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Stephanie Arcella is a New York area Associate for Lawson Associates, Inc. She has eight years experience in nonprofit work, including fundraising, program management, and volunteer coordination. She has worked for a variety of social causes including child care, community development, and women’s rights.

Stephanie’s fundraising experience includes grant writing and tracking, prospecting, developing annual appeals; coordinating large and small fundraising events; managing donor relations; and developing long-term strategies for organizational growth.

Stephanie is a graduate of Penn State University and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Social Work at Fordham University.

Diane Clare is a highly skilled marketing and sales professional with twenty-five continuous years of experience in marketing complex educational and healthcare products, professional consultation services and continuing education seminars and workshops and seminar management services. She has uniquely multi-faceted skills complimented by her well honed social and communication skills, good conceptual and problem solving skills, and refined networking skills. These make her an ideal manager for profit and non-profit organizations. Her talents have served her clients, both organizations and individuals, outstandingly well. Ms. Clare has served in management capacities in educational organizations, entrepreneurial start-up companies, health and human service product and service companies, e.g., as the director of a philanthropic family foundation, as the marketing manager of an international fitness company in partnership with both public and private sectors, as the vice president of a seminar management company, a health planner and fundraiser for a model preventive medical clinic. She has also served on the Board of Directors for several start-up non-profit organizations in the arts, health care and education.

Frank Demetrowitz began his 30-year fundraising career at the prestigious Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His five-year tenure was marked by significant advances in every category of giving. From here Mr. Demetrowitz branched out to work for national fundraising firms. As a senior vice president he managed campaigns for churches, colleges, YMCA, YWCA, Salvation Army, Boys & Girls Club, retirement homes, Boy Scouts, community theaters, clinics and the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

More than 95 percent of his several dozen campaigns have exceeded their stated goals, some by as much as 100 percent.

Non-profit institutions contemplating the start of giving programs have sought out Demetrowitz’s help (most significantly a large state university campus). He recruited, trained and motivated new board members and other volunteers. Today, these groups raise millions through their annual fund, capital campaigns and planned giving.

He volunteers today as a member of several historical museums; is on the planned giving committee of the largest land trust in the U.S. and has taught fundraising courses at the college level.

A graduate of Syracuse University with two advanced degrees, Mr. Demetrowitz lives with his wife, Joan, in up state New York near Saratoga Springs.

Kim Fischer has more than 20 years of experience in fundraising, public relations and marketing. She has worked in large healthcare and social service organizations and has had clients ranging from hospitals, physician practices, and foundations – to schools, cultural arts organizations and national development firms.

In San Antonio, she has worked as a development and public relations consultant for a number of various not-for-profit organizations including the Cancer Therapy and Research Center and the San Antonio Symphony, where she helped the organization emerge from bankruptcy and achieve a multi-million dollar fundraising goal.

Besides her experience in all aspects of fund development, including annual fund, major gifts, events and capital campaigns, she brings special expertise in community awareness and branding campaigns and donor communications. She was public relations director for a large Albuquerque healthcare system, Director of Marketing for United Way of Central New Mexico, and Director of Development for a San Antonio museum. In 1997, she opened her own public relations firm in Albuquerque.

A Midwestern native, Kim earned her bachelor's degree in English from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and has taught literature and writing in high schools in the Chicago area and in Albuquerque. She has tutored writing students at the University of New Mexico and conducted public relations and marketing seminars for universities and professional and community organizations.

Kim has won numerous awards from the Public Relations Society of America and the American Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development, including the coveted Touchstone Award for her creative work on an employee fund-raising campaign. Actively involved in the San Antonio community, she is a member of the Board of Hospice of San Antonio, Vice President of the Board of the Friends of Gemini Ink and Vice President of the Trinity University Women’s Club. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Downtown San Antonio and the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

John Flynn has spent over 50 years in the fund raising field, beginning in the ministry. He, most recently, has been Director of Endowment for the Harris Methodist Health Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas, where he was responsible for creating, marketing and managing a gift plan structured on working with donors and their professional advisors. Prior to that he was president of the United Methodist Reporter Foundation, responsible for creating, marketing and administering a capital campaign and an endowment campaign.

