Speakers

Keynote Speaker: Christopher Gates
Christopher Gates, former president of the National Civic League, became PACE’s Executive Director in June 2006. PACE is a national community of grantmakers and donors committed to strengthening democracy by using the power and resources of philanthropy to open pathways to civic participation. Chris is a national leader and frequent speaker on topics relating to the state of our democracy, the interaction between citizens and government, and innovative community problem solving.

Chris also serves on a variety of boards, including the Council for the Advancement of Citizenship and the California Center for Civic Renewal. He is an elected Fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration, Co-chair of the Civic Practices Network, and served as Co-chair of the Saguaro Seminar, a Harvard University project studying social capital. He is also the founding chairman of the Colorado Institute for Leadership Training.

Leyna Bernstein is the Director of Programs at the Center for Community Benefit Organizations. Prior to joining the CBO, Ms. Bernstein was the Program Director at the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership of Marin. Former roles have included Director of Consulting Services at The Management Center, a San Francisco-based nonprofit resource center serving all of Northern California, and independent consulting and training services to nonprofit organizations through her own firm, Bernstein & Associates.

Before founding her own firm, Ms. Bernstein spent over a decade as a human resources executive with The Nature Company, The Gap and Smith & Hawken. Her work focused on translating socially responsible missions and values into organizational practices, policies and procedures.

Ms. Bernstein has taught and lectured throughout the Bay Area on nonprofit management, leadership and governance. She is the author of “Best Practices: The Model Employee Handbook for California Nonprofits” and “Creating Your Employee Handbook: A How-To Kit for Nonprofits”, both published by Jossey-Bass. Ms. Bernstein earned her B.A. at the University of California at Berkeley.

Robyn Bramhall, SPHR, Nonprofit HR Consultant

Robyn Bramhall is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) with over 15 years of experience as a recruiter, staffing manager and generalist. She also has over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, including 3 years as board president of The Women’s Philharmonic. Her consulting practice is focused on connecting HR policies and practices to organizational goals and values.

Melissa Breach is Director of Programs at the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership of Marin. She is a former Bay Area Executive Director and Organizational Development Consultant—with extensive experience consulting and training on the issues of governance, organizational sustainability, and change facilitation. She is a former advisory committee member of the California Arts Commission’s Public School Partnership Initiative, as well as a former Board Member of California Partners in Education, Theatre for Young People, and Resourceful Women.

Joan Brown, Civic Center Volunteers

Joan Brown created, and continues to head, the 27 year old successful Civic Center Volunteers program. The program, with its contract/professional approach, is nationally and internationally recognized. CCV has been featured in magazines, professional journals, and newspapers across the United States. It has received many awards, including being the recipient of the first prestigious “Acts of Caring Aware” presented by the National Association of Counties in The Capitol Building in Washing DC for its cutting edge contributions to the field of volunteerism. Last year, CCV contributed $7.9 million in services.

Joan’s energy and knowledge of the field of volunteerism have led her to become a popular presenter and trainer nationally and internationally.

Hidden Assets: Investing in Volunteers >

As Portfolio Director, Anne Marie Burgoyne is responsible for identifying and supporting Draper Richards Foundation Fellows and creating infrastructure for the support of the Fellows and their organizations. Before joining Draper Richards, Anne Marie was the Executive Director of United Cerebral Palsy of the Golden Gate where she undertook a successful financial and operational turn-around and program merger. Prior, Anne Marie was a Roberts Enterprise Development Fund Farber Fellow at Community Gatepath, a non-profit that provides services to children and adults with developmental disabilities. Before entering the non-profit arena, Anne Marie was the Vice President of Service at Digital Impact, a publicly-traded email marketing company, and an Associate at Robertson Stephens, where she did investment banking with emerging market clients.

Brent Copen, Nonprofit Finance Fund

Brent Copen joined NFF in October, 2003. As Associate Director he is responsible for coordinating, monitoring and delivering NFF’s advisory services (Nonprofit Business Analysis, workshops and other consulting/ educational services). Previously, Mr. Copen was Projects Manager for a San Francisco-based juvenile drug treatment and education program and a consultant to nonprofits, providing guidance in the areas of board development, strategic planning, and financial analysis. Mr. Copen serves on the board of two nonprofit organizations that work with impoverished communities both domestically and abroad. Brent received an MPA from Columbia University and a BA from Randolph Macon College. He recently joined the faculty at Teachers College, Columbia University where he teaches a course in nonprofit finance.

