2023 Speaker Biographies

Chelsea Benedict
Managing Sr. Director of Development
Oregon Health & Science University Foundation

Chelsea Benedict is responsible for raising significant levels of philanthropic support for OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute and Knight Cardiovascular Institute by providing strategic direction and day-to-day management of a portfolio of major and principal gift donors. In this role, Chelsea identifies opportunities to qualify new aspirational prospects, builds and manages the relationships between individuals and OHSU, and secures meaningful and transformational philanthropic support. In partnership with senior OHSU faculty leadership, Chelsea identifies opportunities for global brand recognition of OHSU and priorities for the institution’s growth and impact.

Chelsea has over 10 years of experience fundraising at OHSU, including leading campaigns and closing complex planned gifts. She currently manages a fundraising team in partnership with the Knight AVP of Development.

Rebecca Bibleheimer, JD, LLM
Senior Complex Gifts Officer
The Oregon Community Foundation

Rebecca Bibleheimer is the Senior Complex Gifts Officer for the Oregon Community Foundation. She provides gift planning assistance to donors who are interested in supporting charitable initiatives throughout Oregon and serves as a subject matter expert on all types of giving vehicles and funding charitable donations with non-cash assets. Rebecca is a public speaker who enjoys educating, empowering, and supporting others in their work in the fields of gift and charitable planning. Prior to joining OCF, Rebecca worked as a philanthropic advisor and planned giving consultant for U.S. Bank Charitable Services Group and as a trusts and estates attorney for a tax boutique law firm. She has over twenty years of experience in these fields. Rebecca is a member of the California State Bar and the Oregon State Bar and holds a Legal Letters Master (LLM) in tax law from the University of Florida, Levin School of Law. Rebecca served on the Board of Trustees for the Oregon Humane Society for 6 years and currently serves on a number of planned giving and investment related nonprofit committees in Portland, Oregon where she lives with her family. She is the Past President for the Northwest Planned Giving Roundtable and has served on their executive committee for over ten years. Rebecca also served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners and as their 2022 conference chair.

Steven Boyd, JD, LLM, CFA
Senior Vice President & Senior Wealth Advisor
Northern Trust – Seattle

Steve Boyd is a Senior Vice President and Senior Wealth Advisor at Northern Trust – Seattle. For the past 25 years, he has counseled business owners, executives, high-net-worth individuals and their families regarding tax, charitable giving, estate planning and business succession matters. Prior to joining Northern Trust Steve was a principal with the Amicus Law Group and a senior manager with Deloitte Tax, where he was a frequent lecturer at national seminars. Steve is an active Rotary member and a board member of several private foundations.

Michael Conway, MA
Director of Development, Gift Planning
Oregon State University Foundation

Mike Conway grew up on the small island of Tristan da Cunha before moving to Southern California. As a graduate of Cal Poly Humboldt with a MA in Environment and Community, he went to work in the fundraising world where he focused on connecting individuals to opportunities that make a difference in the world, their community, and the causes they care about. Mike personally and professionally benefited from a mentor/mentee relationship. He now spends his time working with the best planned giving team in the state at OSU Foundation while mentoring several development professionals. When he isn’t working, he spends time with his son and wife trying not to fall off his bike.

Michael Davis, MBA, CTFA
Senior Philanthropic Advisor
The Charitable Services Group, U.S. Bank

As a Senior Philanthropic Advisor, Michael Davis works exclusively with nonprofit organizations, families and businesses to help maximize the impact of their charitable goals. He advises public charities in the areas of governance, management, fundraising and gift planning. For individuals and business owners, he focuses on developing and implementing strategies that help work towards their philanthropic objectives through a customized approach, which includes donor-advised funds, private foundations, charitable trusts and other complex giving techniques.

Michael began his career in the charitable services industry in 2007. Prior to joining U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management, Michael worked as an Associate Vice President for Major Gifts and Gift Planning at Lewis & Clark College. His professional background includes overseeing the gift planning program for Lewis & Clark College, including the development of institutional best practices, gift acceptance policies and comprehensive staff training. Specialties include charitable estate planning and gift planning program development.

Michael is an active member of his community, and currently serves as President of the Northwest Planned Giving Roundtable. He also volunteers his time at Kenyon College Alumni Association as well as his daughter’s school. Michael resides in Portland. When he is not at work, he enjoys cooking, long-distance running, and spending time with family and friends.

Carol Eames
Gift Planning Officer
American Red Cross

As a Gift Planning Officer at the American Red Cross for more than 10 years, Carol Eames arol has experience working with simple and complex gifts, providing gift planning training to other relationship managers, talk about the importance of estate planning as part of being Red Cross Ready and partnering with professional advisors like attorneys and financial planners. She works with many organizational partners providing gift planning coverage in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Southwest Washington.