Mr. Flynn has experience in marketing gift plans and gift planning design, including charitable remainder trusts, charitable gift annuities and private foundations. He has extensive experience working with professional advisors, such as estate planning attorneys, accountants, trust officers, financial planners, insurance agents and realtors. Previous positions include being the chief operations officer of a national public relations firm, and as a consultant with a financial planning firm. He is also an excellent writer and speaker.

Mr. Flynn earned his B.A. in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University and a Masters in Theology from Southern Methodist University.

Daniel L. Force, who was born and raised in Yonkers, New York, has a long history of service as a Lawson Associate and to the Presbyterian Church (USA) including his years as the Executive Director of the Medical Benevolence Foundation (MBF).

During his eight years as Executive Director of MBF its financial strength doubled to 10 million dollars. Under his leadership the Foundation was recognized as “visionary” on a half hour PBS program carried nationwide.

Currently Dan serves as a Lawson Associate. Over the years Mr. Force has served church congregations, ministries, schools and academies, health organizations, and the art community. He has led and participated in numerous major capital and endowment campaigns with goals up to $200 million dollars.

Dan has over thirty years of international and national experience in fundraising, program development, management, and administration. He is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and a member of the Presbytery of Baltimore. His earlier service to the church included: Presbyterian pastor in North Carolina and Maryland; - U.S. Navy Chaplain; Director, Office on Global Education, Church World Service; Associate Director, Committee on Theological Education, Presbyterian Church (USA), and also as an independent consultant on fundraising.

Daniel Force received his Bachelor of Arts degree at Tusculum College (Presbyterian) in Tennessee and went on to take graduate degrees at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity) and University of Oklahoma (Master of Arts). He pursued doctoral studies in educational administration at Morgan State University in Maryland.

Dan and his wife Sarah reside in Annapolis, Maryland.

Betsy Freedman has been associated with Lawson Associates, Inc. as an Associate for over 10 years. In that capacity she has been involved in numerous fund raising audits, and fund raising campaigns ranging in scope from colleges and universities, religious organizations, international organizations and the arts.

In addition to her fund raising expertise Betsy has had extensive experience in all phases of Office Administration and Human Resources. She has successfully assisted clients in the establishment and/or reconstruction of campaign offices.

Betsy also consults with many businesses and nonprofit organizations to assist them with the establishment of office procedures, policies and organizational skills. She also conducts seminars in the area of Human Resources teaching interviewing skills to volunteers and board members.

Betsy is a graduate of Endicott College. She is also a past president (local chapter) of the National Council of Jewish Women and a member of several community service organizations in the New York City area.

Jean S. Frey is an accomplished fundraising professional with more than ten years of experience with education, health, social, environmental, arts and cultural, and faith-based non-profit organizations.

Prior to becoming a Lawson Associate, Jean was most recently an Executive Director for an international fundraising consulting firm. In this capacity, she served as onsite campaign counsel, managing all aspects of client campaigns including feasibility studies, campaign planning, case statement preparation, board development and training, marketing and communications, prospect research and cultivation, major gift solicitation and acknowledgement, special events, donor recognition and stewardship. She worked extensively with Habitat for Humanity International, conducting a planning and feasibility study for Habitat Egypt, and successfully restarting a campaign that had been interrupted due to an internal crisis for a leading US Habitat affiliate.

A graduate of Florida State University (FSU), with degrees in Business Administration and English, Jean began her fundraising career at FSU, and served as Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship throughout the five-year, $600 million FSU Connect Campaign. During the campaign, she effectively built and maintained major donor relationships while developing a marketing and communications plan to revitalize the Presidents Club, achieving an eighty percent increase in membership and improving donor relations, donor recognition and prospect cultivation. Additionally, she revitalized the Presidents Club’s planned giving program by auditing and revising policies and procedures, preventing the lapse of $20 million in insurance policies previously gifted to the university.

