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    2025 Preconference Session Topics

    2025 Institutional Advancement Preconference Education Sessions

    Get a taste of the expertise offered at the 2025 AAMC Conference for Institutional Advancement! Register separately for either or both of these two free events for anyone at an AAMC member institution who is interested in institutional advancement issues:

    • Thursday, February 27 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET
    • Wednesday, April 2 from 3:00-4:00 p.m. ET

    You don’t have to be registered for the conference to attend these sessions, which offer hot topics from industry leaders. Different topics are featured at each session, so consider joining us at both! See below for more details.

    During each preconference education session, you will join a main Zoom room and select one of the following breakout rooms in the moment. While registration is required, no pre-selection of topic is necessary. The breakout rooms will be part presentation-part discussion and will offer attendees takeaways to help them in their work. Please note these are education sessions and not a pitch of any services or products. The sessions will not be recorded, and we will not share your information with presenters.

    You will need to register for each session separately. Your confirmation and event access information will be sent via an email from Zoom.

    Topics Offered Thursday, February 27

    Register for the February 27 session

    AAMC Health Equity Inventory

    Built over 10 years with academic medical centers and their community partners, the Health Equity Inventory (HEI) is a free coordination tool for AAMC members to help them break down silos, build trust with their communities, quantify the scope of their health equity work for advocacy, fundraising, and reporting; and learn from peer institutions.

    • Facilitator: Vladimir Oge, MPH, Director of Strategic Initiatives, UC Riverside School of Medicine
    • Session Leader: AAMC

    Career Transitioning & Retention in Today’s Job Market

    Where are all the candidates? Why is hiring so difficult? It's a candidate's market—and that means lots of competition for great roles and lots of choices for candidates. Learn about strategies for candidates to stand out amongst their peers and guidance for hiring managers on how to engage top talent.

    • Facilitator: Daniel C. Pollay, Jr., Executive Director, Government & Community Relations, Weill Cornell Medicine
    • Session Leader: Boyden Boston

    The Value of Digital/Online Engagement

    Since the pandemic, people engage in nontraditional ways. Instead of meeting on campus as in years past, they are more likely to engage digitally. Learn how to continue to add relevance and community in the digital space.

    • Facilitator: James A. Molnar, MBA, Supervisor, Web & Digital Media, College of Medicine and Life Sciences, The University of Toledo
    • Session Leader: BrightCrowd

    Next Level Qualification

    Gain strategies and tools to effectively qualify prospective donors. Learn key qualities of top qualification programs in healthcare philanthropy and new approaches for securing appointments. Leave with actionable information and ideas to improve donor qualification efforts.

    • Facilitator: George Rattin, Executive Director of Development, Division of Institutional Advancement, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
    • Session Leader: GOBEL

    Leadership and Career Development

    Explore how to identify emerging leaders on your team and what they can do to take their career to the next level.

    • Facilitator: Patrice Guilfoyle, APR, Director of Communications, Office of Communications and Marketing, University of Mississippi Medical Center
    • Session Leader: Lindauer

    Changing Charity: The Trends Affecting Medical Center Philanthropy

    Learn about the changes affecting philanthropy operations and strategy—such as policies, processes, technology, and other trends—and what can you do about them.

    • Facilitator: Alyssa Grovemiller, Director, Alumni and Constituent Engagement, Ohio State University
    • Session Leader: Zuri Group

    Topics Offered Wednesday, April 2

    Register for the April 2 session

    Rethinking Board Engagement

    Explore innovative strategies for improving board engagement in light of the evolving landscape of nonprofit governance, current trends in volunteerism, and new paradigms for the relationship between foundation leaders and their boards. Join us for an interactive discussion that challenges conventional thinking and equips you with actionable insights to revitalize your board's role in governance and community engagement.

    • Facilitator: Mark Kemball, Senior Director Alumni Engagement, OHSU
    • Session Leader: Accordant Health

    Leading Through Times of Change

    Gain best practices and advice on what it means to lead advancement teams in 2025.

    • Facilitator: Elena C. Wu, Executive Director and Head of Marketing, External Affairs, Weill Cornell Medicine
    • Session Leader: Advancement Resources

    Email and Mail: A Marriage Made in Response Heaven

    It does not need to be either/or when it comes to donor communication. See how mail and email can team up to be extremely effective. See examples of higher return if mail and email are paired together.

    • Facilitator: Thomas White, Executive Director, The Fund for Penn Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
    • Session Leader: Borns Group Nonprofit Solutions

    Building Donor Loyalty

    Join this discussion about how to retain donors in a world of declining participation.

    • Facilitator: Suzanne Sopa, Senior Executive Director for Engagement, Development and Alumni Affairs, Duke Health
    • Session Leader: BWF

    Partnering with Leadership to Develop Big Ideas for Big Gifts

    Learn about defining “big ideas” and engaging executives and medical leaders in generating them.

    • Facilitator: Adam Scally, Director of Major Gifts, NewYork-Presbyterian
    • Session Leader: Marts&Lundy

    Building an Effective Donor Pipeline: From Grateful Patient to Major Gift Prospect

    In theory, your acquisition/grateful patient efforts should feed your annual fund which, in turn, should create a pipeline of mid-level donors and, eventually, major donor prospects. The reality is these efforts frequently happen in a silo with limited success in moving people along this journey. Explore ways to move donors through the donor journey with an eye towards improving retention, increasing cumulative giving, and creating more major and principal giving opportunities.

    • Facilitator: Catherine Mello, Alumni Director, University of Nebraska
    • Session Leader: StoryCause