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Lightning Talks on the Main Stage
Tuesday, November 19, 2019  |  3:30 pm–5:00 pm  |  Americana Ballroom

These rapid fire 5-minute, TED-style talks bring inspiration, humor, and personal reflection to the mainstage at TAG2019. Co-hosted by TAG Executive Director Chantal Forster together with Amanda Vragovich, GMS Senior Project Officer at the National Endowment for Democracy and Nikki Barrett, Managing Director of Grantbook.
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This year's line-up features:

1. Bring Your Whole Self to Your Gig; from Rocker to CIO: John Mohr, MacArthur Foundation
2. Being Candid: Or How I Survived the Merger: Jen Bokoff, Candid
3. AI & 2000 Conversations with The Mayor: Tom Irvine, the Chicago Community Trust
4. Talking Technology: Communicating to Leadership: Donell Hammond, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
5. Leaning—In, Out, Sideways & Upside-Down: Carly Maready, The JPB Foundation
6. Batter Up—IT Staffing and Baseball: Karen Appelbaum, Northwest Area Foundation
7. Successfully Navigating the Course—Training for Mammals: Rebecca Smith, 1892 consulting

• Karen Appelbaum
• Jen Bokoff
• Donell Hammond
• Tom Irvine
• Carly Maready
• John Mohr
• Rebecca Smith

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Karen leads the Foundation’s office management and information technology departments. She oversees policies, processes, and procedures and directs all activities associated with the Foundation’s facilities management, emergency preparedness, business continuity planning, information governance program, and technology systems improvement initiatives.

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Jen Bokoff is the director of stakeholder engagement at Candid (formerly Foundation Center + GuideStar). She develops partnerships, projects, and insights power the work of the philanthropic sector. She likes asking “so what?” to push Candid’s data-driven work to be as valuable and actionable as it can be. She also runs GrantCraft, a free service that taps the practical wisdom of funders to improve the collective knowledge of the philanthropy field. In her role, Jen regularly speaks at conferences and facilitates workshops, and connects people to resources, ideas, and one another. Previously, she has enjoyed giving money in her work at a private foundation, taking money in her work for the IRS, and budgeting money in her work as a client advocate. A graduate of Tufts University, Jen studied community health and sociology and spent two years involved in the Learning by Giving philanthropy program. She serves on the Alumni Council’s executive committee and also serves on an advisory committee for The Moth’s education programs. In her spare time, she is an amateur comedic improviser, CrossFitter, and second base woman on Foundation Center’s winning-in-spirit softball team. Jen is a firm believer that innovation and change happen only when passionate people across different industries collaborate; being a strong connector enables this growth in local communities and throughout the world.

Donell Hammond joined the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in July 2018 as an Information Analyst and then moving into the role of Technology Manager where he oversees the Technology department, setting direction and coordinating infrastructure and service delivery across the Foundation. Through partnerships with the programmatic teams and peers at the Foundation, Donell ensures the Technology Team is working to advance critical technology priorities and provide the ongoing support and maintenance that keeps all systems running effectively. The Technology department at the Kauffman is engaged at all levels of the organization, responsible for implementing and supporting enterprise applications, enterprise data, research support, teaching and learning, technology support, infrastructure, communications, constituent engagement, and information security.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the technology team strives to have a local impact and national reach within Entrepreneurship and Education by working together to create opportunities and connect people to the applications and tools needed to shape their futures and be successful. 

Prior to joining the Kauffman Foundation, Donell Hammond was a senior interface architect and manager at Cerner Corporation providing strategic oversight of information technology activities by leading US and international teams to develop standards around foreign system interface design and build within the healthcare field. As a team and project leader, Donell developed the ability to balance strategic decisions and financial discipline with a hands-on approach to leadership, which resulted in strong employee, patient, and physician satisfaction along. Donell uses these skills and his ability to lead teams to execute toward goals through effective communication between key stakeholders, senior leadership, and project teams to develop strong Technology partnerships at the Kauffman Foundation.

Donell brings over 7 years of experience in the field of information technology and has a diverse background in both non-profit and corporate settings, with extensive experience in research, instructional, healthcare solutions, program and project management, and SAAS application implementation. 

Donell has a Master’s in Business Administration and Information Technology from Capella University and a Bachelor of Science in computer information systems from Friends University. ​

Tom Irvine is chief information officer and vice president of information technology for The Chicago Community Trust, where he oversees the direction, support and maintenance of all hardware and software systems used by the Trust. With more than 30 years of experience, Irvine provides technology vision, leadership and direction in support of the foundation’s priorities to deliver excellent service, maximize impact, and increase efficiencies in its operations.

Prior to joining the Trust, Irvine worked at The Northern Trust Company as the vice president in worldwide operations and technology where he managed application development for client and employee applications. A graduate of Drake University, Irvine holds a BS and an MBA from DePaul University.

In his spare time he teaches classes in strategic thinking at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management and classes on history and spy novels at the Newberry library in Chicago.

Carly Maready is the Special Assistant to the President of The JPB Foundation. In this role, Carly works directly with the President and staff to organize, maintain and create new projects, policies and procedures. This position also allows Carly to work on the internal and external communication for JPB. Prior to joining JPB, Carly spent 7 years at the Helmsley Charitable Trust, working as an HR Associate and Executive Assistant

Her enthusiasm for organizing, communicating, problem-solving, technology and philanthropy keep her engaged and excited about the work she is doing. She enjoys when things are on schedule and progressing smoothly. Carly graduated from the University of Central Florida with a B.A. in Communications, specializing in advertising and public relations. In her spare time, she enjoys going on adventures, and playing with her family.

John oversees Foundation-wide technology services and planning. He is responsible for developing a strong and sustainable information technology infrastructure. As leader of the department (and within the Foundation management team), John provides oversight, vision, planning, development, and IT strategy for the Foundation.

Prior to joining the MacArthur Foundation in 2012, John was the Director of Academic Systems at the University of Chicago. In previous roles at the University, John was the Director of the Web Services department where he led the redesign of the University's website. John also led the Project Management office and the implementation of the Alumni Development system. 

Prior to that, John led IT teams at early stage technology companies in Seattle, Washington. He was a key member of the leadership teams and had responsibility for technical operations, product development, strategic planning, and key relationships with technology partners and investors.

John earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems and Operations Management from Northern Illinois University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. 

John also serves on the board of TAG having previously been the board Secretary. He previously chaired the Simplify working group and is currently a member of the TAG CyberSecurity working group. 

Rebecca Smith brings 18 years of experience working with foundations, both as Senior Consultant with 1892 consulting, and in her former position as the Information Systems Manager at The Kresge Foundation. Rebecca has supported foundations through evaluating, selecting, and implementing foundation grantmaking systems; training staff and providing post-launch support of systems; leading data migration efforts; defining and refining grants processes and procedures; and developing communications and change management plans aligned with these projects.

Rebecca Smith received her B.F.A. with Highest Honors from College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. She is also a former Board and Executive Committee Member (Secretary) of Technology Affinity Group (TAG) and served on the TAG Conference Logistics Committee. Her hobbies include teaching, training and competing in the sport of dog agility.