined the Office of Foundation Relations at the University of California, Davis, in January 2012. As senior director, she works with leading foundations to identify mutually beneficial partner opportunities between the university and their organization. As part of "The Campaign for UC Davis," a university-wide initiative to inspire 100,000 donors to contribute $1 billion in philanthropic support to assist the university in expanding its capacity to meet the world's challenges and educate future leaders, the Office of Foundation Relations has significantly contributed to the $765 million raised to date.

During a career spanning 14 years, including three capital campaigns at both public and private institutions, Maddex has worked in some capacity in corporate and foundation relations. Prior to joining UC Davis, she served as the director of corporate and foundation relations at the Pennsylvania State University. In this position, she oversaw activities for a six-person team as part of the "For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students," a $2 billion comprehensive capital campaign.

She served as a volunteer on the Network of Academic Corporate Relations Officers (NACRO) Benchmarking Committee and was a co-author on The Five Essential Elements of a Successful Twenty-First Century University Corporate Relations Program and is a member of CASE.  

Maddex received her bachelor's degree in history with a minor in international relations from Virginia Commonwealth University and her master's degree in history from West Virginia University.

Michael Marion
Associate Vice President, Corporate and Foundation Relations, Rutgers University Foundation
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Mike Marion joined the Rutgers University Foundation in April of 2007 as a director in the Corporate and Foundation Relations group, and now serves as its associate vice president. He oversees corporate and foundation philanthropic development and stewardship across the university.

Prior to joining Rutgers, Marion had a distinguished career in advertising, marketing, sponsorship management and event marketing industries, including 17 years at AT&T, where he led the company's Olympic sponsorship presence in Nagano, Japan and Sydney, Australia. He also created the AT&T Steven A. Cox Charity Classic—at the time the largest one-day amateur charity golf event in the country and winner of the 2004 Bill Veeck Sports Marketing Award for Cause Marketing from John Cook School of Business at Saint Louis University.

After leaving AT&T in 2004, he launched Eventis, a marketing consultancy for nonprofits, and established the Steven A. Cox Foundation to continue raising funds for cancer research, including via the Steven A. Cox Scholarship for Cancer Research at Rutgers University, which he established in 2010.

He holds a bachelor's degree from Eastern Michigan University and an master's degree in business administration from the University of South Carolina.

Maureen Martin
Senior Director, Foundation Relations
University of Michigan

Maureen Martin is the senior director of foundation relations at the University of Michigan and is responsible for enhancing relationships between major foundations and the university. In ten years at UM, fundraising achievements include a $25 million lead gift for a building, multiple million-dollar and more program grants, and startup and project funding at much more modest scales. She has served in leadership and committee roles for Michigan's National Center on Institutional Diversity, the Presidential Delegation to Africa, Michigan Community Scholars program and the Research Impacts Team.

A fundraiser for more than 20 years, Martin has been part of many organizations, including volunteer leadership and board service at her local land trusts and the watershed council. She helped to found Performance Network in Ann Arbor and Signature Theatre Company in New York and was first board chair for Mosaic Youth Theater of Detroit. In her professional life, she has been the development director at Nature Conservancy - Michigan, Henry Ford Museum, and Ensemble Studio Theater, and a staff member at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Martin received a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in women's studies and journalism, and a master's degree in business administration from the Ross School of Business.

Sara Wason
Executive Director of Foundation Relations
Syracuse University

Sara Wason is the executive director of foundation relations at Syracuse University, working closely with the chancellor and provost to foster relationships with these organizations, and coordinating foundation fundraising for the university's twelve diverse schools and colleges. Previously she served as the university's executive director of corporate and foundation relations, a unit responsible for raising 40 percent of total dollars in its last capital campaign.

Her 17-year career at Syracuse was preceded by many years in nonprofit management. Her community involvement includes time at Leadership Greater Syracuse, the EdFund, Syracuse Stage and most recently she served as chair of the Women's Fund of Central New York. In addition to co-authoring publications on gender-based attributions of success and failure, she is author of the fundraising book, The Grant Writing Handbook (Wiley and Sons). She teaches classes and conducts workshops on fundraising for numerous academic institutions and professional organizations.

Wason earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Vermont and her master's degree from Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Abby Westervelt
Director, Corporate & Foundation Relations
Cornell University