Jean also designed and implemented a comprehensive stewardship program that centralized the stewardship reporting of FSU’s seventeen academic divisions, providing fiscal accountability to generous donors and bringing them together with the grateful students and faculty who benefited from their philanthropy.

Having worked in the computer software industry, Jean also has an in-depth understanding of the technical and data management challenges faced by today’s non-profits. As a Senior Account Executive for a leading provider of “software as a service,” she advised clients on how to advance their organizational missions by improving constituent relationships and maximizing fundraising efforts through technical and online solutions for constituent relationship management, web content management, special events, marketing, communications, online giving and wealth screening. With her detailed knowledge of electronic wealth screening and research and prospect management, she has consulted with numerous clients to provide customized solutions for identifying, segmenting, rating and tracking prospects and donors.

Jean currently lives in Tallahassee, FL, and is an active member of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).

Millicent (Missy) Gale has more than 20 years experience in development and public relations with health care and non-profit organizations, A Senior Associate with Lawson Associates, Inc., Missy heads up the Dallas, Fort Worth office. She is currently managing Endowment and Capital Campaigns for clients including Partners Together for Health, JPS Health System, Fort Worth, Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas, All Church Home for Children, Fort Worth, New Horizons, Goldthwaite, Texas and the Fort Worth Zoo. Ms. Gale was involved in the $40 million Capital Campaign for TexasWild!, the Fort Worth Zoo’s largest and most innovative expansion in its 90-year history. Ms. Gale worked in tandem with the Zoo’s board and volunteers to solicit major gifts; develop the message, fundraising strategy and case for support with a regional, state and national focus; organize and implement an extensive donor recognition program; and launch a grass roots general Campaign designed to continue as an annual giving program.

Prior to this, Ms. Gale was involved in all aspects of fund development serving as a director of development with the Harris Methodist Health Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas for more than seven years. She organized the Foundation’s corporate fundraising effort during a $10 million Capital Campaign and directed a $2 million Campaign at Harris Methodist HEB in Bedford, Texas. Ms. Gale developed the Charles H. Harris Society, the Harris’ system-wide donor relationship program and implemented a leadership development program made up of 85 top community professionals. In her role as annual fund director, Ms. Gale spearheaded signature events for three of Harris’ key hospitals; recruiting and training strong community volunteer and board leadership.

In addition to her fund raising experience, Ms. Gale has an extensive background in public relations, media and crisis communications. As hospital spokesperson in the Dallas Fort Worth area, Ms. Gale has managed crisis communications for two major airline disasters and a major announcement regarding patient rights. She has received awards for effective communication programs and special event communications from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and Texas Public Relations Society (TPRA).

Ms. Gale has a bachelor of science in journalism from the University of Texas at Arlington where she received the Outstanding Student in Public Relations award from Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and has done masters work at the University of Dallas. She is a Certified Fundraising Executive by the Association for Fund Raising Professionals (AFP). Missy Gale currently serves on the board of the Apache’s Angels Foundation in Colleyville, Texas. She is a previous board member of and is currently a volunteer for the Colleyville Women's Club and the Barbara Gordon Montessori School. She has presented regionally and nationally for the Association of Health Care Professionals (AHP) and the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).

Claire L. Gaudiani has been active in philanthropy for more than twenty years. She is currently teaching and researching as a professor at The George H. Heyman, Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising at New York University. Prior to accepting this position, Dr. Gaudiani was a Senior Research Scholar at the Yale Law School where she completed a book entitled The Greater Good: How Philanthropy Drives the American Economy and Can Save Capitalism. This book, focused on how American philanthropy has contributed to US economic growth, was published by Times-Holt and addresses a wide audience with stories from American philanthropic history from 1630 to 2003. It also includes data and survey results that illustrate the book's thesis: that Americans are not generous because we are rich, but rich because we are generous.

