Heidi Hansen McCrory is vice president for development at Furman University and is responsible for annual and endowment support, major gifts and capital campaigns, alumni and parent relations, and donor relations and stewardship. She joined Furman in 2018 after serving four years as vice president for college relations at Kenyon College in Ohio. She has held previous advancement leadership positions at Sweet Briar College, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and New England College.

McCrory is a committed volunteer for a number of organizations including the Girl Scouts of the USA where she has served as a council board chair, board member, national delegate, cookie mom, fundraiser and speaker. In 2007, she received the Athena Award from the Lynchburg Chamber of Commerce which recognizes professional women who demonstrate excellence, creativity and initiative in their business profession, who improve the quality of life for others in the community and who actively assist women in realizing their full leadership potential.

She earned a bachelor's degree in communication from Southern Methodist University and a master's degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

An accomplished and respected advancement leader with nearly 30 years of experience, Armin Afsahi began serving as Vice President for Advancement at The University of Chicago in April 2023. In this role, he leads the University’s strategy, direction, and organization for development, alumni relations, and campaign planning. He works closely with UChicago’s president, provost, deans, officers, and board of trustees to advance the University’s mission through the intellectual, social, professional, and philanthropic engagement of the University community.

Afsahi brings a wide range of expertise in institutional advancement, strategic management, business development, leadership, and operations. Prior to joining UChicago, he held senior roles in advancement at multiple universities including the University of Denver, UC San Diego, Georgetown University, and Harvard University, respectively. He is a member of the board of directors for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), serving on the Leadership and Governance and Finance and Investment commitees. He is a recipient of of the CASE Crystal Apple Award for Teaching Excellence.

Afsahi holds a BA in communications from UC San Diego and an MBA from the University of San Diego.

Skylar Beaver is Chief Advancement Officer at The Out-of-Door Academy in Sarasota, Florida, where she leads the advancement team overseeing development, marketing, and communications for the independent PreK-12 school and directs the school's comprehensive campaign.

Previously, Skylar served as Director of Development at The Lawrenceville School, where she played a major role in the school's record-breaking $475M+ campaign. Her experience spans nearly 18 years in educational advancement, including leadership roles at The Spence School, Washington and Lee University, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges, with expertise in annual giving, major gifts, alumni engagement, and international fundraising.

Skylar is a CASE Laureate and CASE Crystal Apple Award-winning speaker and teacher. In addition to her institutional work, she serves as an Advancement Search Consultant with RG175 and maintains an independent fundraising consulting practice. Beaver holds a BA in Sociology from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and a Master's degree in Public Administration with a focus in Nonprofit Management from SUNY Brockport

Lishelle Blakemore is the associate vice chancellor at UC Berkeley and vice president of the UC Berkeley Foundation, where she has worked since 1994 in various leadership capacities. She oversees university alumni relations, annual programs, external relations, foundation relations, gift planning, international relations, major gifts, marketing and communications, and student experience and diversity programs. Considered a “builder” of new programs, she designed and established the university’s first comprehensive annual and individual giving department. She has been a part of the campaign management team for the $1.44B "Campaign for the New Century," the $3.13B "Campaign for Berkeley" and the Light the Way Campaign launching in 2020.

Prior to joining Cal, Blakemore served as assistant vice president for The Pacific Group where she provided consulting and fundraising services for universities throughout the country, including UC Davis, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC Santa Cruz, California State University Fullerton, Texas A&M University, the University of Arizona, and Arizona State University.

Colin Hennessy brings over 15 years of professional fundraising and management experience with expertise in annual giving, alumni engagement, segmentation strategy, data analysis, and more. He is recognized as an industry leader with a proven track record of developing philanthropic pipelines through thoughtful interventions informed by behavioral economics, data science, stewardship, and engagement.

As Vice President for Alumni and Donor Engagement, Colin leads a team dedicated to supporting the University of Iowa through thoughtful and innovative engagement and programming—overseeing alumni engagement, communication and marketing, events, and stewardship efforts.

