Leadership Archives - Page 5 of 9

Since joining the firm in 2012, Meghan has led development assessments, managed key campaigns, and executed campaign planning studies for institutions in the healthcare, higher education, civic, social service, and faith-based sectors. She loves partnering with her clients to find new and innovative ways to meet their extraordinary goals. Meghan grounds each of her engagements with quantitative and qualitative analysis to inform the best path forward and is committed to thinking deeply about each client’s needs and developing tailored solutions.

Meghan holds a Bachelor of Arts from the College of William and Mary and a Master of Arts from Cornell University. She grew up in Kansas City and now lives in Chicago with her family.

Select Client Partners

Archdiocese of Chicago
Feeding America
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
University of Texas at Austin

Natalia works closely with NY-based executives to manage operations and identify and execute strategic initiatives related to talent management, business development, and the client service model.

Over her past ten years with CCS, Natalia worked on client engagements and served in a business development role prior to her current position. She is honored to serve now as a key member of the operations team supporting the growth and vision of CCS.

Natalia received her MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business and holds a bachelor’s from Amherst College. She hails from Seattle and now lives in Westchester County, New York.

Bob Weston brings to CCS 30 years of independent school experience and expertise as an educator, administrator, and fundraiser. Over the span of his career, Bob has held several senior administrative positions, and worked extensively on hiring and recruiting faculty, collaborating on institutional strategic planning, and directing annual, major gifts, and capital campaign fundraising programs.

In his most recent role as Associate Head for External Affairs at St. George’s School, Bob directed the communications, alumni relations, and development offices, while also serving as the school’s chief fundraiser. He spearheaded the school’s From These Walls capital campaign, which raised over $32 million for programs, facilities, and endowment. He also directed the fundraising efforts to raise $3.5 million for the construction of two turf fields, and he helped to grow the annual fund during the school’s capital campaign.

As an experienced fundraiser and school administrator, Bob’s deep knowledge of independent schools’ culture, programs, and fundraising needs uniquely positions him to serve our independent clients well.

Bob received his MA in English literature from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English and his BA in English from Amherst College, where he also captained the men’s varsity basketball team.

Melissa Rothberg is an Executive Vice President at CCS. Based out of the firm’s New York office, Melissa works with a broad range of clients across multiple sectors and functions on strategy, operations, and management.

Since joining CCS in 2013, Melissa has partnered with public and private institutions in the fields of education, national and international advocacy, global leadership development, arts and culture, environmental policy, human services and healthcare. She frequently works with clients not only to develop the resources necessary for building and executing ambitious fundraising goals, but also on the infrastructure essential for sustaining them over the long term. Experienced at both high-level campaign strategy and day-to-day organizational operations, Melissa has supported clients with financial targets ranging from $25 million to more than $1 billion.

At CCS, Melissa has been a longtime Corporate Mentor, advising the firm’s emerging directors, and serves on the Talent Recruitment team.

Melissa received her BA from Kenyon College and her MA from The University of Chicago. She is a member of the Board of Directors of College Diabetes Network, and a Junior Leadership Council member of the New York Stem Cell Foundation.

select client partners

Human Rights Watch
Natural Resources Defense Council
City University of New York/City College
Signature Theatre
Committee to Protect Journalists
The New York Women’s Foundation
The Dodd Center for Human Rights, at the University of Connecticut
The New York Botanical Garden
Central Synagogue
Resolve to Save Lives/Vital Strategies

recent resources

CCS Webinar, “Elevating End-of-Year Giving: #GivingTuesday & Other Strategies for Success”

Kate Villa has been helping to design, plan, and implement successful fundraising campaigns since she worked for her University’s development office while in college. She truly enjoys creating and executing campaign plans that connect donors’ passions with projects that change the world. Kate’s 25 years of experience, first as a chief development officer and now with CCS, have included: comprehensive campaign design and management, planning studies, assessments, and leading teams of staff and volunteer leadership to develop unique strategies and solutions to achieve ambitious fundraising goals.

Kate graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and Columbia University. She is the President of AFP Massachusetts, a former Vice-Chair of the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center, and the past President of AFP of Northern New England. When not working or volunteering for good causes, she can often be found trying new recipes or restaurants, skiing in her native state of Vermont, training for a long bike ride, or at the beach with friends and family.

Sarah (Schmall) Sochacki has been with CCS for a decade. Having spent nearly her entire professional career in fundraising, Sarah continues to be drawn to philanthropy, believing that this field has the power to solve some of the most complex challenges in the world. She feels privileged that her profession enables her to help find these solutions and give back in a meaningful way.

Sarah is a lifelong learner and constantly reflects on her current and previous engagements to ensure the latest insights are carried from one partnership to the next. She begins any engagement by first immersing herself in the organization – its people, goals, past fundraising activities, and more – to become an expert and in turn, provide the most value to each of her client partners.

As Managing Director, Sarah leads a variety of partnerships across the Central U.S. In her time at CCS, she has executed campaign planning studies, facilitated multi-million-dollar campaigns, directed development assessments and trainings, and coached development staff and volunteers through securing transformational gifts. With an expertise in case development and transformational gifts, Sarah is committed to crafting stories that marry resource development with each organization’s mission, financial needs, near-term goals, and long-term strategic vision.

As part of her continued commitment to philanthropy, Sarah has served as a guest lecturer at the University of Mary. Sarah is also a frequent speaker at CCS’s firmwide, sector-, and region-specific webinars.

