The Development Debrief

The Wells Collective was born out of both necessity and the right amount of mimosas. After six Black women, who worked individually as public and private school educators, researchers, educational administrators, and psychologists, gathered together for a bubbly brunch, the kinetic energy that manifested itself at their table confirmed that by coming together, they could have a greater impact in promoting inclusion in their communities. These women rallied together to identify ways in which they could leverage their individual talents to develop a unique framework that would equip organizations with the tools  to be successful as change agents and architects for liberation. I was lucky enough to hear them speak at a conference last March at Mohonk Mountain House. I knew immediately, that I wanted to share their message on the Debrief. If you want to work with them or learn more, please reach out!

Kalea Selmon, Areas of Expertise: Restorative practices, teacher coaching, social-emotional wellness, assessing school culture for inclusion and anti-racist practices. Kalea hails from the Washington DC area. She is a proud alumna of Howard University where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology. After undergrad, she began her career teaching and facilitating a youth employment program. Kalea returned to school attending Johns Hopkins University where she earned a Master of Science in Counseling. Later, she transitioned into Independent Schools where she served as a school counselor and then a Director of Diversity and Inclusion where she focused on developing equity programming, providing professional development, curating curriculum, and hiring and retention of diverse staff.

Jenifer Moore, Areas of Expertise: Anti-racist & anti-bias curriculum, teacher coaching, assessing school culture for inclusion and anti-racist practices. Jenifer is the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Key School in Annapolis, MD. Previously, she has served as the Head of School and Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Sela Public Charter School. Jenifer has served children of Washington, DC since 2003 as a teacher, tutor, and school leader. She earned a Master’s degree from Trinity Washington, DC in Educational Administration and a Bachelor’s degree from Howard University.

Akailah Jenkins McIntyre, Areas of Expertise: Anti-racist & anti-bias practices, employee and teacher coaching, assessing organizational culture for inclusion and anti-racist practices, public speaking. Akailah is a native of Charleston, SC who began her career in education at Vanderbilt University. She went on to contribute to multiple education research projects at the institution, resulting in two published works. In this time, she discovered that her areas of interest were racial justice in education, and exploring Black girl joy and freedom in educational spaces. She earned both her Bachelor’s degree, and Master’s Degree from the institution. She now serves as Chief of Staff at a nonprofit.

Dr. Shari Baker, Areas of Expertise: Anti-racist & anti-bias curriculum, teacher coaching, assessing school culture for inclusion and anti-racist practices Shari began her career in education at Duke University. While there, she joined a women’s scholarship group, the Baldwin Scholars, in which she continues to be an active member. Dr. Baker obtained her social studies teaching certificate and went on to teach social studies in Prince George’s County Public Schools for a decade. She has also had extensive training on cultural responsive/sustaining pedagogy and restorative justice in schools. Dr. Baker also has experience implementing and measuring DEI initiatives at both large and small independent schools, notably including her most recent position as Director of Diversity & Inclusion at one of the largest independent high schools in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

This week, I speak with Marcela Hahn about her role as president of the Board of Directors of Women in Development (WiD). We explore the importance of community and tradition. Marcela Hahn is the Vice President, Development at Bank Street College of Education. For eight years, Marcela Hahn served as the AVP for Strategic Partnerships at CARE, a leading humanitarian organization. In this role she focused on corporate and foundation partnerships. Prior to CARE Marcela was the fundraising lead for Americans for UNFPA, Grand Street Settlement, and Project Reach Youth.

 Marcela served as a Peace Corps volunteer and employee for four years in Senegal; she received an MPA from New York University and a B.A. from Cornell University. Marcela is the president of the Board of Directors of Women in Development (WID), NY. She lives with her family and two cats in Brooklyn and loves to hike, x-country ski and read mysteries in her free time.

This week, we learn from Andy Rathmann-Noonan from the perspective of a non-profit CEO. Andy talks to us about changes his organization made to expand their mission and therefore grown their fundraising needs and goals.

Andy is the President of the National Science and Technology Medals Foundation. Over the last ten years, he has been responsible for various leadership and oversight responsibilities, including management of staff and programming, development and fundraising efforts, and ensuring that the Foundation’s mission is evident in all of its work. Andy has a deep personal connection to the foundation and its broader effort to build a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable future in STEMM. He recognizes his privilege and his responsibility as an ally to empower, enable, and serve his team, its mission, and the communities that can be positively affected by the NSTMF’s efforts. Andy earned a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College (Hartford, CT) in 2009. He resides in Silver Spring, MD, with his better half Julia, their son Nolan, and their dog Lulu. 

So far I am loving being back in Connecticut. Let’s learn more about Connecticut and this amazing guest’s career. This week, we hear from Christine Pina, Chief Advancement Officer at Miss Porter’s School. Christine and I talk about admissions, graduate work for fundraisers, building a community with pride, and how to educate your communities early about fundraising (especially at an all-girl's school).

Christine Pina is the Chief Advancement Officer, Miss Porter’s School where she is a member of the school’s senior leadership team.  She is responsible for all fundraising and alumni engagement activities and she has more than 25 years of experience in education administration.

