The Power of Philanthropy

At The Power of Philanthropy conference, we aim to ignite passion and inspire action by exploring the transformative impact of philanthropy in today’s world. As we approach a monumental wealth transfer, with millennials poised to become the wealthiest generation, we recognize the urgency of preparing for this shift while ensuring that the next generation is empowered to steward wealth effectively. Through thoughtful discussions on the *Why, Who, What, and How* of philanthropy, we aim to provide practical insights that equip professionals to not only understand the significance of planned giving but also to become solution providers, offering tools that enable donors to make meaningful, lasting contributions to their communities. By the end of this conference, attendees will leave inspired, equipped, and ready to guide donors on their philanthropic journey, ensuring their gifts create the most powerful impact possible. Future CGPH networking and meeting opportunity dates will be presented.

Perks of Attending! 🎉
Your registration includes access to exciting Exhibitor Bingo and Door Prize giveaways — don’t miss your chance to win!

Plus, enjoy a delicious start to your day with our Build-Your-Own Parfait Bar, complete with juice and coffee. For lunch, indulge in a buffet meal featuring mini desserts, along with tea, water, and soft drinks — all included with your registration!

Conference Hotel Booking Information

A special group rate of $189 per night has been secured for out-of-town conference attendees.

Please note: This rate does not include applicable taxes and fees, which currently total 17% occupancy tax and a $1.16 state recovery fee.

Discounted Parking: Guests in the group block will receive a reduced parking rate of $25 per night for one vehicle per room (regular rate is $46).

Room Block Cutoff Date: Friday, April 11 at 11:59 PM.
After this date, the group rate and room availability are not guaranteed.

Booking Link: Reserve Your Room

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Our Schedule

Click here to view the schedule as a PDF.

Our Speakers

With 40 years of experience in the philanthropic arena, Joe Bull is known as an effective leader of highly performing advancement teams, for his technical expertise as a charitable gift planner, and a nationally recognized speaker and author on charitable gift planning issues. He is the principal counsel and founder of Philanthropy Advisory Counsel, LLC and has held senior advancement leadership positions at Carnegie Mellon University, The Nature Conservancy, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, and Wilmington College. Joe provided 16 years of service to his alma mater, The Ohio State University, primarily as Director of Planned Giving and has also held positions in planned gift development at Duke and North Carolina State Universities. He is the Immediate President of the American Council on Gift Annuities and was the 2005 Board Chair of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners. As such, he is only the second person to have held the top leadership position at both of charitable gift planning’s professional organizations. He is admitted to the Ohio and North Carolina bars.

Jillian Day, CFRE, CSPG, is currently the Senior Director, Development Programs at the Houston Zoo. She is a philanthropic facilitator with thirteen years of experience in major and planned giving, as well as stewardship. Jillian and her team oversee the Zoo’s corporate and legacy giving programs, as well as the engagement of the Asante Society, the Zoo’s premier donor club. Previously, she was a gift officer who raised millions in major and planned gifts for the Zoo’s Centennial Campaign. She has been at the Zoo for nine years. Prior to that, she spent four years building out the volunteer and fundraising programs at Vita-Living, Inc., a social services charity. Before finding her way to the nonprofit sector, Jillian worked in healthcare consulting for seven years. She specialized in team effectiveness, leadership development, and program evaluation first at UTHealth, then at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. 

Jillian received her CSPG (Certified Specialist in Planned Giving) certification in February 2024 and her CFRE in 2017. She has a Master's in Sociology from Portland State University. She volunteered on the board for AFP-Greater Houston for five years and now serves on the Advancement Committee for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). While not a native Texan, she got here as quickly as she could by marrying her husband, a native Houstonian. 

Sandra Henningsen, CGPA (Certified Gift Planning Associate), Assistant Vice President, Integrated Marketing for Crescendo Interactive, oversees gift planning eMarketing services.  She mentors nonprofits in establishing gift planning contemporary websites and integrated marketing using the Internet, eNewsletters, social media, surveys and royalty-free literature.  She speaks and teaches seminars in the areas of eMarketing, gift planning and donor relations. 

She has presented at your GHCGP Conference, AFP International & area AFPs, National CGP and area CGPs, CASE Summit & districts, AHP International & regional AHPs, various regional conferences and Crescendo’s Practical Planned Giving Conferences. 

Sandra has been part of the Crescendo staff 20+ years.  Her Bachelor of Science degree in education is from South Dakota State University.

Annie Hurwitz serves as Director of Donor Engagement and Learning at the Greater Houston Community Foundation. In this role, she leads the Foundation's overall fundholder and client programming strategy, working across departments, and advises individuals and family through donor advised funds. She also manages Next Gen leadership engagement through the Foundation's Center for Family Philanthropy. Annie is a specialist in family dynamics with the 21/64 Advising Network. Prior to joining Greater Houston Community Foundation, Annie developed and implemented strategic partnerships and initiatives at Sparkfund, a financial technology company, and Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international women's leadership nonprofit. Annie graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and a Minor in Asian Studies.

Jackie W. Franey has over 30 years of experience in charitable gift planning for a range of nonprofits and specializes in cultivating meaningful connections with senior leaders, fostering strategic partnerships, and leading remote and diverse fundraising teams. A CGP Hall of Fame recipient, she is the founder of JW Franey Consulting, LLC. 