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Science in Fundraising Management from Columbia University. A Chicago resident, Sarah enjoys spending her free time rooting for all things Fighting Irish, teaching her dog, Fred, new tricks, attempting to cook, and participating in the occasional 5k fun run.

Allyson brings almost twenty years of experience in fundraising, nonprofit management, and board development to client partners, collaborating in a variety of ways to support growth and success. With ten years at CCS, Allyson’s work includes interim management, campaign execution, planning studies, development assessments, and capacity building for diverse organizations across social sectors. Her key achievements include heightening campaign performance, securing transformational seven and eight- figure commitments, and implementing successful fundraising initiatives from concept to public phase.

Allyson has worked directly with teams of thought leaders whose goals are to advance outreach, education, and leadership around mission-critical initiatives. In each project, Allyson aligns the fundraising endeavor with a spirit of collaboration and team-building, which serves as the underpinning for incredible success.

Over her time at CCS, Allyson has served as Co-Chair of the People of Color/Multicultural Employee Resource Group (ERG) and is an active member of the firm’s DEI Working Group. She is also on the DEI Subcommittee of CCS’ Board of Directors.

Allyson is a former board member of both the Clemson University Black Alumni Council and the Community Investment Network. A graduate of the Hilton Head Island Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Program, she also served on the Chamber’s Board of Regents. Allyson volunteers with the St. Croix Foundation for Community Development (US Virgin Islands) around hurricane recovery, community organizing, and building collective leadership for nonprofit organizations. Allyson resides in Atlanta, GA and is a founding member of the Black Alumni Collective and a German Marshall Fellow. A graduate of Clemson University, Allyson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish language and International Trade. She also completed the Master dei Talenti program at Fondazione CRT (Torino, Italy), and she holds a master’s from Boston University in arts and nonprofit administration.

Since she started work with CCS, Jillian has designed and directed fundraising campaigns that have raised more than $1.2 billion. She is thoughtful and creative in her counsel and prides herself on her organized approach to campaign management. Jillian is also a coach at heart, taking time to train, manage and challenge CCS and client staff to achieve their professional development goals.

With an expertise in major gifts, Jillian is a storyteller. She will help your organization craft a compelling narrative about the impact of your work.

Jillian received her B.A. from Amherst College in Massachusetts. She currently resides in Los Angeles, where she is leading a $500 million campaign for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Select client Partners

Archdiocese of Los Angeles
Archdiocese of Chicago
Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Since joining CCS in 2011, Carl has been privileged to have provided counsel to numerous clients in the faith-based, health, education, and social service sectors. His areas of expertise include project management, capital campaigns, feasibility and planning studies, organizational development, data analysis, volunteer management, major gifts, and annual fundraising.

Carl is a strong believer in the power of philanthropy and the opportunities it can provide. “I am blessed to have been the beneficiary of the generosity of others through scholarships. I have experienced firsthand the impact philanthropy can provide.”

Growing out of these experiences, Carl appreciates the importance of being socially just and giving back to those less fortunate. Therefore, he chose to pursue a career in helping nonprofits provide opportunities to those who need it most.

Originally from Dublin, Ireland, Carl resides in Rockville Centre, on Long Island, with his wife, Caroline, and daughter, Mairéad. He is a proud graduate of Belvedere College S.J. in Dublin and The University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

“Chris Polito brings 16 years’ experience in designing, implementing, and managing key philanthropic initiatives for nonprofit organizations in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions and Canada.

Since joining CCS in 2006, Chris has partnered on more than 50 strategic resource development initiatives and capital campaigns that have raised collectively over $500 million. Chris is an expert in feasibility and planning studies and development assessments and annual appeals. He has implemented leadership and major gifts fundraising for numerous clients in faith-based, healthcare, human and social services, and primary and secondary education sectors.

From July 2013 to January 2016, Chris, his wife and daughter, moved to Toronto where he served as Executive Director of the Archdiocese of Toronto’s $105 million Family of Faith Campaign, which ultimately raised more than $170 million CAD, becoming the most successful faith-based fundraising initiative in Canadian history.

Chris served as the President of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Southern New Jersey Chapter from 2019-2021 and was recognized as a top 40 Under 40 Leader by the Philadelphia Business Journal in 2020. He has been invited to speak at national and international industry conferences hosted by Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools (ADVIS), AFP Eastern Pennsylvania, Greater Philadelphia, Greater Toronto and Southern New Jersey Chapters, New Jersey Association of Independent Schools (NJAIS), and the Planned Giving Council of Greater Philadelphia.

Currently residing in Mount Laurel, NJ with his wife and daughter, Chris grew up in Colts Neck, New Jersey, went to Red Bank Catholic High School, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C.

select client partners

Archdiocese of Toronto, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Archdiocese of Newark
Elwyn (Media, PA)
Kean University (Union, NJ)
Make-A-Wish Philadelphia, Delaware & Susquehanna Valley
Roman Catholic High School (Philadelphia, PA)
Saints Peter and Paul Parish and School (Easton, MD)
The Gunston School (Centreville, MD)
The Shipley School (Bryn Mawr, PA)
United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey (Philadelphia, PA)
West Catholic Preparatory High School (Philadelphia, PA)
World Trade Center Greater Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA)

recent resouces

“Build Your Digital Presence for 2021 and Beyond”