The Learning Conference 2015

Mae Hong is the Vice President of the Midwest regional office of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. In this role she is responsible for building RPA’s presence in serving individual donors, families, foundations and corporations throughout the Midwest. Bringing more than 15 years of nonprofit and philanthropy experience to RPA, she previously served as Program Director at the Field Foundation of Illinois, where she oversaw grant making and internal operations. Her funding expertise includes children, youth and families; poverty alleviation; women and girls' issues; and advocacy. She has also been actively involved in RPA’s leadership on the issue of diversity in philanthropy. 

Mae actively participates in local and national philanthropic associations and networks, serving in leadership roles on boards and committees, engaging in public speaking opportunities, and facilitating planning and execution of philanthropic initiatives. She is a past chair of the board of Chicago Foundation for Women. Current board service includes Grantmakers for Effective Organizations and the Illinois Humanities Council. She completed her graduate work in social service administration at The University of Chicago. Prior to entering the nonprofit sector, she worked in the publishing industry for several years following her graduation from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Eric began his career 20 years ago with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice as a Human Services Program Specialist in the Bureau of Prevention & Intervention in Tallahassee, FL. In 1997 Eric moved to Palm Beach County and continued his career with the Associated Marine Institute, a juvenile justice nonprofit focused on improving health and educational outcomes for youth in the justice system.

In 2000 Eric began his work in philanthropy at United Way of Palm Beach County where he served as Director of Agency Relations. After working with United Way he served as the Regional Vice President at Allegany Franciscan Ministries for seven and a half years. (Allegany Franciscan Ministries is a Florida-based grant-making foundation).In August of 2010 Eric accepted the position of Vice President of Programs for Quantum Foundation.

Today, Eric is President at Quantum Foundation, leading all aspects of the organization, including strategic visioning, human resource development, and shared oversight of the foundation’s multi-million dollar investment portfolio and annual grant-making in Palm Beach County. Since its inception in 1997 Quantum Foundation has awarded $115 million in grants to nonprofit and educational institutions to improve the health of local communities in the county.

Eric serves on the Economic Council board and is the past chairman of the Healthy Start Coalition of Palm Beach County board; and he served on the McArthur Foundation advisory committee for Palm Beach County. He has also held board membership with the Area Agency on Aging, United Way of Palm Beach County and Florida Atlantic University’s Institutional Review board.

Eric completed his undergraduate degree at Florida State University and a graduate degree at Florida Atlantic University.

Eric and his wife Kirra have four children: Madison, Mason, Miles and Malachi.

Kelci is the director of research and evaluation for the Colorado Health Foundation, which seeks to make Colorado the healthiest state in the nation through their work in healthy living, health coverage, and health care. The evaluation department works to implement a comprehensive system of monitoring and evaluation, and to put in place practices and processes to help the organization embed learnings into their decisions about strategy, grant-making, policy, and communications work.

Kevin Jennings is executive director of the Arcus Foundation, a private, global foundation committed to advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality worldwide. He has made a long and distinguished career as an educator, social justice activist and author. He began his career as a high school history teacher and athletic coach. Later, he founded the Gay, Lesbian Straight Education Network, a national organization for LGBT and straight teachers, parents, students and community members seeking to end anti-LGBT bias in American schools. From 2009 to 2011, he was Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education in the first administration of President Barack Obama. He has authored six books, including Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir, which was named a Book of Honor by the American Library Association. He graduated magna cum laude in history from Harvard University in 1985 and earned a master's degree in education from Columbia Teacher's College. He also earned a master's degree in business administration from New York University's Stern School of Business.

Victoria Dunning serves as the Vice President for Programs of The Global Fund for Children (GFC), with oversight of an annual $4.1 million global grants portfolio supporting community-based organizations. This program addresses the most pressing global issues faced by children and youth, including trafficking, forced labor, displacement and migration, and access to education for the most marginalized groups.  She has been instrumental in defining and developing GFC’s GrantsPlus capacity-building grantmaking model, its accompanying metrics framework, and the streamlined Grantee Pathways to Success  - “GPS” – grants management systems and analytics. Ms Dunning has MPH from Columbia University and a BA from Mount Holyoke College, with language proficiency in French, Spanish, Wolof and Swahili.

Since mid-2010, Jeff has served as the Executive Director of Associated Grant Makers. Jeff is currently a board member of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network and of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, and he serves on the Leadership Team of the national D5 Coalition on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Philanthropy, and as a member of the Greater Boston Theatre Legacy Committee.

Prior to joining AGM, Jeff served for ten years as Executive Director of StageSource, the Greater Boston Theatre Alliance, a regional association for theatre artists and organizations. Jeff has also worked at the Huntington Theatre Company in a number of positions and as General Manager at the New Repertory Theatre.

Additionally, Jeff has served as Chair of the Arts Services Coalition of Boston, as Board Treasurer of Massachusetts Advocates for Arts Sciences and Humanities, and as a member of The Boston Foundation Arts and Culture Advisory Committee and the Massachusetts Cultural Council's Advisor Corps. In 2007, Jeff was one of 56 arts leaders to attend the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leadership-Arts at Stanford University Graduate School of Business Center for Social Innovation. In 2011, Jeff was awarded the StageSource Theatre Hero Award for his long-time service to the Greater Boston theatre community.  Jeff is a resident of Watertown, Massachusetts and a graduate of Ithaca College.