Carol is a graduate of Washington State University and started her career in marketing before moving into the nonprofit sector. She has a broad background in fundraising prior to joining the Red Cross including major gift program development, special event fundraising and development operations. She put that background to use while serving as the Interim Chief Development Officer for the Alaska Region from January to June of 2020.

Katherine Fox, CFP, CAP
Founder and Advisor
Sunnybranch Wealth

Katherine Fox, CFP, CAP is the founder of Sunnybranch Wealth, a Portland-based Registered Investment Advisor that provides financial planning, impact and ESG investment advising, and philanthropic guidance for inheritors.

As a fourth-generation member of a philanthropic family that successfully passed wealth and values down across generations, Katherine believes the privilege of holding wealth confers a responsibility to give back and an obligation to investigate how we can create meaningful change in the world. Her work at Sunnybranch helps individuals and families plan for the future, grow their wealth, and use their resources to become agents of change.

Rachel Gitner, CAP
Director of Development
Serendipity Center

Rachel Gitner is a people-centered leader with expertise in nonprofit major gifts, gift planning, grant writing, and project management. In her current role as Director of Development of Serendipity Center, a therapeutic school in Southeast Portland, Rachel is focused on growing an engaged and committed donor base while connecting the school’s mission to larger social movements. She is passionate about building relationships that help our community thrive.

Joshua Goldstein, MBA
Planned Giving/Major Gifts Officer
Legacy Health

Joshua Goldstein serves as the Planned Giving Officer for Legacy Health. Joshua’s fundraising career started over 40 years ago when he started asking his parents for money and has served nonprofit organizations in a professional capacity for the past 18 years. Prior to joining Legacy Health, Joshua served as Associate Director of Gift Planning at Lewis & Clark College and as the Director of Individual & Planned Giving at Albertina Kerr Centers.

Joshua received his B.S. in Women Studies at Washington State University (Go Cougs!) and an MBA from Willamette University. Joshua currently serves as Treasurer for the Northwest Planned Giving Roundtable and as a Board Member for PDX Hillel.

Jeri Kasal
Associate Director of Philanthropy, Planned Giving
Oregon Public Broadcasting

Jeri Kasal has been with the development department at OPB since 2001, focusing on planned giving. In 2007 she was promoted to Associate Director of Planned Giving. While working in this capacity she has seen the OPB Endowment go from $14 million to it’s current $70 + million.

She manages OPB’s CGA program, works with Stelter on marketing and managing OPB’s growing legacy society and current 4000 prospects, handles all the estate administration, and works with a portfolio of donors.

Renee Kurdzos
Director of Gift Planning, Fundraising
The Nature Conservancy

Renee Kurdzos is the Director of Gift Planning, Fundraising at The Nature Conservancy. Prior to working at TNC, Renee served as the Executive Director, Planned Giving at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Gift Planning Officer for Washington and Hawaii at American Red Cross, Development & Planned Giving Officer at University of Puget Sound and as the Director of Major Gifts & Planned Giving at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. Renee is a Board Member of the American Council on Gift Annuities. She is the past Co-Chair of the Planned Giving Affinity Group for the National Association of Cancer Center Development Officers. She is also a Past President of the Washington Planned Giving Council and past Board Member of Leave 10. She has a Master of Science in Taxation and a Certificate in Estate Planning from Golden Gate University and has achieved the designation of Certified Gift Planning Specialist through the Institute for Philanthropic Studies at California State University Long Beach. Renee has worked in development for 23 years and in planned giving for 18. She lives in West Seattle with her husband Kevan, daughters Zoe and Margaret, and dogs Abbey and Jack.

Cris Lutz, CSPG, CAP
Assistant Vice President of Gift Planning
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Cris Lutz serves as the Assistant Vice President of Gift Planning at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, which she joined in 2005. She collaborates closely with donors, advisors, and colleagues to develop and manage a range of impactful, tax-efficient charitable gifts, including bequests, charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, and gifts of securities, real estate, and collections such as botanical specimens, paintings, manuscripts, and rare books. Cris serves as the President-Elect of the Southern California Council of Charitable Gift Planners (previously the Los Angeles Council of Charitable Gift Planners) and served for five years as a board member of the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA). Cris recently completed her (4-year) tenure as the Chair of The Huntington’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Cris is a certified specialist in planned giving (CSPG) and a chartered advisor in philanthropy (CAP). She earned her master’s degree in psychology from California State University, Fullerton, and holds bachelor’s degrees in art history and social science from the University of California, Irvine.

Mike Macnab
Retired Planned Giving Professional
Mentorship Program Co-Chair, NWPGRT

Michael S. Macnab received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural and Resource Economics from Oregon State University and graduated from the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington. Upon graduation he began his professional career with the National Association of Wheat Growers in Washington, D.C. and ended at the Community Foundation for SW Washington in Vancouver, Washington.