Invitations to present talks related to this book have taken Gaudiani to over 100 cities and more than 400 keynotes and workshops in the past four years. Her work with Boards, volunteers and staff at all levels has received the highest accolades. She has also worked with financial planners, families of wealth, corporations, private and public foundations, and professional organizations engaged in campaigns.

She is currently completing a book on how American women’s generosity has deepened our democracy and energized our economy.

Dr. Gaudiani served for 13 years as President of Connecticut College. Under her leadership from 1988-2001, Connecticut College quintupled its endowment and significantly surpassed the ambitious goal set by its trustees for its comprehensive campaign called “A TIME TO LEAD.” Her team enabled the College to move from a spot in the mid forties to the Top 25 National Liberal Arts Colleges in the influential U.S. News and World Report survey.

Dr. Gaudiani has extensive experience consulting with non profit boards of universities, hospitals, museums and arts centers, and social service organizations as well as many Community Foundations.

She has worked closely with the corporate sector in various contexts and has served as a director of several NYSE publicly-traded companies for the past eighteen years, MBIA, Inc; SNET; and Citizens Bank.

She has served on the boards of not-for-profit enterprises including The Henry Luce Foundation, The Hazen Foundation, the Shubert Theatre, the Connecticut Center for School Change, Connecticut Legal Services Advisory Board, Public Radio International, and is a trustee of WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute).

Dr. Gaudiani holds a PhD. and MA from Indiana University and a BA from Connecticut College. She is the author of six books and monographs and more than 100 published articles. Dr. Gaudiani was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and as a fellow of the PBK Society which she serves as a board member. She was also elected to the Century Association. She has received ten honorary doctorates.

Bob Hopkins has been a fund raising executive of non profit organizations since the early 80’s. His first professional employer was with the National Council on Alcoholism in Kansas City. He knew very quickly that working with nonprofits was his calling. Since then Bob has dedicated his life to serving as a professional in the nonprofit arena. Bob has been an active and contributing leader of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives, now the Association of Fund Raising Professionals.

Bob was a volunteer before that. As a hospital administrator in the 70’s, he personally raised money for indigent patients who had special needs in Kansas City.

Since a child, however, Bob had the good fortune of having parents who were community servants. He believes that GIVING is a learned behavior and Bob had great role models. He has powerful memories of his mother and father volunteering for organizations in Garden City, Kansas, his childhood home.

Bob came to Texas in 1984 to work as the Director of Development at the Shelton School in Dallas, a school for children with “learning differences”, such as dyslexia and ADD.

In 1987 Bob became the executive director of the Texas Neurofibromatosis Foundation. (NF is a genetic disorder that causes tumors anywhere in the body. Many of the tumors become cancerous and patients will die.)

One of the most significant contributions prior to the PAVE program and the development of Philanthropy In Texas and Philanthropy World magazines, was the development of an International Camp for children with NF. Children from all over the world come to Texas for a week to be “just who they are”, without jeers from the outside world. There, children develop a better understanding of their disease and coping skills. The camp continues each summer and is in its 15th year.

Bob also began the PAVE program, Philanthropy And Volunteerism in Education, in 1997 because Bob was frustrated that those serving on Boards of Directors for nonprofits did not have proper training to be a Board member and no understanding of the workings of a nonprofit, thus the large number of nonprofits that do not succeed.   Seminars for donors and volunteers is a partial answer. A more complete, sensible answer is to introduce community service in the educational curriculum to kids when they are young. It will become a life long part of their positive development. (We believe that community service can bring peace to the world.) Bob has developed courses in Dallas, Carrolton, Texas, Kansas City and Fort Worth.

The biggest satisfactions Bob receives from doing his work is to instill the realization in everyone that “they too can make a difference”. Bob teaches that a philanthropist is “one who wakes up every morning wanting to know how they can help someone else. Philanthropy is so much more than just “giving money”.

In the spring of 2007 Bob received the Hero of Humanity Award at the Kennedy Center in D.C. from the Art of Living Foundation, for the development and execution of the PAVE program. A true honor he shares with Lynn Vogt CFRE, who wrote the curriculum.

