Session Title: Top Tier Stewardship – Stewarding Principal Gift Level Donors

Krystal Alonis has been a development professional for over 15 years. She joined the Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement team at the University of Arizona in 2017 and is currently a Stewardship Officer for Principal Giving. Krystal works closely with the Principal Giving team and development officers across campus to ensure the most generous supporters of the university see the impact of their giving. Prior to coming to the University of Arizona, Krystal worked for several non-profit organizations in Tucson, AZ including the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson, Casa de los Ninos and the Arizona Theatre Company.

Session Title: What’s In a Name: A Historic Journey of Named Spaces

Sarah started her prospect development career as a one-person advancement services shop supporting a public/private capital campaign. She joined Southern Methodist University in 2007 and now leads a team of professionals engaged in prospect identification, research, portfolio management, prospect pool analysis, and fundraising strategy development. This team provides strategy for the SMU: Ignited campaign which aims to raise $1.5 billion. Sarah serves as Secretary of Apra; she has served on several Apra committees and chaired the Conference Planning Committee in 2019. She joined the Apra board in 2019. She has also been involved with Apra North Texas and aasp. Sarah holds a B.F.A. degree in theatre from Otterbein University and a master’s degree in liberal studies from SMU. A passionate supporter of the arts, she sings with Credo Choir Dallas and has been involved with a variety of arts organizations. Sarah is a proud mama bear to two teenagers.

Session Title: Educating and Supporting Faculty for Effective Storytelling

Julie Lynn Ford is Assistant Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship at Phillips Exeter Academy, a well-established secondary boarding school in New Hampshire whose mission is to: “Unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives.” Julie is relatively new to the field of donor relations, but has spent her entire career in organized philanthropy working for organizations such as the Council of Michigan Foundations, Associated Grant Makers, and The Philanthropic Initiative. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Public Policy and Public Administration from Michigan State University. In her role at Exeter, Ford creates and executes programs for stewarding and reporting to nine categories of 1,500 endowed funds and hundreds of current restricted use funds. She is an active volunteer in her community and is grateful to work for an organization that values Non Sibi, the philosophy that wisdom gained here should be used for others as well as for oneself.

Session Title: Graphics & Videos & Words, Oh My! — Finding the Medium for the Message

Jessica Hegarty is currently the Assistant Director of Principal Gift Stewardship and Recognition at Northeastern University where she works to steward some of the institution's most generous donors. Having received her Bachelor’s in Theater and Master’s in Corporate and Organizational Communication, she's a lover of words both written and spoken. In fact, she's been telling stories, performing poems, and sharing a love of language since childhood. After a career in professional theaters around Boston (and a brief stint in tourism), Jessica made a career switch to fundraising and specifically donor relations.

Session Title: What’s In a Name: A Historic Journey of Named Spaces

Diane is the Director of Records and Gift Administration at Southern Methodist University. She is responsible for increasing efficiency and providing a donor-centric experience during the Univesity's $1.5 billion campaign, "SMU Ignited: Boldly Shaping Tomorrow."

Diane is a member of SMU's data stewardship committee. In this role, she helps facilitate cross-campus data collection, accuracy, confidentiality, and security. Diane's institutional knowledge is critical to SMU's data integration efforts related to constituent engagement, which helps SMU build strong relationships with its alums, donors, and friends.

Session Title: Educating and Supporting Faculty for Effective Storytelling

Jean Maginnis is Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship at Phillips Exeter Academy, a well-established secondary boarding school whose mission is to: “Unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives.” Her career was launched in public television at WGBH in Boston and has included fundraising and development at United Way, a college, environmental groups, museums, Shriners Hospitals, and 12 years working for an advertising firm with national and international clients. She is happy to have landed at Phillips Exeter Academy focusing her work on donor relations. Maginnis has made hundreds of presentations, but usually to inspire audiences to give! She has presented at the National Americans for the Arts Convention and the Lincoln Center Institute for the Imagination Conversation Initiative describing the creation of her own non-profit organization, the Maine Center for Creativity. Maginnis believes the donor relations and stewardship profession provides endless opportunities for us to create meaning and purpose for our people.

Session Title: Because of You: Communicating Impact through People-Focused Storytelling

Kyra Molinaro, M.Ed., is an award-winning writer, editor, and nonprofit development and communications professional. As assistant director, donor communications at the University of Richmond, Kyra strengthens the university’s relationship with alumni and donors through the creation and management of strategic, informative, and engaging communications across multiple platforms. Prior to UR, Kyra worked in donor relations at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her work has received honors from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). In her spare time, Kyra is an avid freelance writer for magazines and a nonprofit board volunteer in the Richmond community. She holds a master's degree in educational leadership and certificate in nonprofit management from VCU and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Elon University. She lives in Henrico, Virginia, with her husband, Tyler, and two cats, Scarlett and Leo.

Session Title: What’s In a Name: A Historic Journey of Named Spaces

Jill Rogers is the Assistant Director for Naming Opportunities & Recognition on the Donor Relations and Stewardship team at SMU. Jill has been at SMU since 2009 and a member of the donor relations team since 2016. She is responsible for the management of all naming opportunities and recognition across the University and supports the capital project initiatives of SMU Ignited: Boldly Shaping Tomorrow campaign, which will raise $1.5 billion. Jill collaborates with fundraisers and leadership during every phase of a capital project, from the valuation of opportunities, management of opportunity inventory during a building campaign, oversight of the production and installation of the physical recognition for each named space, to the eventual retirement of a named space. She has also successfully partnered with the Development Management Services team to expand SMU’s CRM to manage current naming opportunities as well as backloading the system to capture all existing named recognition on campus.