As a catalyst for advancing education worldwide, CASE experts inspire, challenge, and equip communities of professionals to act effectively and with integrity to champion the success of their institutions.

​Interviews with CASE experts or additional information about the organization can be obtained by contacting media@case.org.

Sue Cunningham

President & CEO

Areas of Expertise:

• Global Leadership 

• Higher Education Development & Fundraising 

• Change Management

As president and CEO of CASE, Sue Cunningham provides strategic and operational leadership for one of the largest associations of education-related institutions in the world with members in over 80 countries. Appointed in March 2015, Sue joined CASE from the University of Melbourne where, as vice-principal for advancement, she worked with the vice chancellor in leading a campaign to raise AUS$500 million and building the advancement team across the university. Prior to her work in Australia, Sue served as director of development for the University of Oxford where she led a development team in the execution of the largest fundraising campaign outside of the United States: the Oxford Thinking Campaign, with a goal of £1.25 billion. During this time, she was also responsible for the establishment of the University of Oxford's first China office, based in Hong Kong. She is currently working on a new book—Global Exchange: Dialogues to Advance Education—to be published by CASE in 2021.

Rob Henry

Vice President, People, Culture, and Talent

Areas of Expertise:

• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

• Talent Management  

Rob Henry is vice president of people, culture, & talent at CASE where he is responsible for creating an overall global strategy for achieving CASE's vision and mission related to talent management and for guiding conference programming, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, research, and the CASE Library. Formerly an active CASE volunteer speaker and adviser, Rob joined the CASE staff in 2006 as executive director of emerging constituencies, later adding the responsibility for online educational programs. Also in 2006, he was awarded the CASE Crystal Apple Award for Teaching Excellence. He previously held advancement management positions at Yale University, the University of Connecticut Foundation and Michigan State University. 

 Cara Giacomini

Vice President of Data, Research, and Technology

Areas of Expertise:

• Higher Education and Fundraising Data Analytics
  
  Including using data to improve donor outcomes.
• Higher Education Research and Surveying
• Analytics, Benchmarking, and Metrics
• Cultivating a Data Culture Through Fostering Collaboration
  
  Integrating Data & Data Storytelling

Cara Giacomini is the vice president of data, research, and technology for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. In this role, she heads CASE’s AMAtlas initiative—a primary resource and service provider for data, benchmarking, analytics and original research to the educational advancement community Most recently, she was at the University of Washington where she was their director of analytics for its University Advancement department. There she was instrumental in building a strong data culture where she improved donor outcomes at all levels and pioneered efforts to build infrastructure and expertise in digital analytics.

Brian Flahaven

Vice President, Strategic Partnerships

Areas of Expertise:

• Charitable Giving 

• Endowments 

• Higher Education Advocacy 

• College and University Foundations

Brian Flahaven is the vice president of strategic partnerships. He directs CASE's government relations activities and tracks federal and state legislative and regulatory issues of concern to CASE members.

Angélica Careaga 

Director, CASE Latin America 

Areas of Expertise:

• International Alumni Engagement
• Marketing & Communications on a Shoestring Budget
• Cross-cultural Coalition & Alliance Building
• Private-public Partnership Development
  
  Emphasis on under-resourced areas

As Director of CASE Latin-America, Angélica Careaga works with schools, colleges and universities across the region to build capacity and strengthen their alumni relations, communications, fundraising, marketing, communications, and other external relations programs. Before joining CASE, she worked in the Mexico City office of the University of New Mexico where she advised and assisted in promotions and overall marketing strategies, serving as the liaison between UNM and Mexican universities and government agencies as well as other universities and government agencies in Latin America.

Jessica Elmore

Senior Director, Cross Cultural Learnings

Areas of Expertise:

• Professional Growth
• Organizational Performance
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Community-focused Initiatives

Jessica Elmore is a scholar-practitioner and leader in educational advancement, known for transforming philanthropic engagement through innovative strategies. As Senior Director of Cross-Cultural Learnings at CASE, she develops groundbreaking training programs that enhance professional growth, organizational performance, and stakeholder engagement. With over a decade of experience, Dr. Elmore has cultivated impactful relationships, designed award-winning programs, and raised significant support for community-focused initiatives. A dynamic communicator, she empowers individuals to navigate new spaces and create meaningful connections. Dr. Elmore's work is rooted in empathy, collaboration, and a vision for impactful engagement.

Ann E. Kaplan

Senior Director, VSE 

Areas of Expertise:

• U.S. Charitable Giving Data and Trends 

• U.S. Charitable Giving Standards and Guidelines 

Ann Kaplan is senior director of the Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. In this role, she oversees the national online survey which includes survey administration, working with respondents of the survey, cleaning and analyzing the data, data validation, and more. Ann has been the director of the VSE since 2002 when it was administered by the Council for Aid to Education. She also helped develop Data Miner, the longitudinal and comparative metrics on-line reporting solution that is available to CASE members. 

Jenny Cooke Smith

Senior Director of CASE Insights Solutions

Areas of Expertise:

• Advancement-related Metrics and Trends

• Comparitive Benchmarking

• Data Analyzation

Jenny Cooke Smith is a senior strategic consultant for CASE, with a focus on CASE Insights, the global resource for educational advancement-related metrics, benchmarks and analytics. She specializes in analyzing advancement trends, interpreting comparison benchmarks, and helping people understand the “stories behind the data.”  

Prior to joining CASE, Jenny spent 15 years in a variety of positions within Blackbaud’s Target Analytics, most recently leading donorCentrics™ benchmarking cohorts, which provide opportunities for institutions and organizations globally to review and discuss direct marketing and annual giving trends.