Pamela Cook, ACFRE

Pamela Cook, ACFRE, provides consulting to nonprofits in executive search. Her firm, Pamela Cook Development and Search, was founded in 2000 and has placed more than 70 professionals in Bay Area development positions. Before establishing her business, Pam served as community relations manager for Clorox and in senior development positions for Stanford University School of Engineering, California Academy of Sciences, University of Virginia College of Arts and Sciences, and the United Way of Santa Clara County. Pam is a frequent speaker and presenter, having spoken before groups including the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership, the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Queensland University of Technology, the Association of Science and Technology Centers, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, and Lee Hecht Harrison.

New Ideas for New Money >

Linda Davis is the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership of Marin. Linda has 27 years experience in nonprofit management with both local and national organizations. She has taught and lectured on nonprofit management and governance and is frequently asked to present on current issues and trends in the nonprofit sector. Her training work focuses on board governance, executive transition, leadership, resource and program development and civic engagement. Linda has a long history of volunteer leadership in the nonprofit sector. She is currently a Board Member for the Marin County School to Career Partnership and the California Management Assistance Partnership; a member of the California Association of Nonprofit Policy Council, the Research and Measurement Task Team of the Points of Light Foundation, and the American Red Cross Marin Leadership Council. She is a former appointee to the Marin County Women’s Commission, past President of the Marin National Organization for Women, and a former member of the Marin Independent Journal Editorial Board.

Kathi deFemery, Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership

Kathi deFremery is the Finance and Operations Director at the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership. She has had over 15 years of finance experience in both the for-profit and nonprofit world, working as a business and tax consultant, law firm controller and nonprofit finance director.

Anita Feiger, Nonprofit Finance Fund

Anita Feiger joined NFF in August, 2003. For her first two years, Ms. Feiger was Director of the Boston office, responsible for loans, financial analysis and fundraising throughout New England. She relocated to San Francisco in September, 2005 and currently directs NFF’s West Coast operations. Prior to joining NFF, Ms. Feiger worked in Europe as an independent consultant, advising arts organizations on funding and strategy development. Previously, she worked in banking as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco and as Vice President of Mortgage Finance for First Boston Corporation. Anita holds an MA in Arts Policy and Management from City University, London, England, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a BA in Economics from American University.

Emily Hall, President of Olive Grove Consulting

Olive Grove Consulting provides strategic and high-impact services to nonprofit and government clients. Services include succession planning, search, transitions, strategy, governance, and leadership coaching and facilitation. Emily Hall has provided strategic consulting services to nonprofit leaders for nearly 15 years. She has consulted to nonprofits ranging in budget size from $250 million to $25,000, all across the U.S. Emily works with social service, cultural, environmental, advocacy, and educational institutions.

A nationally recognized expert on advocacy, Barry Hessenius has recently completed a book on Nonprofit Advocacy (“Hardball Lobbying for Nonprofits”) to be published by Macmillan & Company in 2007. He has extensive experience with nonprofit issues facing California today and he designed, launched and oversaw the biggest arts education grant program in the country ($10 million). Barry recently served a term as Executive Director of Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet Company in San Francisco and is currently on the Boards of Directors of the San Francisco Architectural Foundation and the National Association of Artist Organizations. Barry is a frequent keynote speaker and panelist at nonprofit conferences and author of Barry’s Blog – “news, advice and opinion for arts administrators” – hosted by WESTAF, and home of the monthly HESSENIUS GROUP (a McLaughlin Group style discussion of arts issues).

Zach Hochstadt is co-founder of Mission Minded, a marketing communications firm with offices and San Francisco and Los Angeles that works exclusively with nonprofits and foundations. Mission Minded's clients include YMCA of San Francisco, University of California Press, Marin Education Fund, Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco Opera and French American International School among others. Zach serves as Mission Minded’s creative director ensuring that strategic initiatives recommended to clients are translated into communication tools that get results.

