Jon Paparsenos is the Vice President Philanthropy and CEO UNSW Foundation appointed in 2016. He brings to the role more than 14 years' experience in the planning and execution of fundraising campaigns. Prior to joining UNSW, he served in the position of executive director of development, academic divisions and regions for the California Institute of Technology and with Marquette University in Wisconsin and Community Counselling Co., LLC in New York.

Jon came to philanthropy following an eight-year service with the US Marine Corps. Jon holds a BA from Seton Hall University. In 2016 Jon immigrated to Australia with his wife and two children to take up his current position with UNSW.

During nine years at the University of Sydney, Jimmy has worked across Advancement, leading advancement services, alumni relations and development teams in both higher education and medical philanthropy.  He has most recently held the director of development position, a leadership role generating philanthropic income towards the $1 billion INSPIRED campaign, the largest philanthropic campaign in Australian higher education.  He is a CASE volunteer and speaker, and serves on the Foundation Board of Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Cancer Hospital and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Education Advancement and Marketing.

Jimmy brings international experience from earlier roles and studies at Boston University, the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and the University of Sydney.

Deborah leads the activity and strategy for philanthropy and alumni relations at Western Sydney University. The strategy aims to ensure a strong culture of giving (and asking) advances the University’s teaching and research agendas.

Deborah is a dynamic and accomplished philanthropy and marketing-communications executive, with over 20 years’ experience and a versatile skill set. Deborah brings strategic insight from industries including higher education, finance, building, retail and not-for-profits.

Deborah enjoys articulating complex issues and managing multiple stakeholders, taking each on a journey and providing mutual benefit. She feels that stimulating collective thought, identifying new opportunities and developing a culture are paramount to building strong relationships and ultimately, strong revenue streams.

Dave Shepherd is Director of College Advancement at United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA), a K1 – Grade 12 non-profit International school in Singapore. Established in 1971, the school has 5,500 students across two campuses with over 20,000 alumni.

With 29 years’ experience in the schools’ sector, Dave established the Advancement department at the College in 2006 and is responsible for the strategic leadership of the programme, incorporating alumni engagement, fundraising programmers, volunteer engagement and responsibility for the UWCSEA Foundation.

A CASE member since 2006, Dave has presented regularly at CASE events, has served as a faculty member of the CASE Asia Pacific Institute in Educational Fundraising and the CASE Philanthropy Commission. He chaired the 10th Asia-Pacific Advancement Conference in 2017. Dave is currently a trustee of the CASE Asia Pacific Board.

After 27 years in Singapore, Dave will retire from UWCSEA in July 2019 and take up a consultancy roll.

Marcus Ward is Chief Philanthropy Officer at Monash University. Marcus joined Monash in September 2013 as Director of Development, and now leads a team of 40 development professionals with an institution-wide remit to embed a culture of philanthropy at the University, in support of Monash’s mission and vision, through both securing transformational philanthropy and significant levels of alumni donor participation. He serves as deputy to the Vice-President, Advancement, Damien Farrell and is the founding Chair of the Universities Australia Philanthropy Network.

In 2018, Marcus led the launch of the University's largest-ever fundraising campaign, Change it. For good., with goals of raising $500m from 50,000 donors, and doubling the number of bequests made to Monash. 

Prior to joining ERDA, Marcus was Head of Major Gifts at Queen’s University Belfast, where he worked on two comprehensive fundraising campaigns which redefined the importance of philanthropy in Northern Ireland and culminated in the team being recognised as the Times Higher University Fundraising Team of the Year 2012.  Prior to that Marcus led the Corporate and Trust Fundraising Team at The Prince's Trust in London, the Prince of Wales's largest charity, securing its largest ever philanthropic relationship with the English Premier League, still in place 20 years later.

Marcus was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn and is a graduate of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, City University London and of Queen’s University Belfast, where he gained an MBA in Business Administration and Management. 

Married to Jenny, with three children Archie, Freddie and Poppy, they all enjoy travelling, the ocean, and Apple devices.