Bob sits on boards of directors and volunteers his time with his personal favorite causes, such as the Swiss Avenue Historic District Tour of Homes, Dallas Summer Musicals, Booker T. Washington School for the Performing and Visual Arts and the Association of Fund Raising Professionals.

Bob has a bachelors and masters degrees from Kansas University and Kansas State University, respectively. Bob received his certification as a professional fund raising executive from the National Society of Fund Raising Executives, and serves as a faculty member of the Fund Raising School at the University of Indiana School on Philanthropy in Indianapolis.

Jane Jordan has more than 25 years experience in community affairs, fund development, strategic planning, administration for nonprofit organizations, corporate social responsibility, foundation management and consulting to non-profits.

From March 2004 to December 2005, Jane served as Executive Director of the Community Hospice Foundation and Vice President of Community Hospice of Northeast Florida. Jane put her business on hold during that time in order to personally develop the capacity of the Foundation and the organization to conduct a capital campaign to build three inpatient facilities and establish a patient care endowment. During the 18 months, among other accomplishments, Jane increased annual giving by over 25%, increased the thrift store revenue by 72%, and oversaw the development and implementation of a special event that netted $425,000 in its first year, and dramatically increased community awareness of and support for Community PedsCare, the CHNE children’s hospice and palliative care program.

Jane was Vice President for Development and Director of the Foundation for Healthcare of Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville, FL. In this role, she spearheaded the Foundation’s first strategic planning process, involving the Foundation Board and other key volunteers. Jane also created the Foundation’s first active major and planned gifts programs, developed a comprehensive marketing approach for community outreach, and secured the hospital’s first million-dollar-plus charitable contribution outside of an organized capital campaign. She founded the Wolfson Children’s Hospital Bass Tournament, now one of the largest in the Southeast; and founded the first targeted physician giving program at that hospital, about which she spoke at seminars and workshops throughout the Southeast.

Jane served as Vice President for Community Affairs for Barnett Bank of Jacksonville (now Bank of America) for 10 years, establishing the bank’s corporate foundation and leading the way for the bank to become THE corporate citizen in the greater Jacksonville area. During that time, she consulted with numerous nonprofit organizations in the bank’s service area, guiding them in the development of their corporate solicitation programs, enhancing their Boards through a bank employee volunteer program, and facilitating successful strategic planning and fund development initiatives. While at the bank, Jane was instrumental in founding the Jacksonville Ronald McDonald House; establishing Caring for Kids, a program to turn women on welfare into independent child care providers; and many other bank-driven initiatives to meet community needs.

Jane is a graduate of The University of Florida, Gainesville, and has done master’s work in public relations at Syracuse University Newhouse College of Journalism. She conducts numerous seminars and workshops on fund raising, Board development, and strategic and fund development planning.

Barbara H. McColm, CFRE, brings twenty years experience in fundraising for health care and senior living services to the Lawson clients she serves. Her interest in the nonprofit sector began many years ago through her active volunteer role in her community.

As Senior Vice President of Development at Sears Methodist Retirement System in Abilene, Texas, Barbara led the effort in growing a newly formed foundation that increased its endowment from $4 million to $10 million during her seven-year tenure. In addition to her role in fundraising, she spearheaded the nine-month initiative by Sears Methodist to accredit its system of services with the national Continuing Care Accreditation Certification in 2002. Sears Methodist was the first aging services system to receive the recognition.

Professional experience also includes ten years at Harris Methodist Health Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas as part of the fundraising team to raise $4 million annually. Her experience included aspects in annual programs, events, corporate and foundation grants and foundation administration. Her understanding of the volunteer arena was instrumental in the formation of the Breast Cancer Advisory Board.

Barbara’s many accomplishments include her activities with the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), culminating in the recognition as Outstanding Professional Fundraiser in 2004 by her peers in the Rockies and Southwest Region. She has served on boards for the past twenty years in addition to AHP including the Junior League of Fort Worth, Child Advocates of Tarrant County, the Tarrant County Auxiliary for The Gladney Center, Nonprofit Management Center of Abilene, St. John’s Episcopal School, Future Fund of the Community Foundation of Abilene, and Vestry at the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest.