Cleveland Justis, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

Cleveland Justis has served in organizational leadership positions for much of the past 20 years. Currently he is the Director of Programs and Strategic Initiatives for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. In this role, Cleve is responsible for the Park Conservancy’s extensive programs and its governmental affairs work. In addition, he is responsible for launching the Institute at the Golden Gate, a new thought-leadership institute which is a part of the National Park’s public-private partnership to restore the historic Fort Baker. Prior to this position, Cleve was the Executive Director of the Headlands Institute in Sausalito, California. Cleve has extensive teaching, fundraising and leadership experience and has worked and consulted widely throughout medium-sized companies, nonprofits and governmental organizations. Cleve is also currently an adjunct professor at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management’s MBA program where he teaches a popular course on Social Entrepreneurship.

John Kenyon, Nonprofit Technology Strategist

John Kenyon has been helping nonprofits for over 15 years by providing advice, teaching seminars and writing articles about technology. He earned his B.S. at Emerson College in Boston and went on to become Information Technology Director at San Francisco’s Management Center. While there John created and managed the I.T. consulting practice that grew into techunderground.org. Along with Michael Stein he wrote both The eNonprofit: a guide to ASPs, internet services and online software and the Nonprofit Quarterly article A Decade of Online Fundraising. John recently served as Training and Consulting Manager at Groundspring.org/Network for Good, helping organizations effectively leverage the Internet, before returning to private practice in 2006.

Steven LaFrance, MPH founded LaFrance Associates, LLC (LFA) in 2000 to enhance the impact of social sector organizations. Steven has over 15 years of experience providing evaluation, research, and capacity-building services to nonprofits, foundations, and public agencies. As a nationally recognized expert in the areas of evaluation and organizational effectiveness, Steven has helped hundreds of organizations make critical decisions resulting in greater effectiveness based on data collected through empirically rigorous research. With graduate education and training in Anthropology and Public Health/Behavioral Sciences, Steven has a solid technical foundation in both qualitative and quantitative methods. Before consulting, Steven was a case manager for homeless youth, gaining a firsthand understanding of the challenging realities of community-based organizations and the people they serve. As a seasoned project architect and director, he has worked in diverse issue areas including community health services, homelessness, early childhood, youth development, juvenile justice, education, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, senior services, community economic development, and organizational development and effectiveness. Steven has also conducted ethnographic research in México and is fluent in Spanish.

Dr. Denise Lucy is a Professor of Business and Organizational Studies and Executive Director, Institute of Leadership Studies and Emerita Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean at Dominican University of California. Dr. Lucy is an expert in leadership and organizational change. She has 25 years experience in higher education as an educator and executive; first at the University of San Francisco and currently at Dominican University of California since 1993. As a professional manager and as a faculty member, Dr. Lucy’s expertise areas are in leadership and team development, management, strategic planning, facilitative leadership, organizational change systems, and conflict resolution. Her research interests include leadership and team development, community leadership/civic engagement and corporate social responsibility. Dr. Lucy is the Chair of the Marin Education Fund Board of Directors and is co-President of the Pt. San Pedro Coalition. She is a co-founder of Dominican’s Green Task Force and committed to environmental sustainability education.

Expanding Your Leadership Style To Achieve Organizational Effectiveness >

Ms. Matsuishi has been dedicated to assisting underprivileged families attain educational equity for over a decade. As an independent educational consultant, she has helped countless numbers of students navigate the higher education admissions process. Ms. Matsuishi currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Marin Education Fund, the Asian American Alliance of Marin and the Action Coalition of People of Color. She also holds membership in the Higher Education Consultants Association, Western Association for College Admission Counseling, The American College Counseling Association, and The Association of Multicultural Counseling and Development.

Ms. Matsuishi is a past recipient of the "Volunteer of the Year" by the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership of Marin. She holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies and Art History from Vassar College and a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California.

Greg Moore has served as the Executive Director of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy since 1985. The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with the National Park Service and Presidio Trust to preserve and enhance the Golden Gate National Parks. Under Moore’s leadership, the Parks Conservancy has become the one of most successful nonprofit organizations supporting any area of the national park system, providing more than $110 million in support to park projects and programs since the Conservancy’s establishment. During his tenure, the Conservancy has received various national awards for excellence in interpretation, conservation and park improvement efforts.

