Each year, NCGPC recruits top Planned Giving Professionals from across the country to headline at its annual Planned Giving Day Conference. The following are the speakers for our 2025 conference:
Keynote Speaker
Aimee D. Griffin, Esq. | Principal, Life & Legacy Counselors, The Griffin Firm, PLLC
Attorney Aimee Griffin Aimee is the principal attorney of Life & Legacy Counselors of The Griffin Firm PLLC, an estate and business succession firm committed to the creation, protection and transfer of wealth serving District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Georgia and Florida.
Aimee is the Board President and Founder of the Association of Black Estate Planning Professionals, Inc., a collaborative economic empowerment organization with a mission to bridge the racial wealth gap. With a commitment to strategic community economic development for Black people, Aimee served as Corporate Counsel and incorporator for the US Black Chambers currently serves as Corporate Counsel for National African American Insurance Association, (NAAIA) and the BOW Collective.
Aimee is committed to supporting community growth through education and speaks regularly at national, regional, and local forums to educate other attorneys and the community. Aimee is supervising attorney for the Howard University, School of Law, Estates and Trust, Heirs’ Property Clinic and a monthly contributor to the Washington Informer newspaper. She strongly believes “when we know better, we can do better.”
Aimee has been recognized and received awards by local, regional and national organizations.
Aimee steadfastly believes we are better together!
Breakout Session Speakers
Kendall Cockrell | Planned Giving Director, Friends Committee on National Legislation
Kendall Cockrell has been an estate planning attorney for 15 years. He also has served as a Director of Planned Giving for Rice University and Baylor University. His past lives as a preacher, trial lawyer and bar owner have taught him how to relate to people in quite the variety of ways.
Andrew Fussner, JD | Vice President of Estate Settlement, American Heart Association, Inc.
Andrew Fussner currently serves as the national Vice President of Estate Settlement for the American Heart Association and oversees the administration of $85 million to $110 million in bequest assets annually for the organization. He is based in St. Petersburg, Florida. Before assuming his current position, he served in a variety of planned giving roles for the AHA. Prior to joining the AHA, Andrew was an attorney with the Tampa office of a large national law firm. He specialized in estate planning, probate/trust administration, and tax law. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA). He holds a law degree, a B.S. in accounting, and a B.A. in political science, all from the University of Florida.
Jeff Giannotto | Director of Sales, MarketSmart
Jeff Giannotto began his career at MarketSmart in 2013 and since then he has advised thousands of nonprofits on how to implement and benefit from marketing and technology solutions to qualify, cultivate and prioritize supporters for mid-level, major and planned gifts. He currently serves as the Director of Sales at MarketSmart and lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Emma.
Jeff Grandy | Vice President, Catapult Fundraising
Jeff Grandy is an experienced fundraising professional with more than a decade of nonprofit leadership, specializing in major gifts, planned giving, donor stewardship and campaign development. As Vice President at Catapult Fundraising, Jeff works closely with organizations to implement high-impact fundraising strategies that enhance donor engagement and maximize long-term giving potential. His expertise includes designing and executing planned giving programs, securing legacy commitments and developing comprehensive donor outreach initiatives.
John W. Jensen, CFP | Planned Giving Director, Washington National Cathedral
A CFP, John Jensen has focused on planned giving for more than 40 years. Currently Planned Giving Director at the Washington National Cathedral, he was previously a SVP/consultant with the Sharpe Group for 15 years and 10 years as an independent consultant, VP for Development at the National Wildlife Federation, Maine Chapter Director and then Development VP at The Nature Conservancy nationally, Member Maine House of Representatives, and Development Director of the Maine Audubon Society. He has worked with or for more than 400 charities over the years. John also was the founding chairman of Earth Share.
Tim Logan | Senior Legacy Director, Mal Warwick Donordigital
Timothy D. Logan, ACFRE, FAHP, CFRE, FCEP, is Senior Legacy Director at Mal Warwick Donordigital. Tim is a leader in developing innovative multichannel direct response programs for mid-level, major and planned giving. He has 45 years of experience in fundraising and nonprofit management and has worked in both the nonprofit sector and as a fundraising consultant.
Tim has developed an integrated fundraising approach to comprehensive grateful patient programs and is the creator of Planned Giving ID®, a data-driven process to identify and cultivate major and planned giving donor prospects. Tim holds a Master’s of Nonprofit Management from Case Western Reserve University. He is an AFP certified Master Instructor who presents frequently on fundraising and nonprofit management topics and has written articles and published papers on fundraising.
Tim is a member of the Advanced Certified Fundraising Executives Certification Board (ACFRE). He is involved in the Advanced Executives Education Affinity Group of the AFP-Greater DC Chapter. He was the 2017 Conference Chair of the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) Big Ideas Conference and is a member of the prestigious AHP Madison faculty. Tim is a past president of the Mandel Center Alumni Association at Case Western University, where he was named one of the 100 “Centennial Alumni” in 2016. Tim is a member of AHP, AFP-Greater DC Chapter, and the National Capital Gift Planning Council in Washington, DC.
