AFP Houston April 2024 Education Session - Virtual

Speaker Bios:
Jeff Stanger: Jeff has served CFRE International in several roles since 2012 is currently the Education Resources Director. Stanger has served on the faculty of The Fund Raising School at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. He is a frequent speaker and workshop facilitator on a variety of fundraising topics including social media, annual campaigns, marketing, crisis communications, and grant writing. He is also an author and has contributed chapters to Achieving Excellence in Fundraising Volumes III and IV. Prior to joining CFRE International, Stanger served as Development Director for The Salvation Army of Indiana for six years.

Ronnie Hagerty, PhD., CFRE: Ronnie Hagerty oversees the United Way of Greater Houston’s Nonprofit Connection, a professional and leadership development practice serving area nonprofit organizations, and United Way Project Blueprint, a program that prepares members of Houston’s multicultural communities for nonprofit board leadership. Prior to moving to the nonprofit sector, she was a marketing executive with New York and Houston communications firms. She is an adjunct professor at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University and has been a lecturer at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. Hagerty earned her bachelor’s degree from Saint Mary’s College/Notre Dame, master’s degree in business administration from the University of Houston, and doctoral degree in leadership and change from Antioch University. Hagerty serves on the boards of the Association of Fundraising Professionals – Greater Houston Chapter and The Rose. She has been appointed by the Governor of Texas to serve as board chair for the OneStar Foundation National Service Commission and is a member of Career Gear and Higher Up Texas Advisory Committees. She is a Sustaining member of The Junior League of Houston where she serves on the Community Initiatives Committee. 

LaDawn Fletcher, CFRE: LaDawn has more than 20 years of fundraising experience in small and large shops. Fundraising was not in her career plan as an undergraduate journalism student, but while completing a public relations internship at a small nonprofit organization during her senior year, she found her niche. LaDawn graduated with her Masters in Public Administration from University of Houston in December 2022, closed a $20 million gift to name the Andy and Barbara Gessner College of Nursing at University of Houston in March 2023, and earned her CFRE in August 2023. She joined Houston Methodist Hospital Foundation as a Principal Gifts Officer in November, 2023. LaDawn enjoys puns, Scrabble, NY Times Connections, and other word-nerd activities. When not hanging out with her husband and three daughters, she can be found reading, listening to books or podcasts, and falling down research rabbit holes because of said books or podcasts. 

Nicole Robinson-Gauthier, CFRE: Nicole Robinson Gauthier joined Lone Star College (LSC) in 2016 as the Executive Director of Lone Star College Foundation. Nicole brings more than 25 years of experience in fundraising.  Since joining the team at LSC, Nicole and her team have created new policies for endowments ensuring long-term sustainability for LSC Foundation, nearly doubled overall assets and implemented a robust emergency student aid program that includes varying types of support. Previously, she worked with the Women’s Leadership program (now called Women United) at three United Ways. Nicole helped the local United Way take their scholarship program to the next level by creating a special event called Women Who Rock. This annual event recently celebrated 10 years of supporting child care scholarships for young parents furthering their post-secondary education and she was thrilled to serve as the 10th Anniversary Chair. Nicole is a graduate of Leadership Montgomery County, Past President of the Texas Association of Community College Foundations and President of NCL (National Charity League) The Magnolias Chapter.  She is also a global ambassador for CFRE International (Certified Fund Raising Executive) and obtained her CFRE in 2010. Nicole is a proud graduate of Louisiana State University and lives in The Woodlands with her husband and has three daughters.  

Nicole Gabler, CFRE: Nicole Gabler currently serves as the Director of Individual and Foundation Engagement at Make-A-Wish Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana. She was a foundational member of Texas Children’s Hospital's first dedicated donor relations program. She is passionate about stewardship and expressing gratitude to donors. She guides teams in strategic stewardship and retention campaigns with a mission of demonstrating vulnerable gratitude and committed focus to an often under prioritized aspect of philanthropy. At Texas Children’s, she transformed an underperforming, reactive donor relations program into an intentional, proactive structure that realized a 200% increase in stewardship touches over two years. With Make-A-Wish, she is developing baseline processes and engagement plans to establish a strong individual donor base and newly created giving society. Her ultimate career goal is to promote authentic stewardship as a core fundraising strategy. She graduated from The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University in 2017, and earned her CFRE in 2018.

Samantha Sheats Olinsky, CFRE: Sam currently works at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast as their Senior Director of Development. She has worked in Development for nearly seven years, starting from data entry to her role in major gift fundraising today. As an advocate for lifelong learning, Sam recently completed her MBA through Sam Houston State and earned her CFRE certification in 2021. Sam has been a member of AFP Houston since 2019 and currently serves on the board. Outside of fundraising, Sam enjoys reading, traveling, scuba diving, and spending time with friends and family. Having grown up in New York and living in both California and Seattle, she has resided in Houston for five years with her husband and big red Goldendoodle, Clifford.  

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