See some data about giving to women and girl's here: https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/womens-philanthropy-institute/research/wgi.html

If you follow me on instagram @devdebrief, you saw that I went out to Annapolis in March. There, I met the US Navy development team and learned about their approach to fundraising. Mike Hoffman is an amazing leader who is growing programs, posting new positions, and argues teams are best built in person.

Mike joined the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation in March 2013 and currently serves on the Foundation’s senior leadership team as the Vice President, Development. Mike began his tenure at Navy as a Major Gifts Officer and grew into a series of roles with increasing responsibility before taking the VP position last year.

As the Naval Academy Foundation builds out a team in anticipation of their next campaign, Mike will lead a staff of 15 on the Development team, which includes the Regional Development program, which is comprised of the organization’s major gifts and high-end leadership annual giving initiatives, and the Planned Giving program. In his role, he also works closely with the Foundation’s EVP, Board of Directors and other organizational leaders to play a central role in campaign planning and execution. Additionally, Mike manages a portfolio of top donors across the country with a focus on principal gifts.

Since 2004, Mike has worked in education at both the independent school and higher education levels, with most of that experience in development positions. Prior to joining the Foundation, Mike was at Johns Hopkins University in their Regional and International Programs development office.

Mike graduated from Loyola University Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. He lives in Annapolis with his wife and three children.  

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Hello All, this is the final episode of Season 10! I am closing with this conversation because it offers a fresh perspective on wealth both as a writer and as a donor. Paul Sullivan has had and continues to have an exciting career that we can all learn from. Sit back, relax, and listen to Paul reflect on his journey to date and what money has had to do with it!

Paul is the founder of The Company of Dads, the first platform dedicated to creating a community for Lead Dads. Its mission is to help Lead Dads feel less isolated and more confident that they have made the correct choice to take on the bulk of the parenting and family duties - or at the very least not embrace stereotypes around who does what at home. As a Lead Dad himself, Paul understands intimately the joys, frustrations, isolation and reticence around talking about being a Lead Dad. It’s a role that is growing in numbers but is far from normalized.

Before starting The Company of Dads in 2021, Paul wrote the Wealth Matters column in The New York Times for 13 years. He also created the Money Game column in GOLF Magazine. As a journalist for 25 years, his articles also appeared in Fortune, Money, Conde Nast Portfolio, The International Herald Tribune, Barron’s, The Boston Globe, and Food & Wine. From 2000 to 2006, he was a reporter, editor and columnist at the Financial Times. He got his start as a reporter at Bloomberg and Institutional Investor.

He is the author of two books Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t and The Thin Green Line: The Money Secrets of The Super Wealthy.

Paul has been interviewed on podcasts, radio and television programs across America, including NPR, Marketplace, CNN, and Fox News. He has also given key-note talks to audiences from 50 to 500 people in the United States, Mexico and Chile.

Paul lives in New Canaan, Connecticut, with his wife and their three daughters and three dogs. He received degrees in history from Trinity College and the University of Chicago. When not running The Company of Dads or being a Lead Dad, he is an obsessive golfer.

Last week, I went with several of my colleagues to the NYSAIS advancement conference at Mohonk Mountain House. NYSAIS stands for the New York State Association of Independent Schools. At the conference, I had the opportunity to speak about building your personal brand for career success with today’s guest, Jan Abernathy. Before we did our talk, we recorded it to share with all of you!

Jan Abernathy is the Chief Communications Officer at The Browning School, a K-12 boys’ school in New York City. Formerly the director of marketing and communications at The Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, NJ. At Browning, she is a member of the Health & Safety Team, responsible for managing COVID response, and co-chaired the school’s successful search for its new director of equitable practice and social impact.

She is president of New York City Independent Schools Communications Professionals, a professional association of over 100 members from schools throughout the tri-state area, and the co-founder of Black Advancement Networking Group, which works to gain further representation and greater professional growth of Black professionals in advancement roles in independent schools. Jan is chair of CASE-NAIS 2022, the most prominent international advancement conference in the independent school sector. A journalist by training, she has written for NAIS’ Independent School Magazine on crisis communications (Winter 2019) and the “Black at” movement (Winter 2021).

She is a trustee of Grace Church School, a K-12 school in New York City, and was on the board of Stevens Cooperative School in Hoboken, NJ, for 13 years, spending six years as chair. Her consulting firm, Jan Abernathy Strategic Communications, provides communications and DEI counsel for educational institutions and non-profits.

The tale is as old as time- do you have regional major gift teams based in the cities they manage, or on campus? Vanderbilt University is rolling out a new initiative they are calling Vanderbilt Regional Hubs. Through these hubs, prospective students, current students, parents, alumni and friends will connect with Vanderbilt through professional opportunities and custom programming. This week, we will learn about how the program has been launched from the leader himself, Taylor. 

Taylor Wood joined Vanderbilt’s Development and Alumni Relations team in November 2018 to manage fundraising for the School of Medicine, including Basic Sciences, and the School of Nursing. In October of 2022, his portfolio has expanded to include oversight of development for the School of Engineering and DAR’s new regional development initiative. He previously served in development leadership at the Syracuse University School of Architecture, one of the top architecture programs in the country, as well as the College of Design at the University of Kentucky. Wood is a native Kentuckian and earned his bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Kentucky and master’s degrees in business administration and sports administration at Ohio University.

**Special shout out to Becca Jensen for suggesting this episode and making this episode possible.