John J. Monahan | Team Lead, Planned Giving & Donor Advised Fund Investments, BNY
John Monahan joined BNY in 2017. In his role, he oversees a team of portfolio managers who invest nearly $3 billion for nonprofit clients, including assets for various types of charitable trusts, gift annuity pools, pooled income funds and donor advised funds. Prior to joining BNY, John spent nearly 15 years as senior trader in Securities Lending at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Stonehill College and is a CFP charter holder. John lives with his family just outside of Boston, Massachusetts.
Susan Nahvi | Major Gifts Director, Friends Committee on National Legislation
Leading the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) Major Gifts Program, Susan connects passionate individuals with opportunities to support FCNL’s work. She meets with FCNL’s faithful supporters across the country, learning what motivates them to advocate for peace, justice, opportunity and an earth restored.
Lindy Nash | Partner, Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick
Lindy Nash serves as a Partner in the Bequest Management practice at Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick. Her practice focuses on representing national charities and nonprofit organizations in fulfilling the wishes of their charitable donors while maximizing gifts and minimizing any administrative burden. She supervises a skilled team of attorneys and paralegals who advocate for nonprofit institutions as beneficiaries of matured bequests. Lindy received a B.A. from Connecticut College in Psychology and Sociology. She then went on to Suffolk Law School where she received a JD.
Lindy currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners (CGP) and as the Vice President of Programming for the Planned Giving Group of New England (PGGNE). She also is the Immediate Past President of the Board of Trustees at the Providence Animal Rescue League (PARL).
Jimmy O’Connor | Director of Strategic Giving, Rails to Trails Conservancy
Jimmy O’Connor’s personal interests in well-being and the outdoors combine with more than 20 years of nonprofit experience in the conservation, recreation and health sectors. For the past eight years, he has focused on helping individuals and organizations demonstrate, through financial support, their commitment to Rails to Trails Conservancy’s vision that multiuse trails should connect everyone, everywhere. Prior to joining RTC, Jimmy served in program development and fundraising roles with American Forests, National Recreation and Park Association, National Recycling Coalition, and American Forest Foundation. Jimmy holds a degree in Forest Resources Management from West Virginia University.
Katherine Pooser, MPA, CAP® | Director of Planned Giving, Legal Defense Fund
Katherine Pooser is a results-oriented fundraising professional with more than 15 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She has provided thought and strategic leadership at a diverse set of organizations, including youth development, health care, and environmental stewardship. She is currently the first-ever Director of Planned Giving at the Legal Defense Fund.
Katherine is a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy with a B.S. in Economics and a Master of Public Administration. She is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer whose service was in West Africa. She is the president-elect of the Philanthropic Planned Giving Group of Greater New York and host of the nonprofit career podcast Asking for Good.
Nathan Stelter | President, The Stelter Company
Over Nathan Stelter’s 25-year career in planned giving, he’s been fortunate to speak at more than 150 national and regional industry meetings on gift planning marketing, trends and donor research. He is published and quoted in numerous trade publications, including The Chronicle of Philanthropy and Planned Giving Today, amongst others, and currently authors the popular Stelter Insights blog.
Nathan is past Board Chair (2023) for the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners (CGP), a past Board member of the National Capital Gift Planning Council (Washington, DC), current Board member for the Giving Institute, as well as former co-chair of CGP’s National Standards for Gift Planning Success (NSGPS) task force.
Nathan is a two-time graduate of the University of Iowa, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and an Executive MBA.
Fredrick B. Weber | Counsel, ArentFox Schiff, LLP
Fred Weber is Counsel in the Private Client, Trusts and Estates Group at ArentFox Schiff, LLP in Chicago, where he represents fiduciaries and beneficiaries in matters related to post-death administration of estates and trusts. He also works with clients and their families to help them prepare for post-death administration before a death occurs.
Before returning to private law practice in 2022, Fred spent 18 years as a professional fiduciary, first at JP Morgan Private Bank and most recently with Northern Trust Company. As a professional fiduciary, Fred guided families through the post-death administration process. He also has worked as a planned giving officer and bequest administrator for a large public charity. Prior to law school, Fred spent three years in Washington, DC, working as an aide to the late U.S. Senator Paul D. Wellstone (D-MN).
A prolific speaker, Fred has presented on post-death administration and related topics to audiences across the United States. He also developed and taught a full semester course on post-death administration of estates and trusts at the John Marshall Law School (now the University of Illinois Chicago Law School).
Fred is a member of the Chicago Estate Planning Council, the Chicago Council on Planned Giving, the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners, and the Professional Advisory Committee for the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. He holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Minnesota, and a J.D. from DePaul University. He is licensed to practice law in Illinois.