2024 Speaker Biographies

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 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.

Santi Alston, JD
Associate Director for Gift Planning
Reed College

Santi Alston serves as Associate Director for Gift Planning at Reed College where he connects with alumni who graduated 40 or more years ago and promotes liberal arts education. Prior to making a shift to fundraising, Santi focused on supporting, advising, and mentoring college students of color, first-generation students, and students from socially and culturally diverse communities. Santi is a graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law.

Hal Abrams, JD, LLM
Principal/Owner
Hal J. Abrams Planned Giving Consultant

Hal J. Abrams, JD, LLM has been in fundraising since 1996. He worked in the planned giving offices at City of Hope National Medical Center, UC Berkeley and the University of Oregon. He then led major gift and broader development teams at Oregon Athletics, Lewis & Cark College and Clark College.

Hal now serves as a fundraising consultant and represents nonprofit clients in social services, art, music, health care and education.

Hal is also an adjunct faculty member of the Fundraising School, part of the Lily School of Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Liz Arrington, CSPG
Senior Director of Development
Oregon Health & Science University Foundation

Liz Arrington has more than 10 years of fundraising experience for both private and public institutions of higher education. She joined the Oregon Health & Science University Foundation in 2015 where she serves as Senior Director of Development. Liz collaborates with donors and their professional advisors to design customized gift plans that make a meaningful impact today as well as leave a lasting philanthropic legacy. She holds a B.A. from Willamette University and in 2020, she earned the designation as a Certified Specialist in Planned Giving (CSPG) from the American Institute of Philanthropic Studies. In her free time, Liz enjoys traveling with her husband, Michael, and baking.

Victoria Bejarano Muirhead, JD
Associate
Stoel Rives, LLP

Victoria Bejarano Muirhead advises nonprofit organizations on a range of matters, including formation and tax exemption, governance and related corporate matters, charitable giving, and regulatory compliance. Victoria also has experience guiding mission-driven companies in the creation of perpetual purpose (stewardship) trusts. Prior to becoming an attorney, Victoria worked in academic medical fundraising at Stanford University and later Oregon Health and Science University Foundation. Victoria was also the inaugural Director of Development (later Director of Strategic Initiatives) at Innovation Law Lab, a national nonprofit organization engaged in advocacy and litigation around immigrants’ rights. Victoria is on the boards of Stanford Association of Oregon and Janus Youth Programs, and is a member of the Oregon Public Broadcasting Planned Giving Advisory Council. Victoria holds a BA in English from Stanford University and JD, summa cum laude, from Lewis & Clark Law School.

Steven Bell, JD
Associate
Dunn Carney

Steven Bell focuses his practice on the creation and administration of complex trusts to meet business succession planning, tax planning, and family needs, and in navigating the complexities of charitable gift planning for both individual donors and for tax-exempt entities. Through his practice, Steve develops customized solutions to preserve and perpetuate closely held businesses and to meet diverse objectives in tax efficient ways.

Steve helps clients navigate the pitfalls that can arise when facing the administration of irrevocable trusts or administering an estate after the death of a loved one, and seeks innovative approaches to supporting philanthropic goals through customized gifts, split-interest vehicles, and private foundations. Steve’s passion lies in crafting creative solutions to help clients meet their goals in a tax efficient manner, through the creation of a new estate plan, by facilitating charitable giving, in administering complex estates, through the modification and restructuring of irrevocable trusts, or in developing trust structures to meet business objectives.

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

Rebecca Bibleheimer is the Senior Complex Gifts Officer for 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.

Brantley Boyett, JD
President and Co-Founder
Giving Docs

Brantley Boyett is the Co-founder and President of Giving Docs. He is a former (recovering) attorney, having practiced for over a decade before starting Giving Docs in 2015 in Austin, TX. In 2017 Brantley moved to Durham, North Carolina, when Giving Docs partnered with Dan Ariely’s behavioral science lab, the Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University, which seeks to use behavioral science to make the world happier, healthier, and wealthier. Brantley received his JD and BFA in Economics at the University of Texas in Austin. He also currently teaches Law and Entrepreneurship at Duke University School of Law.

