We’re grateful to all of our 2027 NEAGC speakers, for their generosity and their expertise.
🍎 = Returning NEAGC Faculty Member!
🍏 = First-Time NEAGC Faculty Member!
Bob Burdenski 🍎
Conference Committee
Bob Burdenski is an internationally-known annual and regular giving programs consultant for schools, colleges and universities. Bob is the author of three CASE annual giving books and is a recipient of the CASE Crystal Apple Award for Lifetime Teaching Excellence as ranked by his audiences. In 2019 he was also named a CASE Laureate for his years of volunteer service to the profession. He has educated (and entertained) at presentations throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, including numerous CASE Europe and CASE Asia Pacific Annual and Regular Giving Conferences and Masterclasses. He presented CASE’s first-ever annual giving training programs in India, Japan, Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia, and in 2019, Bob served for the third-straight year as Chair of the CASE Institute for Senior Annual Giving Professionals. Since 2002, Bob has served as the moderator of FundList, the largest fundraising e-mail discussion listserv in the world, with thousands of development professional subscribers.
Casey Ryan Castiglione 🍏
Casey Castiglione is Director of Annual Giving at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Christopher Chambers 🍎
Conference Committee
Chris Chambers is Manager of Annual Giving and Corporate and Foundation Relations, as well as Development Officer, School of Science, Health & Criminal Justice, at the Canton College Foundation, SUNY Canton.
Nicole Forgit 🍏
Nicole Forgit is Senior Managing Director of Annual & Leadership Giving at Bentley University.
Clark Gafke 🍎
Clark Gafke is the CEO of LEAD Philanthropy. Clark enables nonprofit institutions to attract and motivate donors to achieve the organization’s strategic goals. He helps the organization’s senior leadership evaluate and design strategic fundraising plans in the context of contemporary giving trends. He also assists the organization’s development staff to implement the plan through the design and conduct of specific communication initiatives for Capital and Annual Fund programs. Clark’s experience enables him to provide guidance on using appropriate channels to reach prospects and donors in ways they want to communicate – face-to-face, special events, peer-to-peer texting, calling programs, direct mail efforts, email campaigns, crowdfunding & giving days, online technologies, digital communications, text-to-give, text-to-pledge and a host of other mobile channels. In his 30+ years providing fundraising counsel, Clark has served more than 300 organizations in the US and Canada representing education, healthcare, arts, museums, zoos, aquariums, public broadcasting and membership organizations. In the process, he’s trained and coached more than 11,000 communicators. Beyond this direct service to organizations, he is a frequent speaker at fundraising conferences including NCDC, CASE, AFP, PSI, GEAC, and on many college campuses. He is Past President of the Las Vegas AFP Chapter, a former national delegate, and Past Chair of the chapter’s Education Committee and Every Member Campaign. Clark is also Cialdini Certified Professional and Ethical Influence Practitioner with the Cialdini Institute. Clark began his fundraising work as a student caller in the alumni annual fund program at the University of Missouri. After graduation, he worked at the National 4-H Council in Washington, DC. Clark has served as Vice President and Senior Consultant for a variety of consulting firms. He created the first online caller training program for colleges and universities and served as Dean for 21 PHONE/MAIL 101 workshops. He is an avid supporter and volunteer for 4-H. Both Clark and his wife were named to the University of Missouri Extension Leaders Honor Roll for their long-term commitment and support. Clark resides near St. Louis, MO and enjoys fishing and traveling with his wife and their two daughters.
Paul Klenk 🍎
Paul Klenk is the CEO at GetThru, bringing over 20 years of experience in academia and university services. After earning a PhD in Engineering at Duke University, he developed K-12 engineering curricula, reflecting his passion for education and innovation. After getting his MBA, he transitioned to the private sector, helping researchers publish their work at Research Square, where he played a key role in product management, marketing, and finance. Over the past two years, he has led GetThru in supporting donor engagement through P2P texting for approximately 200 schools and launched the company’s Customer Advisory Board for higher education.
Walker Konkle 🍏
Walker Konkle is Director of the Annual Fund at the Washington International School.
Jill Lynch 🍏
Jill Lynch is Senior Reunion Giving Officer at Brown University.
Marianne Pelletier 🍎
Marianne Pelletier has been in fundraising since 1988. Primarily working in the field of Development Operations, Pelletier ran an annual campaign for New Hampshire College for 5 years with an average increase in giving of 27% each year. Pelletier is now with the Staupell Analytics Group, finding new ways to use data to build and test strategy. She is a graduate of Rockford University and Southern New Hampshire University, and her two books are available on Amazon.
Daniella Staudacher 🍏
Daniella Staudacher is Associate Director of University Initiatives, Annual Giving at Carnegie Mellon University.
Matt Sulzer is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for MCR, Inc. For the past 20 years, Matt has served more than 600 college, university and healthcare teams with their direct mail needs. He prides himself on providing clients with excellent customer service, while partnering with them to help achieve and exceed their organizational fundraising goals. In Matt’s tenure, he has achieved Sales Person of the Year eight times and regularly speaks at conferences on different annual giving and direct mail topics.