Barbara is a certified fundraising executive (CFRE) and has experience with both small and large fundraising departments in non-profit organizations as well as an understanding of the importance of charitable giving to improve our communities.

Maureen McDonnell brings over 21 years of non-profit management, executive leadership and business experience to Lawson Associates.

Most recently, Ms. McDonnell served as Vice President for Advancement and University Relations at Regent University from 2002-2008.   As Vice President, she was responsible for developingstrategy and supervising a team of (50) professionals in the departments of development and fundraising, public and community relations, university marketing, alumni relations and special events. As part of the executive leadership team, Ms. McDonnell provided guidance to the President and Chancellor on strategic direction of the university. Ms. McDonnell also worked very closely with the university’s Board of Trustees and served on the Board’s Trustee Search Committee for nomination and selection of prospective trustees. Under her leadership, the university experienced unprecedented growth in fundraising revenues and began its first campaign effort in its history.

Prior to assuming her appointment at Regent, Ms. McDonnell worked for IBM Corporation for 15 years in various sales and marketing leadership positions in Chicago, Illinois and Columbus, Ohio. In her last position with IBM, she was responsible for development and execution of marketing strategies focusing on K-12 public school districts, private institutions and the Ohio Department of Education.

Ms. McDonnell is active in her community, currently served on the Board of Directors for the Discover Life Center in Norfolk, Va. and is a former Vice President of the Notre Dame Club of Columbus. She also has volunteered on various political campaigns and statewide races in Virginia.   Ms. McDonnell holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a Marketing concentration from The University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind. She also is a graduate of the IBM Client Executive Program, Harvard Business School. Ms. McDonnell resides in Chesapeake, Virginia with her husband and daughter.

Ellen P. Ray, MA, brings more than 30 years of professional and volunteer experience in human services to Lawson Associates. Both as a psycho-therapist in private practice for 15 years and as Director of Development at Lena Pope Home in Fort Worth, she has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of others.

Professional fund raising experience has included annual direct mail campaigns, successful special events, co-branding sponsorships and promotions, major and planned giving programs, donor cultivation as well as communications and public relations functions. By including public relations and marketing strategies, she helped increase the visibility of her agency and its mission within the community more than doubling their print and electronic media exposure. Cultivation programs resulted in an active volunteer base and advisory committees that brought hundreds of thousands of dollars of in-kind support to the agency. During her tenure, the average individual contribution to the annual campaign increased by 40%.

Ms. Ray has an extensive history as a volunteer having served in fundraising and leadership roles on the Boards of Directors of Lena Pope Home, Doris Kupferle Women’s Health Advisory Board, Fort Worth Challenge, Clayton Youth Enrichment Services, Tarrant County Mental Health Connection, Fort Worth Association of Fundraising Professionals, Women’s Haven, and Big Brothers and Sisters in addition to others. She brings a unique perspective to the special partnership of the volunteer and the professional fund raiser.

Ms. Ray earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Houston and a Master of Arts degree from Texas Christian University. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and has been an active member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Public Relations Society of America. She was recognized by the Fort Worth Commission for Women as “Outstanding Woman of Fort Worth—Women in the Workplace,” received the Community Service Champion Award from Clayton Y.E.S., and was recognized by the Fort Worth Business Press as one of its first “Most Influential Women in Business.”

Lynn Rollins worked for twelve years for New York State Governor, George E. Pataki. She was Senior Advisor for Women’s Issues. In this capacity, she was the Executive Director of The Commission Honoring the Achievements of Women, the Chair of the Women’s Heritage Trail Committee and led the project investigating the possibility of building a women’s history museum and leadership center. She spoke frequently on leadership, retirement issues and women’s history. She co-chaired several conferences on economic development and financial literacy and worked with women around the state to develop policy initiatives.