Meghan Crane, CSPG
Senior Director of Gift Planning
Providence Foundations of Oregon

Megan Crane joined the Providence Foundations of Oregon in 2021 and currently serves as Senior Director of Gift Planning. In her role, she works with individuals and families to accomplish their philanthropic goals.

Megan’s development career features robust experience at all points of the donor pipeline, focusing fundraising efforts in higher education and healthcare. She holds a Bachelor of Science and a Masters in Nonprofit Management from the University of Oregon. She also is a Certified Specialist in Planned Giving (CSPG), a professional designation from the American Institute of Philanthropic Studies.

Megan and her family enjoy travel, playing musical instruments, volunteering with local organizations, and exploring all the Pacific Northwest has to offer.

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 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.

Khoi Dinh, MBA
Director of Prospect Development
Lewis & Clark

Khoi Dinh is a native of Ha Noi, the beautiful capital of Viet Nam. Khoi joined the Lewis & Clark community in June 2008 as director of prospect development. Khoi’s responsibilities include directing the prospect development team to identify prospective individual donors as well as designing and maintaining the prospect management system. Prior to coming to Lewis & Clark, Khoi worked at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa as assistant director of development research in a one-person research shop. Khoi’s career in development research started as a graduate research assistant at Missouri State University where Khoi obtained a Master’s degree in business administration. Khoi’s undergraduate degree, also in business administration, is from Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma.

Dawn Johnston, CFRE
Director of Development—Brain and Spine
Providence Foundations of Oregon

Dawn Johnston is a seasoned fundraising professional with 21 years of experience in the field, including 13 years in health care philanthropy. Guided by the belief that access to healthcare is a fundamental human right, she has focused her energy on helping to create or improve access to exceptional healthcare for all member of the community. In her current role, Dawn oversees fundraising efforts for the Providence Brain & Spine Institute in Oregon. She has successfully led two capital campaigns focusing on the Neurosciences and Cancer and oversaw the establishment of the first dedicated Neuro-Oncology basic science research lab at Providence.

Dawn is a Certified Fund-Raising Executive and a Certified Vegan Lifestyle Coach and Educator. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Covenant College. Outside of her professional life, she seeks out opportunities for outdoor adventure in the PNW. Dawn and her family live in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Crystal Logan, MS, CAP
Senior Philanthropy Officer
Providence Foundations of Oregon

Crystal Logan has been a fundraising professional for more than 18 years, working alongside local, national and international nonprofits to grow partnerships and revenue to exceed community impact.

She has been a team leader for articulating large-scale priority opportunities for transformational philanthropy. Currently in her senior philanthropic role at Providence, she is working to grow Providence Foundations of Oregon’s principal gifts program through a collaborative funding model growing principal gifts in one year by more than 20 percent. Crystal holds her Master of Science degree from University of Portland and has her Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy CAP® designation from the American College of Financial Services. Crystal lives in Portland, Oregon with her family and enjoys volunteering at her children’s public school, reading and gardening.

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.

Marina Muñoz de Martínez, MPA, CNP
Co-Treasurer, Fundraising and
Board Director, Development
People’s Nonprofit Accelerator

Marina Muñoz de Martínez (she/hers/ella) has worked and taught in the development community for nearly 20 years. A passionate advocate and practitioner of equity and abolition in philanthropy, she served as the Director of Development and Partnerships at Race Forward. Previously, she spent 6 years as a Major Gift Officer in small and large advancement offices in higher education. Prior to moving to the PNW, Marina managed direct mail, grants, donor communications, and community giving programs for Animal Humane New Mexico—the state’s largest private nonprofit animal shelter. Marina also spent many years as a development officer for the Museum of New Mexico Foundation—where she worked with major donors for each of the state’s four largest museums. Marina currently resides in the Pacific Northwest, where she gives her time among various BIPOC-led nonprofits to continue to build community around anti-racist and decolonial reforms within the industry. In her downtime, she is an avid yoga practitioner, gardener, cinephile, and seamstress for burlesque, wrestling, and drag performers. You can often find her at Hollywood Theatre enjoying the best popcorn in the state (and some movies). Marina shares her life with her husband and their 3 rescued pets—two pit bull dogs and a bossy calico cat.

