Message from the Chair

Taking a theme from Billy Joel seems appropriate for our current profession, "We didn't start the fire. No we didn't light it. But we're trying to fight it."

Learn how senior advancement services leaders are ‘fighting the fire' that seems to always be a part of our roles in the 21st century. The conference faculty is excited to bring together advancement services professionals in a learning and collaborative environment to discuss challenging and dynamic topics that face us all.

Thomas Chaves, Conference Chair
Director of Advancement Services
Lehigh University

Thomas Chaves is currently director of advancement services at Lehigh University where he is building and leading a dynamic information management environment to support Lehigh's advancement operations. Managing a centralized team in a decentralized environment, Chaves strives to effectively and efficiently utilize technology, process and people to bring valuable information to Lehigh's advancement team.

He spent over 17 years at SunGard/SCT working with over 100 Banner clients to implement and effectively use Banner Advancement.

DISCUSSION LEADERS

Nancy Benavente
Associate Director, Advancement Services and Community Relations
Cedars Sinai Medical Center, UCLA

Nancy Benavente has been a professional in the advancement and development services area for over 25 years and is an active member of AASP, CASE, APRA, AFP, PMI and WITI. She currently provides leadership for developing the Internet strategy for advancement and manages advancement services for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Previously, Benavente worked in higher education at UCLA and UC Davis managing advancement services teams and implementing new technology in support of fundraising. Her professional experience includes providing executive leadership in the areas of prospect research & management, information technology, donor relations, stewardship, and donor information systems, as well as oversight of analytical reporting. She has a strong background in reengineering business processes having managed or implemented the top three fundraising systems and a business intelligence/ data warehouse. She has managed several projects involving the redesign of gift and prospect management systems to produce forecasting, predictive modeling and performance metrics reporting capabilities. Benavente has designed and implemented several online giving and community Web sites.

She is a graduate of UCLA with a bachelor's degree in sociology, where she also received an Executive Management Certificate from the Anderson School of Management.

Shelby Kloures Radcliffe
Executive Director of Campaign Administration
Bucknell University

Shelby Kloures Radcliffe is the executive director of campaign administration at Bucknell University. She oversees advancement services and research and coordinates campaign planning, policy development and reporting. Prior to this, she was associate campaign director and the director of prospect research & management.

Radcliffe is a frequent speaker at conferences on advancement and research topics, is a former PREP/APRA board member, and the founder of MARC (Mid-Atlantic Researchers Conference), and a past chair and frequent faculty member for the CASE Research Conference. She served on the APRA International board from 2001-2005, has been a regular contributor to APRA Connections, and served as the APRA-MARC liaison from 2006-2009. In 2008, Radcliffe received the APRA Distinguished Service to the Profession Award.

She is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University.

Chris Pipkins
Interim Associate Vice President-Advancement Information Services
James Madison University

Chris Pipkins is the interim associate vice president for advancement information systems for James Madison University, providing strategy and management for gift processing, data entry, quality assurance, training, prospect research and reporting. He started his career in prospect research.

At JMU, he developed a comprehensive prospect information and management system that was integral to the growth of a major gift operation. Professionally active at national and local levels, Pipkins has presented on topics such as campaigns, campaign reporting, prospect management and prospect pool analysis. He has published articles on prospect screenings and benchmarking. He also served on the editorial board for APRA's professional journal, Connections.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Joe Hice
Chief Communications Officer and Associate Vice Chancellor
North Carolina State University

Joe Hice is chief communications officer and associate vice chancellor of NC State University in Raleigh, N.C. He is responsible for marketing, advertising, public relations and employee communications activities at NC State. He also directs the university's news bureau.

Hice joined NC State from the University of Florida where he was associate vice president of University Relations. Before joining UF, he had a long career with some of the nation's most respected and well-known recreational product brands. He served as chief marketing officer of Segway Inc., as director of corporate communications for Harley-Davidson Motor Company, and as director of marketing communications for Bombardier Inc.'s Marine Products Division. He also served as director of marketing for Wellcraft Marine and Donzi Marine.

At Harley, Hice was responsible for all corporate communications activities, media relations and employee communications. He was a founding member of the Motor Company's Financial Disclosure Committee and was involved in the planning and development of Harley's Strategic Plan for Sustainable Growth and the company's 100th Anniversary Celebration.

At Bombardier, Hice managed the development of the Sea-Doo brand and implemented marketing communications programs that helped the company grow from the smallest company in the industry to the industry leader in just five years.

Prior to entering the corporate world, Hice was co-owner of his own public relations and marketing firm in Tampa and a vice president of the international public relations firm, Hill & Knowlton. He was also business editor of the Tampa Times Newspaper and a staff writer with Florida Trend Magazine and Tampa Bay Business Journal. He is accredited in public relations by the Public Relations Society of America and has his Certified Public Relations Counselor designation from the Florida Public Relations Association.

He has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in journalism & communications from the University of Florida, and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin.

John W. Zinsser
Co-founder and Managing Principal
Pacifica

For almost 20 years, as co-founder and managing principal of Pacifica, John W. Zinsser, has helped Fortune 100 companies, U.S. government agencies, private institutions and individuals overcome the functional and institutional challenges created by under-considered and under-managed conflict. Zinsser ensures clients gain benefit from Pacifica's core competencies of intentional conflict management through the application of cutting edge theory, best-in-class service, and deep personal commitment to quality interactions resulting in superior outcomes.

Zinsser began working with the principles required for the successful systemic application of informal conflict management almost 20 years ago. His master's degree in conflict management focused in this area and established an evaluative mechanism for informal conflict management systems in non-union business environments.

A global perspective built of Zinsser's years working outside of the United States served when he developed the first organizational ombuds program for a Japanese multinational for use in Japan. He has also conducted the largest assessments of corporate ombuds ever undertaken, as well as several other studies of both ombuds programs and other conflict management systems.

Zinsser is also an award-winning conflict management practitioner, spirited advocate for meaningful conflict management systems, and driving force in the research, design and implementation of assessments and evaluations of conflict management systems.