Jackie previously served as the Director of Gift Planning Fundraising at The Nature Conservancy (TNC) where she was responsible for the management and leadership of an experienced team that secured over 1,900 planned giving commitments and more than $200 million a year in deferred gifts. Prior to joining TNC, she worked at the DMA, BNY Mellon Wealth Management, Communities Foundation of Texas, and Children’s Medical Center. She also served as the Director of Planned Giving for the American Heart Association – National Center for ten years and was responsible for implementing a centralized marketing program that generated more than $100 million in annual income.

She has served in leadership positions including past president of the North Texas chapter of the National Committee on Planning Giving, former national board member for the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners, served on the Steering Committee for the Leadership Institute and served for 10 years on the editorial advisory board of Planned Giving Today. She has been a national speaker, is an adjunct faculty member at The Fund Raising School of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, and enjoys mentoring others in the planned giving profession. Jackie is a Certified Specialist in Planned Giving (CSPG), a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) and completed the Certificate Program in Financial Planning at Southern Methodist University. She lives in Carrboro, North Carolina with her husband David and German Shepherd Grey.

Neill Janik is a Relationship Manager at Farmers National Company, specializing in business development and mineral asset management. With 17 years of experience in the energy sector—including roles in engineering, operations, private equity, and asset transactions—he helps clients navigate complex mineral holdings and maximize their portfolios. He holds Series 63 and Series 22 licenses and works closely with fiduciaries, nonprofits, and high-net-worth individuals to develop strategic solutions for their asset management goals. 

Donald O. Jansen is Associate General Counsel, University of Texas System Office of General Counsel.  He is a retired senior partner of Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. (now Norton Rose Fulbright).  He is a former Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and a current Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel.  Mr. Jansen is a past Chairman of the Committee of Significant Current Literature and Vice-Chair of the Insurance Committee, Probate and Trust Division, Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of the American Bar Association.  Mr. Jansen is a specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is the past Probate Editor of the Newsletter of the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section of the State Bar of Texas. He has been designated by his peers as a Texas Super Lawyer in estate planning in 2003, 2004 and 2005. He is a 2014 recipient of the Outstanding Eagle Scout Award presented by the National Association of Eagle Scouts. He is a past member of the Federal Bar Association National Council and a past president of the Houston Chapter. Mr. Jansen was elected to the Estate Planning Hall of Fame® in 2017 by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. He is an Accredited Estate Planner® (Distinguished). Mr. Jansen is a member of the Advisory Committee, Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, University of Miami School of Law.

Tama Brooks Klosek's practice is a tax practice focused on both the domestic and international aspects of estate planning and family wealth transfer and tax exempt organizations. Following graduation from Harvard Law School in 1999, Tama began her legal career with Vinson & Elkins in the Probate, Trusts & Estates Group of the Tax Section. After 10 years at Vinson & Elkins, Tama continued her legal practice with Klosek Howes LLP and formed Klosek & Associates PLLC in June 2013. Tama is Chambers Ranked in High Net Worth—Private Wealth Law and Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has been widely recognized in Houston, the State of Texas and nationally by her peers, as well as her clients and others, as an outstanding attorney in her field. Tama has significant experience in income, nonprofit (including private foundations), estate, gift, trust and generation-skipping transfer taxation and marital property planning. She has advised a variety of clients on domestic and international tax matters, and also consults on divorce matters in connection with complex marital estates. In addition to her legal practice, Tama is a Managing Partner in a national life settlements originations firm, Treyled Life Settlements LLC, where she works as part of an experienced management team to assist high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients of Treyled Life Settlements to efficiently exit life insurance contracts on a favorable basis through sales to third party institutional investors when life insurance is no longer desired or advisable. Tama has many local and regional professional affiliations and has presented seminars and continuing legal education on a range of topics related to her area of expertise, including life settlements, to numerous groups in Houston, Texas and nationally.

Lindy Nash serves as a Partner in the Bequest Management practice at Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick. Her practice focuses on representing national charities and non-profit organizations in fulfilling the wishes of their charitable donors while maximizing gifts and minimizing any administrative burden. She supervises a skilled team of attorneys and paralegals who advocate for nonprofit institutions as beneficiaries of matured bequests. Lindy received a BA from Connecticut College in Psychology and Sociology. She then went on to Suffolk Law School where she received a JD. 

Lindy currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners (CGP) and as the Vice President of Programming for the Planned Giving Group of New England (PGGNE). She is also the Immediate Past President of the Board of Trustees at the Providence Animal Rescue League (PARL). 

Jennifer Touchet is a chartered advisor in philanthropy certified by the American College of Financial Services and a specialist in family dynamics with the 21/64 Advising Network. She helps high-impact donors create meaningful change by connecting them to innovative initiatives and people and designing charitable legacy plans. At the Foundation, since 2013, Jennifer has led donor engagement and initiatives, including the Center for Family Philanthropy for the Foundation’s donor-advised fund holders. She’s a national expert on multi-generational giving and has served as past chair of the National Advisory Council for the National Center for Family Philanthropy. With over 25 years of experience, she has held leadership roles in multiple Texas nonprofits, founded the Twelve Hills Nature Center in Dallas, and was managing partner at Houston's first certified B-corporation. Jennifer holds degrees from Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania, including a master’s in Oral History.

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