Faculty
Conference Chair
Leslie Hutchens
Leslie Hutchens is currently the director of development at Flint Hill School in Oakton, Virginia. With 25 years of experience, she has been fortunate to be a part of a broad range of institutions, from JK-12 day and boarding schools to universities. These experiences have helped her find that at their core, all development offices have more similarities than differences.
In her current role, she participated in Flint Hill’s first capital campaign in nearly 20 years. This experience was a reminder of the great work development offices can do to build a strong community. In her daily roles with the school, she oversees annual giving, leadership giving, stewardship, and alumni relations.
Before joining Flint Hill, she was director of annual giving and parent programs at The Madeira School in McLean, Virginia. In that role, she oversaw a $1.8M annual giving program, parent engagement and development operations. Madeira launched a $65M million capital campaign during her time there, and she was responsible for keeping the annual giving program a priority for the Madeira community.
Prior to Madeira, Hutchens was the director of annual funds and major gifts at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., where she grew the annual giving program to a record level in dollars raised as well as both alumni and parent participation.
She was previously the director of annual giving at the University of Richmond, where she managed both the annual giving program and the Spider Athletic Fund. From 1996-1998 she ran the annual fund program at the Haverford School, a PK-12 boys school in Haverford, Pennsylvania. She began her development career in the Alumnae Affairs Office at Hollins College.
Hutchens is a frequent speaker with CASE, a recipient of the CASE Crystal Apple for Excellence in Teaching, and the author of a chapter in “Philanthropy in Independent Schools” (NAIS, 2009).
Faculty
Marcus H. Burgess
Marcus H. Burgess, is a native of Cades, South Carolina. He is a 1996 graduate of Claflin University where he earned a bachelors in science in elementary education and a 2000 graduate of The Citadel, earning a master's in science in education administration and supervision. He is currently a doctoral student at Vanderbilt University in the Peabody School of Education.
Burgess is currently the associate vice president for major and planned gifts, prior to his return, he served several institutions in a leadership capacity. Most recently at York Technical College in Rockhill, SC as the executive director for campaigns and strategic initiatives, Florida Memorial University, Miami Gardens, FL, as the vice president for university advancement and Voorhees College as the vice president for institutional advancement. At both Florida Memorial and Voorhees College he led the Office of Alumni Affairs/Annual Fund, Corporate, Foundation and Community Affairs, Public Relations, Advancement Services, and Governmental Relations.
He is the former director of alumni affairs and annual fund at Claflin University, where he achieved an alumni giving percentage of over 45 percent pushing them towards a goal of 50 percent, and a former K-12 public school administrator. He has served CASE III on both the board and several conference committees.
Matt Mullen
Matt, a third generation UMaine alum, serves as philanthropy officer for the University of Maine Foundation. In his role as philanthropy officer, he serves as the frontline major gift fundraiser primarily for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, working most closely with the Dean of the College. Formerly the director of parent giving and programs at Colby College, over the course of nine years, he worked with parents and supporters of athletics, overseeing a doubling in overall annual giving by parents, led by the roughly 110 leadership donor families who contributed over $1.2M dollars to the annual fund in addition to their capital and endowed support. Previously, Matt worked with the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) and Sidwell Friends School in a variety of advancement positions.
Emily M. Rankin
Emily M. Rankin is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Development at the University of California, Riverside. Emily joined the UCR Advancement team in 2017 and recently helped to successfully close the university’s first comprehensive campaign, surpassing the $300m goal, in December 2020. In her role, Emily is charged with overseeing the fundraising teams for seven of the university’s colleges and schools in addition to serving on the Advisory Committee on Campus Art. Emily is managing the first campus public art exhibition of all women sculptors which will open Summer 2021.
Emily sits on the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District VII Cabinet as Chair-elect. She has been a member of eight CASE District VII Conference Committees including Alumni Track Co-chair in 2007 and Chair in 2008.
Emily’s career spans more than two decades in higher education and non-profit management at institutions including Scripps College, University of San Diego, Whittier College, Opera Pacific, and the Byrd Hoffman Foundation. Emily is an alumna of Scripps College and Claremont Graduate University’s Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management where she continues to be a loyal donor and avid volunteer.