A dynamic group of leaders & visionaries

Barbara L. Ciconte, is Senior Vice President, Consulting Services, Donor   Strategies, Inc., a consulting practice she founded in 2001. With more than 35 years of experience in all facets of nonprofit management and strategic resource development, she has worked with local, regional, national and international organizations and associations assisting them in developing strategic plans and building more effective resource development programs in annual, capital and endowment giving, major gifts, planned giving, corporate and foundation relations, chapter/affiliate relations and special events. 

A sampling of her clients include national associations such as the American College of   Osteopathic Internists (ACOI), National Club Association Foundation, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation, National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), hospitals such  as Inova Health System Foundation and Sibley Memorial Hospital; and regional education, human services, and arts organizations including McLean Project for the Arts, The Campagna Center, Northern Virginia Family Service, Cornerstones and FACETS. Prior to becoming a consultant in 1999, she spent thirteen years at American University. 

Among her notable accomplishments – as American University’s Director of Annual Giving she was a   member of the university’s Centennial Campaign team that raised $100 million. As the Director of Development for AU’s law school, Barbara was responsible for directing the law school’s successful $20 million campaign for a new law school facility and scholarships. As a consultant, she established the first-ever development program for NAEYC and ACOI, served as Development Counsel for the National Club Association Foundation’s major gifts campaign which exceeded its goal of $500,000, and as Campaign Counsel for ACOI’s 75th Anniversary Campaign helped them to raise $1 million. Barbara has designed successful development initiatives and campaigns for her association and charity clients that helped them advance their development programs to the next level and meet or exceed their goals. For her healthcare clients, Barbara served as a major gifts officer assisting them with special campaigns. 

A leading national educator on fundraising and board development, Barbara is the co-author of Fundraising Basics: A Complete Guide, Third Edition 2009 published by Jones and Bartlett Learning, considered one of the preeminent books on fundraising used by colleges and universities for nonprofit courses and on the office bookshelves of many practitioners. She has served on the boards of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP International), the Association Foundation Group, and the AFP DC Chapter serving as its president. As a volunteer, in 2002 Barbara helped found Take Heart Association Project (THAP) in the U.S., now known as Care for a Child’s Heart (CFACH), an organization that helps children and young adults in East Africa get the life-saving heart surgery they need. She is a Past President of the THAP Board and now serves as Secretary of the CFACH Board.

She has taught fundraising and nonprofit management courses at George Mason University and American University. Barbara is a recipient of the AFP/DC Chapter’s Outstanding Fundraising Professional Award for her leadership and service to the profession. 

She lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland with her husband, Tony.

Alyssa Betz is a Director of Public Policy leading Amazon’s Brand Protection and Customer Trust policy team, supporting Amazon’s U.S. retail operations on policies related to sellers, small businesses, brands, counterfeiting and product safety. Prior to joining Amazon, Alyssa served as the Head of Federal Affairs, U.S. for Verizon Media (Yahoo and AOL) where she worked on policy issues impacting the media and technology landscape. Prior to joining Yahoo, Alyssa worked at a boutique government relations firm where she represented Fortune 100 tech clients on a range of policy issues. Alyssa was also a legislative counsel on Capitol Hill and worked on legislation related to internet regulation, copyright reform, government surveillance and criminal sentencing. Before arriving on Capitol Hill, Alyssa served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Judge Jeanette Clark in the District of Columbia Superior Court. Alyssa holds a JD from the Howard University School of Law and a BA in Political Science from Spelman College.

Donna has been a leader throughout her life as an innovative organization builder.

As a teenager, Donna was active in her church community, organizing regional fellowship youth events in NE Ohio.  This experience built the foundation for providing her own children with positive experiences by forming play groups and leading Girl Scout troops. Donna carried this ability into the commercial spectrum, starting and running profitable homebased businesses.

Donna started and ran two successful businesses, an in-home daycare business and a landscaping business.  Each entrepreneurial experience added more insight to innate human nature and smart business practices and the realization that every job entails selling a quality product or service.

Currently Donna is an owner and director of marketing of the largest inspection business in the DMV.  In starting on the ground floor, Donna has assisted on inspections, coordinated the scheduling and daily operation of the business, culminating to Director of Marketing. Currently, as a member of the Board of Directors, Donna is instrumental in the company’s growth and profitability. Donna is ready to share her skills with a non-profit organization.

After hearing L.Y. speak in August, 2019, Donna, who is not a stranger to domestic abuse, was motivated to contact L.Y.   This precipitated an immediate relationship, culminating with L.Y. requesting that Donna serve as ‘Champion’ of the newly formed ‘Friends of Promise’.  Donna has worked closely with several members of the Board and welcomes the opportunity to continue by becoming a member herself.