Sabrina directs the multi-million dollar RespectAbility initiative at NCOA, a research and demonstration effort that is developing models and approaches to position public and nonprofit organizations to harness adults age 55 and older in leadership-level capacities. Sabrina has an extensive background in the areas of aging, national service leadership and civic engagement/volunteering. Prior to coming to NCOA, she managed external relations and developed a first-of-its-kind online recruitment system for the National Senior Service Corps at the Corporation for National and Community Service. Before Senior Corps, Sabrina was a Staff Consultant for Community Service at AARP responsible for conceptualizing and implementing a new integrated strategy for their community service division.

Baillee Serbin, Serbin Associates

Baillee Serbin's career has included twenty-five years in human resources management, people development, organizational development and consulting, management training, executive coaching, mediation and counseling. She has devoted her energy and feels equally comfortable with not for profit organizations as well as the for profit sector. She has served five plus years leading The Management Center’s Nonprofit Human Resources Consulting Practice as the Director and has an appointment as Adjunct Faculty with USF in the Master’s Program of Nonprofit Management and Administration.

Michael Stein
Michael Stein is a nationally renowned author and Internet strategist with 15 years of experience working with nonprofits, foundations, labor unions, technology providers and social enterprises. He is the co-author of three books about the Internet, including: The eNonprofit: A Guide to ASPs, Internet Services and Online Software, with John Kenyon, published by CompassPoint Nonprofit Services. In 1997, he co-authored Fundraising on the Internet: Recruiting and Renewing Donors Online, with Nick Allen and Mal Warwick. He was formerly on the staff of GetActive Software and served as the Associate Director of Groundspring.org, the nonprofit Internet software provider and training agency.

Patricia L. Stirling is a founding partner of the National Advancement Counsel (NAC). For the past 25 years, Patricia has devoted her professional energies to advancement efforts in the fields of education, health care, community service, and the arts. Patricia was an active volunteer fundraiser and lobbyist for a number of causes before she became professionally involved in the field of development. Building a practice primarily in the Western United States, Patricia has earned a reputation as a highly regarded campaign strategist, teacher, and lecturer on creating campaign plans and infrastructures that help insure an institution’s success.

Claire Taylor, Principal of Claire Taylor Consulting Services

Claire Taylor has over nineteen years of experience in helping people and organizations find ways to achieve their vision and goals. As a presenter, trainer and consultant, Claire has worked with the corporate, non-profit and public sectors in supporting the creation of innovative and successful change efforts to meet specific client needs. Claire’s extensive experience has included positions of Training and Organization Development Consultant for Kaiser Permanente and Director of Executive Search / Senior Staff Consultant at the Management Center in San Francisco.

Wilford Welch

Wilford is a noted motivational speaker on business, nonprofits, and Social Entrepreneurship. Mr. Welch carried out corporate and business strategy assignments for a number of US, Japanese, Indian and Western European corporations, including Citicorp, Alcoa, Toyota, Prince, Hindustan Lever, and many other clients. Mr. Welch has carried out strategy assignments in the environmental area including assignments for The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and the Lloyd Center for Environmental Studies and the South Yuba River Citizens League. He also recently completed a long range planning assignment for the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and is currently developing the Five Year Plan for Columbia’s Center for International Conflict Resolution.

Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise in Practice:
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Jennie Winton, Mission Minded

Jennie Winton is co-founder of Mission Minded, a marketing communications firm with offices and San Francisco and Los Angeles that works exclusively with nonprofits and foundations. Mission Minded's clients include YMCA of San Francisco, University of California Press, Marin Education Fund, Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco Opera and French American International School among others. Jennie is the former Chief Marketing Officer for the American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter and has worked in advertising and marketing for 17 years.

The Secrets to Nonprofit Branding:
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Robert M. Zimmerman, Zimmerman Lehman

Robert M. Zimmerman, fundraising specialist and President of Zimmerman Lehman, has 35 years of experience in the field of nonprofit administration in the areas of fundraising, organizational development and executive search. Bob has taught workshops for nonprofit staffs and boards of directors in the United States and Europe on such topics as major donor solicitation, grantseeking, hiring top-notch executive staff, and overcoming the fear of fundraising and is co-author (with partner Ann Lehman) of Boards That Love Fundraising: A How-To Guide For Your Board and Board Members Rule: How to be a Strategic Advocate for Your Nonprofit.

Diversifying Your Funding Base >


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