Lynn’s fundraising experience includes attending Emily’s List Fundraising Boot Camp, working on the finance committee of several campaigns, a six year stint on the New York City Audubon Society’s fundraising committee, organizing many events and developing the business plan and fundraising plan for a museum of women’s history and leadership center.

Her volunteer activities include being a past president and ten year member of the board of the New York City Audubon Society, the past president of several alumnae chapters and a board member of WISER (the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement).

Lynn, a graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College with a Master’s from The New School for Social Research, is also a Certified Financial Planner.

Mandy Thomas is a proven professional with a strong background in government relations, political and non-profit fundraising and marketing. Thomas began her political career in 1994 working for Senator Fred Thompson’s (R-TN) first senatorial race. Upon completion of this successful campaign, Thomas moved to Washington, DC where she continued to work for Senator Thompson for 4 years.

In 1998, Thomas became the Director of American Consulting Engineers Council’s (ACEC) Political Action Committee (PAC) and Grassroots Division. She directed a government advocacy program and conducted fundraising initiatives to raise money for distribution to federal candidates who supported the Council’s industry initiatives. After surpassing the PAC fundraising goal in 1999, Thomas was asked to become the Southern Regional Representative for the Republican Eagles at the Republican National Committee (RNC). She raised funds for the Republican Eagles donor club and assisted in the fundraising efforts for Bush for President and the Presidential Trust and Victory 2000.

Thomas moved back to Nashville, Tennessee, her hometown, where she held the position of Assistant Director of Development for Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. Raising funds for the College and the University’s Capital Campaign were her primary responsibilities.
In 2002, due to her extensive experience with government relations and Tennessee politics, Mandy assumed a new role as Director of Scheduling for Lamar Alexander’s Senate campaign. After Senator Alexander’s victorious campaign, Thomas was approached by a Nashville-based company to create and implement a marketing division where she directed the division’s day-to-day operations.

Currently, she consults with Lawson Associates, Inc. on fundraising and non-profit strategic planning. Her experience in working in political fundraising and with a major University in fundraising, coupled with a background in event management and marketing, allows Mandy to serve the needs of a variety of client in the not-for-profit sector.
Mandy has a degree in Speech Communications from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and resides in Nashville with her husband, Mike.

William W. Yarick, CFRE, has over 28 years of experience serving in senior development assignments and as consultant for a variety of institutions and clients.
His community involvement has also provided a broad range of experiences in community based and quasi-government agencies. Mr. Yarick has served on several non profit organization boards. He served as a founding director and officer of the Palm Beach County Planned Giving Council and was instrumental in the formation of the National Planned Giving Council. He also led the effort to establish the Palm Beach County Higher Educational Facilities Authority and served as its Executive Director for twenty years.

Prior affiliations include Chief Development Officer assignments at two colleges and a state wide child care agency. At Palm Beach Atlantic College (now Palm Beach Atlantic University) located in West Palm Beach, Florida he directed the college’s first capital campaign and implemented their planned giving program. At Northwood University (Florida Campus) also located in West Palm Beach, he successfully directed a 10 million dollar capital campaign. William served as Vice President Financial Development at the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches, where he directed a staff of sixteen. During his six and one half year tenure, the agency raised over 100 million dollars in current, capital and planned gifts.

Clients served in consulting assignments include colleges, K-12 private schools and social service agencies. Services include planning initiatives, financial development audits, development of short and long term fund raising programs, conducting feasibility studies and capital campaign management. He has also directed the fund raising efforts of a state wide political candidate and a congressional candidate.

Mr. Yarick received a B.S. in Business Administration from Palm Beach Atlantic College and a M. Ed. from Vanderbilt University. He has been a CFRE since 1988 and served as President of the Palm Beach/Martin County Chapter. He was honored as recipient of Alumnus Service Award at Palm Beach Atlantic University in November 2004.

Bill and his wife, Sara, currently reside in north Florida. They have two children and seven grandchildren.