Before joining the UI Center for Advancement in 2022, Colin held leadership positions at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago. In addition, he was a senior vice president and practice area leader at the fundraising management consulting firm Grenzebach Glier and Associates. Colin earned his bachelor’s degree in communication and media studies from the University of Iowa, a master’s degree in adult and distance education from the University of Phoenix, a master’s in public policy and administration from Iowa State University, and a doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the 2019 Diane Thompson Award Winner for Excellence in Annual Giving from the Northeast Annual Giving Conference Association. In addition, Colin is a CASE Crystal Apple Award-winning speaker and teacher, in addition to the numerous CASE Circle of Excellence Awards presented to teams under his leadership.

Patricia (Trish) Jackson has close to 40 years of advancement experience at a wide variety of educational institutions and academic health centers. In June 2022 she will begin her tenure as the Chief Advancement Officer for Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts. She has also held senior leadership roles at The New School, Brown University and Smith, Wheaton and Mount Holyoke colleges. From 2015-18, she served as Interim Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations at the Medical Advancement Office for the Geisel School of Medicine and Dartmouth Health. She also served Dartmouth College as associate vice president for development and chief of staff for the advancement division.

Trish is an alumna of Scripps College, the women’s college in Claremont, CA, where she serves on the board. She has also served as a campaign consultant for Women Moving Millions, is on the board of Every Woman Treaty, and was on the council for the Women’s Philanthropic Institute at the Lilly School of Philanthropy in Indiana for over a decade. She and her academic neuroscientist husband, Will Millard, make their home in Norwich, Vermont

Jen McGrath is the Deputy Executive Director of Donor Engagement and Communications for Resource Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT.) Her team creates and implements strategies to support donor engagement, fundraising, and stewardship while showcasing and building the MIT story of philanthropy.

Jen has been working in development for more than 25 years with experience in nonprofit, small liberal arts college, and large university settings. In addition to her work in donor relations and communications, she has served in reunion campaign, annual giving, and corporate and foundation relations-related roles.

As a past conference presenter for CASE as well as the Association of Donor Relations Professionals (ADRP) Jen has addressed topics of particular interest to both new and seasoned professionals. She was a member of the ADRP Board of Directors from 2015-2020, serving as President of the Association 2018-2019.

Karl Miller Lugo is Vice President of Advancement and Alumni Engagement at The University of Texas at San Antonio, where he serves as a member of the President’s Cabinet and University Leadership Council and oversees an operation comprising University and Athletic Development, Corporate and Foundation Engagement, Donor Engagement, Alumni Engagement and the Alumni Association, Operations and Advancement Services.

Prior to joining UTSA, Karl was a Vice President with the international fundraising consulting firm Bentz Whaley Flessner (for four years), where he focused on campaign planning and management, major and principal gifts, advancement assessments, and building processes for comprehensive fundraising strategy and accountability.

Karl spent 10 years at the University of Texas at Austin and finished his UT Austin career as Executive Director for Fundraising, where he oversaw principal, major, and annual giving programs, and led the successful completion of the $3 billion Campaign for Texas in partnership with campus chief development officers. With over thirty-two years in development and higher education, Karl has held senior leadership positions at public and private universities.

An active member of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Karl was a member of the inaugural CASE Minority Advancement Institute class. He currently serves on the US/Canada Council, has chaired three district conferences, served on the CASE Commission on Philanthropy, the CASE Diversity Recruitment Advisory Group, and the faculty of several conferences. He was awarded the CASE Crystal Apple Award for Teaching Excellence and holds the CASE Laureate distinction.

He holds bachelor’s degrees in public relations and Spanish from Western Kentucky University and an MBA from the Gordon Ford College of Business at Western Kentucky University.

Karl is a native of Puerto Rico before relocating to Kentucky for 28 years, then settling in Texas. He is an Ironman triathlon finisher and the proud holder of a Ducktorate Degree from the Disney University. Karl and his wife have two children.