He spent 30 some years in trust administration starting at The Northern Trust Company in Chicago and working for First Interstate/Wells Fargo, West Coast Trust/Columbia Trust and First Independent Bank. He served in gift planning positions over 10 years at the OSU Foundation, OHSU Foundation, and the Community Foundation for SW Washington. His fiduciary experience provided a catalyst for being involved in charitable gift planning. His proudest moment was being part of the OHSU Foundation’s Knight Cancer Challenge.

Complementing his career, Mike was active in many nonprofit organizations and served as President of the Northwest Planned Giving Roundtable, Estate Planning Council for SW Washington, OSU Alumni Association, and Oregon 4-H Foundation. He was inducted into the Oregon State University College of Agricultural Sciences Hall of Fame. In 2019, Mike received the Northwest Planned Giving Roundtable Distinguished Service Award for his exceptional commitment and dedication to the planned giving effort and community.

Rochelle Makela-Goodman
Assistant Vice President, Gift Planning
Oregon Health & Science University Foundation

Rochelle Makela-Goodman leads the strategy for deferred, life income, and estate gifts that advance the mission of OHSU. In her previous positions at Princeton University, Lehigh University, and Centenary University, Rochelle led and oversaw the strategy and execution for comprehensive fundraising campaigns, major and planned gifts, and grants. She is an experienced principal gifts officer with a passion for matching a donor’s philanthropic goals with university priorities in ways that advance education, research, and the human condition. She has held previous positions as director of Corporate & Foundation relations at Centenary College in NJ and as director of Foundation Relations at Lehigh University where she led task forces to develop novel solutions to address societal needs.

Jennifer Milburn
Senior Director of Development, Gift Planning
Oregon State University Foundation

Jennifer Milburn began her 25-year development career as Director of Annual Giving in Intercollegiate Athletics and progressed to major gift and capital campaign work first in Athletics then academics. After ten years serving as Director of Development for the Colleges of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine during OSU’s highly successful $1 billion campaign, she joined the OSU Foundation’s Gift Planning Office and found her calling. Jennifer leads a team of four front-line gift planning officers, each with a donor portfolio and annual metrics. She also oversees gift planning marketing, probate administration, realized bequests, and trusts and contracts.

Chelsea Paris
Senior Associate Director of Development, Gift Planning
University of Oregon

Chelsea Paris is a Senior Associate Director of Development, Gift Planning at the University of Oregon. Prior to joining the Office of Gift Planning in 2017, she worked for the University of Oregon Alumni Association. Chelsea received a B.A. and B.F.A. from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She has her M.S. in Arts Management and a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Oregon. She is currently working towards becoming a Certified Specialist in Planned Giving (CSPG).

Andy Ragone, CGPP
CEO, Partner and Co-Founder
Pleiades Nonprofit Advisors, LLC

Andy Ragone is a national speaker, writer and recognized thought leader in marketing and gift planning strategies. He recently joined the Pleiades team after serving many years with Crescendo Interactive as their top marketing and sales representative. With his guidance and leadership, Andy advises on specialized marketing and moves-management techniques to secure complex and estate gifts. Through his efforts, nonprofits both large and small have benefited from his insight and unique talent of bringing gift planners and their donors together to make a difference in the communities they serve. In addition to being a Certified Gift Planning Professional (CGPP), Andy currently serves on the board with the Los Angeles Council of Charitable Gift Planners and programming team with Arizona Charitable Gift Planners. Andy has served as an executive pastor and has a marketing background in the nonprofit arena. Having worked with three larger churches over the past 20+ years, Andy has appreciated the challenges of growing organizations—including the development of staff and culture, fund raising, volunteer coordination and marketing systems. Andy brings a big-picture perspective that brings vision, volunteerism and fund development together. Andy holds a BA in Music from Arizona State University and a Master of Divinity from Phoenix Seminary.

Patti Whitcomb
Director of Development, Gift Planning
Willamette University

Patti Whitcomb has been working in the field of philanthropy since 2003, but her passion for philanthropy and getting others excited about their potential to do good in this world can be traced back to her youth when she watched her mom lead many local causes as a volunteer. She is currently the Director of Development in Gift Planning for Willamette University. Prior to that, she was Willamette University’s Atkinson Graduate School of Management’s Director of Development since 2017. She has been in major gift officer roles since 2010 at Gonzaga University and the University of Washington where it has been a true honor and privilege to help individuals define and commit to their ultimate charitable acts. Outside of work, her favorite people to spend time with are her husband, Eric, and their four-year-old daughter, Brinlee.

Patti has her M.A. in Communication Leadership from Gonzaga University and B.A. in Business from Washington State University.