Jordan Patterson, CPA
Certified Public Accountant
Perkins & Co.

With his easygoing personality, love of the Ducks, and penchant for backpacking, Jordan Patterson is a quintessential Oregonian (born and raised). As a high school exchange student, he spent a year in northern Germany, swimming across the Fjord to Denmark for PE credits. Whatever the adventure might be (hiking the Havasupai Falls, road tripping cross country with his partner and labradoodle, Bergen, or planning with clients) Jordan jumps right in. Fascinated with how the brain works, he once considered a career in neuropsychology. But when his grandfather (also a CPA) suggested he take a business class, Jordan discovered accounting. Reasoning that neuropsychology internships would be hard to come by, he tenaciously pursued business, earning a master’s in Accounting at U of O. After working two years in the Seattle area, he moved back to Portland, where he joined Perkins & Co. A thoughtful guy with close ties to family, Jordan loves working with high-net-worth individuals, their families and businesses. Personable and caring, he especially enjoys breaking down complex tax and financial concepts for clients as he guides them through long-term legacy planning, estate planning, and wealth transfer. It might not be as bracing as swimming the Fjords, but the Perkins waters are just right for this laid-back CPA.

Stephanie Shenigo Zaino, JD
Director of Development II, Gift Planning
Oregon State University Foundation

Stephanie Shenigo Zaino is Director of Development II, Gift Planning at the Oregon State University Foundation, a position she has held for four years. In her time at OSUF, she has raised over $14.6 million in current and deferred gifts and also directs the OSUF Gift Planning marketing program. She has a B.A. from UNC-Chapel Hill and a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School. After law school, Stephanie worked in gift planning for the University of Notre Dame and UNC Chapel-Hill. She is a member of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners, the Northwest Planned Giving Roundtable (NWPGRT), and serves as the Co-Chair for the 2022 NWPGRT Annual Conference. She can be frequently found hiking with her husband and son or attempting to grow vegetables in her garden.

Russell A. Willis III, JD, LLM
Consultant
Planned Gift Design Services

Russell A. Willis III, JD, LLM, is a consultant to licensed professionals—an advisor to the advisor—on issues arising in connection with wealth transfers. Much of his practice is focused on structuring charitable contributions of closely held business and real property interests.

Russ has a law degree from St. Louis University and a master’s degree in Taxation Law from Washington University in St. Louis. His undergraduate degree in English Literature is from Indiana University, Bloomington, and he has a master’s degree in English from the University of Chicago.

Bill Zook, JD
Principal
Evergreen Planned Giving

Bill Zook is the principal of Evergreen Planned Giving, LLC, which was formed in 2016. Now in his third decade as a planned giving consultant, he has served hundreds of clients (primarily charitable organizations, but also donors, their professional advisors, and financial institutions that administer planned gifts) throughout the U.S. In addition, he is involved with the management of a private grant making foundation and a private operating foundation.

Bill worked initially with Planned Giving Services, Inc. and its founder, Frank Minton, beginning in 1996 and then with planned giving software and services company PG Calc Incorporated from 2005 to 2015. A former president of the Washington Planned Giving Council, Bill is also a member of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners (as well as its Leadership Institute), the American Council on Gift Annuities, the Seattle Estate Planning Council, and the Washington State Bar Association.

Prior to becoming a consultant, Bill practiced estate planning law and spent the better part of a decade in the field of alternative dispute resolution entailing arbitration, mediation, and conciliation of customer-business disputes; arbitration of labor-management disputes; and teaching a community college course for paralegals. He received his BA in religious studies from the University of Virginia and his JD from the University of Washington School of Law.