Faculty
Conference Chair
Rebecca Weitz
Rebecca Weitz has served as Senior Managing Director of Gift Services for the Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association since May 2021. Prior to WFAA, Rebecca spent fifteen years with the University of Colorado Foundation. During her tenure at the CU Foundation, Rebecca managed gift and records management, reporting, prospect and proposal management, and data analysis. She worked to develop and implement extensive process improvements and efficiencies for the CU Foundation and the Office of Advancement at CU.
Rebecca has served as conference speaker and presenter at multiple Ellucian conferences, CASE conferences, and the AASP Summit. She holds a bachelor's degree from Franklin & Marshall College and a certificate in professional management from Employers Council.
Faculty
Emilio Caballero
Emilio Caballero currently serves as the director of gift and records services at Yale University. He brings more than 25 years of experience in fundraising operations, data security and analysis through various data-related positions in his career.
In his current role, he manages the daily operations for biographical, geographical and financial information processing. He has developed several key integrations to synchronize data from external student information systems and online giving and directory systems. He established cross functional workflows and data integrity focused improvements through automation of standard business rules for batch processing.
Prior to Yale, he served as the Deputy Chief Membership Officer for Information Systems at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where he oversaw gift processing, financial reconciliation, records management and data security compliance requirements. He helped establish training programs and other diversity initiatives for future leaders at the Met.
He holds a bachelor's degree in Public Administration from John Jay College and a master's degree in Technology Management from Columbia University.
Amanda Jarman
As the president of Fundraising Nerd and a consulting partner at BWF, Amanda Jarman has helped dozens of nonprofit organizations make smart use of their donor data and data management systems. Her expertise has been honed during two decades of experience in the nonprofit sector, largely in data management. Before launching Fundraising Nerd in 2013, Jarman served in various fundraising data-related positions at Portland State University, most recently as assistant vice president for advancement services. Before that she served as associate director of advancement services at Lewis & Clark College. She started her career at smaller nonprofits. This experience ignited her passion for scaling big shop tools and techniques to fit shops of all sizes.
Jarman is a repeat CASE faculty member, who has served as faculty member for the Gifts and Records Workshop seven times, and the Summer Institute in Advancement Services three times. She also served as an instructor in Portland State University's Fundraising Certificate Program. She previously served on the Association of Advancement Services Professionals (AASP) strategic planning advisory council and its nominations committee, and was honored with the AASP's Emerging Leader Award in 2014.
Karen A. Sims-Harrell
Karen A. Sims-Harrell currently serves as director gifts and records management at NC State University. Sims-Harrell brings over 20 years of experience within gift processing and donor records management. She is an experienced advancement professional with proven skills in fundraising and financial management, gift administration, policy creation, leadership and staff development. She is skilled in the use of consultative approaches to increase efficiency in integration of industry best practices for gift acceptance and data standards.
Sims-Harrell has served as a board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals-Eastern PA Chapter for seven years and served as the Ethics and Accountability chair for two years. She has also served as a conference presenter and volunteer with CASE in varying capacities during her membership over the last 15 years. Sims has received the distinction as being a CASE district faculty stellar speaker for multiple years and was awarded the CASE 2021 District III Opportunity and Inclusion Award for her work in promoting diversity and inclusion industry best practices.
She holds a bachelor's degree from DeSales University in management and marketing and a master's degree in educational leadership from Lehigh University.
Speakers
Susan Acito
Susan Acito is the Director of Gift Administration at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas Texas. She is responsible for cultivating the vision, growth, and performance of her department. As leader of the gift, fund, and grant reporting operations for the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, she emphasizes the need for humor, humility, and innovational thinking in the workplace. Susan always seeks to build on her team member’s existing strengths by maximizing their personal and group potential, creating a supportive, professional environment for all to excel in.
Not only is Susan a die-hard Survivor fan, she also holds a degree in Business and Administration from Runshaw College, Preston, U.K. and is a certified Project Management Professional.
Rachel Donahue Loughran
Rachel Loughran leads a team of 9 at Boston University to develop and implement engagement strategies for the University’s generous donors. Their responsibilities include gift agreements, acknowledgements, donor recognition, fund management and reporting, and individual stewardship strategies. Finding creative ways to demonstrate to donors the direct impact of their philanthropy is what she finds most exciting about the field of donor relations.
Loughran has more than 25 years of experience working in philanthropy with professional and volunteer roles including prospect management and solicitation, events management, and volunteer engagement. She has experience in both small and large shops having spent many years at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, the Alzheimer’s Association, and Harvard University. Loughran consults with small non-profits on project management. When not working, Loughran can be found hiking the White Mountains of New Hampshire working towards summiting all 48 four-thousand footers.
Jennifer Hall
Jen Hall is a member of a 12 person Gifts & Records team as well as part of the Stewardship & Donor Relations team at Boston University. She describes herself as a hybrid between the two departments. She understands where the numbers are coming from and how they can be used to tell a story.
Jen has over 10 years of fundraising experience both professionally and as a volunteer. Her responsibilities have included gift processing, fund reporting, tributes, event management, event reporting, and volunteer engagement. She has worked at both private school and university institutions.
Cindy Moon-Barna
Cindy Moon-Barna is the Senior Director, CASE Library and Standards. She leads the team of three CASE Librarians in providing curated collections and personalized research services for members. For the past six years she has been the subject matter expert for the CASE Global Reporting Standards. She was project editor for the development of the new edition as well as being responsible for member questions. She has also spoken frequently on the CASE Reporting Standards and Management Guidelines at several CASE Conferences.
Prior to joining CASE in 2013, Cindy was the Knowledge Manager for the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy. In addition to responding to member questions, she was the editor of the annual AHP Report on Giving. She was also an editor on the 1st edition of the AHP Standards Manual. She also continues to serve as a member of the AHP Standards Council.