Faculty
Online Conference Chair
Dondi L. Cupp
A veteran of public higher education fundraising, Dondi Cupp serves as senior vice president of development at the OHSU Foundation where he is responsible for leading comprehensive fundraising activities and strategic philanthropic initiatives that support OHSU’s multi-faceted mission and advance a broad range of education, research, and clinical activities.
Before joining OHSU, Cupp served as associate vice president at the University of Michigan, where he played a leadership role in the Victors for Michigan campaign, the first campaign at a public university to raise $5 billion. At Michigan he led the national major gifts team and supervised constituency fundraising programs including annual giving, foundation relations, parent and family giving, student life, and the Business Engagement Center. He also led the operations teams including finance and administration and talent management.
Cupp came to Michigan from the University of Washington, where he led the office of corporate and foundation relations and advancement teams in the health sciences. He joined the University of Washington in 1999 as director of development for the sciences. While at the Washington, Cupp founded the Advancement Leadership Class, a comprehensive leadership development program for advancement staff. In 2012, he was nominated by his peers for the UW's David B. Thorud Leadership Award. In 2006, he received the Marilyn Batt Dunn Endowed Award for Excellence in University Advancement.
Earlier in his career, Cupp served as associate director of the Western Washington University Foundation and as director of the annual fund at his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma. Dondi holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and public relations. He is a fellow of the Advancement Leadership Academy and a CASE Laureate.
Faculty
Kelly Dyer
Kelly Dyer is the Senior Executive Director of Leadership and Major Gifts for the University of Michigan’s Office of University Development. In this role, Kelly provides leadership for fundraising efforts across the Midwest, including key markets in Southeast Michigan, Washtenaw County, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus (Ohio). She focuses on leadership gift fundraising and engagement of alumni/donors as part of the Victors for Michigan Campaign, a comprehensive fundraising initiative that raised over $5.3 billion for UM. Kelly helped develop and implement volunteer campaign leadership councils (with over 1,400 volunteers) as a member of the VFM planning committee.
Additionally, Kelly served as a member of the Office of University Development Strategic Planning committee and Director’s Team. She began her fundraising career at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, Georgia and prior to that worked in private industry. Kelly is a Michigan-native and graduate of the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts at Wayne State University where she was a four-year women’s basketball letter winner.
Edgar Gonzalez
Edgar Gonzalez is an experienced and proven leader, team-builder, and collaborator with almost 20 years of experience in higher education advancement and program development. He currently serves as Vice President of University Advancement at Seattle University. Prior to joining Seattle University, Edgar held leadership roles at Oregon Health and Science University, the University of Washington, and the Alliance for Education.
A native of Argentina, Edgar and his family emigrated to the US when he was 9 years old in pursuit of the American dream. After earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington, he has dedicated his entire career to working in higher education and ensuring that everyone has access. Edgar is passionate about the positive impact philanthropy can have on the institutions, communities, and individuals he is fortunate to serve. His career has always been focused on building institutional capacity through cultivating deep relationships, transformative philanthropy, leadership development and impactful storytelling.
Jeff Jackanicz
Jeff Jackanicz serves as the Vice President of University Advancement at San Francisco State University. In this role, Jeff is responsible for creating awareness and raising private support for SF State's academic, research, and public service missions.
Jeff joined SF State in 2020, with nearly two decades of experience and demonstrated success in helping universities advance their missions via fundraising, alumni relations, constituent communications, and partnership development. Before his arrival at SF State, he served as Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Mills College in Oakland, leading all aspects of the college's advancement efforts in support of its commitments to academic excellence, women’s education, and social justice. Prior to Mills, Jackanicz spent over a decade at UC Berkeley in a range of advancement leadership positions, leading teams and securing support on behalf of the university's research, teaching, and public service missions.
He earned a B.A. in English from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas at Austin.
Crystal K. Jones
Crystal credits the success of her 16-year career in philanthropy to strategy, integrity, and her ability to navigate personal connections with institutional goals. The combination of these skills enables Crystal to secure not only gifts, but more importantly, longstanding, fruitful relationships. Currently, she serves as the director of development and major gifts at Scripps College in Claremont, California, while pursuing her Master’s of Arts in Philanthropy from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI. Her extensive background in fundraising comprises steady advancement in appointments with prestigious nonprofit and academic institutions, including UCLA, the California Community Foundation, and Smith College. A California native and graduate of Scripps College, Crystal completed a six-year term as a Board of Trustee in 2008 for her alma mater. Through her involvement with All Saints Church in Pasadena, she maintains a deep and meaningful commitment to social justice work. Prior to her career in the nonprofit sector, Crystal worked in the entertainment industry for eight years where she specialized in public relations and artist management.
Guest Speakers
Kayla K. Hale
As vice president of institutional advancement at the university of Tulsa, Kayla Hale leads a team of 60 professionals in the areas of fundraising, alumni relations, special events, advancement services, and marketing and communications. She has 29 years of direct experience in the field of higher education advancement at progressive levels of responsibility and leadership, and in both public and private settings. As a member of the President's Small Executive Staff, she serves as an advisor to the president and key members of the university's Board of Trustees. Hale serves as a liaison between faculty and non-faculty constituencies at the university and is responsible for creating a strong and team-oriented advancement program based upon creating fundraising strategy and establishing plans, goals and metrics.
She has been an active participant in two comprehensive fundraising campaigns at the University of Tulsa which, collectively raised more than $800 million for the institution. She and her team are preparing for the next fundraising campaign, "A Greater Commitment," which will focus on need-based scholarships, endowed faculty support and student support initiatives.
Hale previously held the position of assistant vice president for university development at OU-Tulsa; she also served as director of development and alumni relations at Rogers State University and as director of public relations and publications at Friends University. She has been actively involved at CASE for 29 years and has served CASE District IV in a number of leadership capacities. She is a regular speaker for CASE at both the national and district level and she has been a faculty member for CASE at 10 national conferences.
She holds a bachelor's degree from Pittsburg State University and a master's degree in business management from Friends University. In 2008, she received her doctorate in organizational leadership from the University of Oklahoma.
David Lively
With 27 years of experience in higher education advancement, David Lively has directed successful development strategies across five comprehensive fundraising campaigns. Lively joined Northwestern University in January 2012 and in his current role manages "We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern," a $5 billion University-wide fundraising campaign. Additionally, he oversees a team of 60 development professionals responsible for principal gifts, regional and international major gifts (including offices in New York and San Francisco), and gift planning.
Lively earned a bachelor's degree in history from Southern Methodist University, a master's degree in history from Colorado State University, an MBA from the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business, and a certificate from the Management Development Program at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. In April 2017, he authored Managing Major Gift Fundraisers: A Contrarian's Guide (published by CASE).