Kevin Bullock has over 25-years of experience in Development and Corporate Fundraising. In his previous role as the Director of Sponsorships & Exhibits at AARP, he generated over $1.2 billion dollars annually in revenue within three pillars, Strategic Alliances, Cause Marketing and Sponsorships. His work on large scale multi-million-dollar national projects with organizations such as Toyota, NASCAR, American Express, Chase and United Healthcare has enabled him to think broadly and strategically at finding creative partnerships. After his tenure at AARP, he went on to spearhead successful fundraising campaigns at the American Cancer Society where he generated over $300 Million dollars in Individual Giving and Corporate Partnerships.

Kevin’s diverse career spans government, nonprofit and the business sectors. In the Social Secretary’s Office of the Clinton Administration, Bullock oversaw the White House’s State Dinners and private receptions with world leaders and various dignitaries. That began his entrepreneurial success in the culinary/catering industry, opening his first restaurant in 2016 in Bethesda, Maryland. In 2018, Bullock founded Millennial Catering & Event Planning, exceeding $2.5 million in revenue in less than two years. Bullock also co-founded The Barber Home Group, a real estate subsidiary of McEnearney Associates, Inc.

Currently, Kevin is the Diversity Chair at McEnearney Associates as well as the CFO for the Barber Home Group. With over 10 years’ experience in the real estate industry, he has generated over 10 million in sales per year providing strategic marketing and transaction management services to his clients across the Metropolitan Washington area.

Kevin was born, raised, and educated in Washington, DC, receiving his Bachelor of Science Degree from North Carolina A&T State University. His sphere of influence within the Washington, DC Metropolitan area landed him an award from the DC Modern Luxury Magazine as one of the 2021 Power Players of Washington, DC. Kevin currently lives in Upper Marlboro, MD. He enjoys running and spending time with family.

Sherryl is a technology marketing executive with over thirty years of experience defining market strategy to drive company growth, building customer satisfaction, and consistently delivering quantifiable results. She is currently the Senior Director of Marketing for Swish Data, a provider of technology solutions for government agencies.  In this role, Sherryl is responsible for the creation and implementation of an integrated marketing strategy that drives market awareness, generates demand, and accelerates sales.

Sherryl’s experience spans startup companies to companies with revenue over $1B in both commercial and government markets. Sherryl has worked with numerous software technology solutions, most recently, focused on cybersecurity. Prior to Swish Data, Sherryl had a consulting practice, where she did strategic marketing for technology companies, resellers and non-profits. Before that, she served as Vice President of Marketing for Raytheon Cybersecurity.  She is proficient in product marketing, branding, social media, public relations, industry analyst relations, product launch, and pipeline growth.

Sherryl is an active volunteer in services and fundraising within her community.  For five years, she served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children in Fairfax County.  As a CASA, Sherryl worked with multiple families, serving as the children’s advocate in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.  In this role she met regularly with the children, their social workers, teachers, therapists, guardian ad litems and counselors.  She accompanied the children to all court hearings and provided a Court Report to the presiding Judge. The Court Report provided deep insight into the children’s status which the Judge used in determining the case outcome.  She served a three-year term as a member of the Vestry of Church of the Holy Comforter where she led the Stewardship Committee.  She has also managed social and fundraising events for the organization and is currently in her third year serving as the Volunteer Coordinator. In this role, she schedules multiple volunteers for the church’s annual 240+ services.

Sherryl received a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Marketing from the University of Georgia.

Eileen Walker serves organizations primarily in the areas of education and public health through the lens of an organizational behaviorist. Using her experience and skills from both her formal education and professional experience, she works with not for profit organizations in board or leadership roles to advance their missions.

Eileen serves on the Advisory Council of the Women’s Center of Greater Danbury (Danbury, CT), an organization working to end domestic violence against women, children & men. She also serves on the board of Kids in Crisis (CosCob, CT), an organization that provides round the clock support services to children, teens and their parents for all kind of crises.

Eileen is a director of The TEDMED Foundation, which focuses on advancing knowledge, communications and collaboration on the broad topics of health and medicine.

Ms. Walker is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of her children’s former school, The Harvey School. In addition, she is a Director of the Ridgefield Visiting Nurse Association, and was Chair of the board from 2009-2013. She serves on the Western Connecticut Health Systems Research Institute Advisory Council in Danbury, CT. She also works in an advisory capacity with Wildlife in Crisis, a wildlife rehabilitation center in Weston, CT.

Eileen has been a trustee of Cornell University since 2009. She serves on the Executive Committee, and chairs the Compensation Committee. She is also a director of eCornell, Cornell’s online education subsidiary. Ms. Walker received her BA and MBA from Cornell.

Ms. Walker is a former IBM human resources executive. During her 18 year career at IBM she successfully engaged in all aspects of human resource management while developing her organizational management skills. She has transferred those skills and tools to the organizations she serves in the not for profit sector.

A lover of gardening, animals and a collector of textile crafts, she is actively engaged in supporting organizations related to wildlife, education and health.

Ms. Walker is married to Jay S. Walker, BS ILR ’77, Chair and CEO of Upside, Curator of TEDMED, the founder and Chairman of Walker Digital and founder of Priceline.com. The Walkers reside in Ridgefield, Connecticut.