2016 National Conference

Lori Bartczak is vice president of programs at GEO. GEO is a diverse community of more than 500 grantmakers working to reshape the way philanthropy operates. GEO is committed to advancing smarter grantmaking practices that enable nonprofits to grow stronger and achieve better results. As vice president of programs, Lori sets strategy for GEO’s content and services, including publishing, conferences and peer learning programs and serves as a key spokesperson for the organization. Lori has written numerous publications and articles on topics related to philanthropic effectiveness.Prior to joining GEO in 2002, Lori was publications editor at BoardSource. Lori is an active volunteer in her community, serving on various committees for her church, her sons’ school and the local education foundation. Lori holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and English from the University of Missouri - Columbia, and a master’s of arts degree in philanthropic studies from Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy. 

After spending more than a decade beginning and managing a small arts organization, Justin Laing joined The Heinz Endowments in 2006 as an Arts & Culture program officer. Justin’s core responsibilities involve managing the Endowments’ relationships with small and mid-sized arts organizations, leading the Transformative Arts Process and managing the Endowments’ relationships with out of school time arts education programs.  Justin also serves on the African American Men and Boys Task Force. Before coming to the Endowments, Justin worked as the manager/assistant artistic director of Nego Gato Inc., an African-Brazilian arts organization based in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. In this capacity, Justin played a leading role as an administrator, teaching artist and performer. Justin currently serves on the board of Grantmakers In the Arts and the PA Council on the Arts. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Black studies and Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh and is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s Masters of Public Management Program.

As Vice President for Impact, Dr. Nolen oversees EHF’s Community and Congregational Engagement work, including work with 150+ churches that have over 80,000 congregants; as well as EHF’s Learning and Evaluation work. She is currently developing EHF’s Theory of Change and the systems and supports to operationalize the ToC within EHF’s strategic planning and operational work. It is her responsibility to maximize impact on community health within the 57 counties through the work of the Foundation and its partners. Areas of expertise include addressing health inequities through health systems and social determinants of health, leadership development for social change in health, intersectoral action for health, strengthening health information systems, advocacy strategies for health equity, community empowerment approaches to health, the impact of globalization and trade on health, environmental justice, and development of training materials on health equity.

Dr. Nolen has experience in coordination of community-based research and interventions as well as policy development on issues of health equity and public health. From 2008-2014, she served as Director of the Center to Eliminate Health Disparities at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. She was Assistant Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine, Preventive Medicine & Community Health, and Internal Medicine, and Associate Faculty in the Institute for the Medical Humanities. She served on the Secretariat of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health as both the Assistant Manager and as the Countries Team Manager between 2005 and 2007; as the Coordinator of the Global Equity Gauge Alliance (2002-2004), a South Africa-based non-governmental organization focused on health equity initiatives in Latin America, Africa and Asia; and in the Division of Health and Human Development at the Pan American Health Organization (1999-2002), where she helped to develop the Division’s health equity platform and to advance research and programming on issues of health equity for the organization. Lexi has a doctorate in Ethics and Health Policy from the University of Texas Medical Branch and a Master’s in Public Health in Health Services Organization from the University of Texas School of Public Health. Her bachelor’s degree is from Rice University, with a double major in Medical Ethics and Public Health/English.