Advisory Committee

Lucy Bernholz, Ph.D.

Lucy Bernholz, Ph.D. is the founder and president of Blueprint Research & Design, Inc., a strategy consulting firm that helps philanthropic individuals and institutions achieve their missions. Dr. Bernholz is the publisher of Philanthropy2173, an award winning blog on the business of giving. She is currently the HAND Foundation Fellow in Philanthropy at the New American Foundation and is a visiting scholar at the Stanford University Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. She serves on advisory boards to several national and international philanthropy research centers and is a frequent keynote presenter, panelist, and media source on philanthropy and social innovation. Dr. Bernholz has a B.A. from Yale University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Shirley Eis

Shirley Eis, Chair Emeritus of the NPT Board of Trustees, founded Software Corporation of America in 1981, and as President and CEO has built it into a leading provider of wireless application software and communication tools, spanning landline and wireless network technologies. In 1999, SCA was acquired by Motorola, and Ms. Eis became a Motorola Vice President, assuming responsibility for other acquisitions, including Suncoast Scientific. Ms. Eis has over 25 years of diverse experience in telecommunications, information technology, management and sales and has held various technical and management positions for AT&T, General Foods, and Scudder Steven and Clark. She is a past board member of the Wireless Data Forum and currently sits on the board of Spot-On Networks, a Wi-Fi service provider. She holds a B.A. in mathematics from Marymount College.

C. Wolcott Henry

C. Wolcott Henry, a former chairman of the National Philanthropic Trust, is also president and director of the Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation and the Henry Foundation, two private foundations which support natural resource conservation. Henry serves on the board of the World Wildlife Fund, and on the advisory boards of the American Fisheries Society, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and Kellogg Environmental Research Center. He is a graduate of Denison University with an M.M. from Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Steven A. Kantor

Steven A. Kantor is Executive Vice President of Benefits Data Trust (BDT), an organization that assists poor seniors in the United States enroll and receive prescription drug benefits. Prior to joining BDT, Steve was Director of Market Development for SMART, LLP, a full service business consulting and accounting firm, serving clients throughout the US and globally. Prior to joining SMART, he served as Business Development Manager and later became the Managing Director of the Philadelphia office of Jefferson Wells. He was the founding member of The Philadelphia Board for Corporate Governance, and he serves on the board of advisors of the George and Lois Krall Center for Corporate and Executive Education at The LeBow College of Business at Drexel University. Steve is a graduate of Rutgers University with a B.S. degree in Business Administration and a concentration in marketing.

Stephan R. Leimberg, J.D.

Stephan R. Leimberg, J.D., is CEO of Leimberg Information Services, Inc., an email and database service, providing information and commentary on tax cases, rulings, and legislation for financial services professionals, and CEO of Leimberg and LeClair, Inc., an estate and financial planning software company. Named a distinguished Accredited Estate Planner by the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils, Mr. Leimberg is co-author of Tax Planning with Life Insurance and creator and lead author of a 12-book series that includes Tools and Techniques of Estate Planning and Tools and Techniques of Life Insurance Planning. He holds a B.A. from Temple University and a J.D. from Temple University School of Law.

Stephen J. McCarthy

Stephen J. McCarthy is senior vice president of KCG Capital Advisors, an asset management/foundation administration venture that he co-founded in 1994. He has more than 35 years of diversified experience in the financial services and foundation management sectors, including his work with Paine Webber Group, Security Pacific Corporation, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, CitiBank, and others. In the philanthropic arena, McCarthy has been involved with the Council on Foundations, the Association of Small Foundations, the New York Society of Security Analysts, the National Center for Family Philanthropy, and the Support Center for Nonprofit Management. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University, and received an M.B.A. from the Stern Graduate School of Business at New York University.

Stephen C. Nill, J.D.

Stephen C. Nill, J.D. is the founder and CEO of CharityChannel, an on-line community that has grown to include more than 100,000 nonprofit professionals from every continent of the world. Mr. Nill's law practice clients include many of the largest nonprofit institutions in the United States, and his charitable planned giving clients range from the top 50 wealthiest families in the world. In addition to his law practice and consulting activities, Mr. Nill has served as Vice President of Development in a West Coast nonprofit hospital chain, Chief Executive Officer and General Counsel of one of the fastest growing health care foundations in the United States, and as Chief Development Officer of a major West Coast university. He has raised more than $100 million for charity, and has created and administered programs that have produced nearly $1 billion in charitable contributions.

Patricia Patrizi

Patricia Patrizi, Principal, Patrizi Associates, is a consultant working with a broad range of nonprofit organizations and philanthropies in the areas of evaluation, strategic planning, and organizational learning. She directed the Practice Matters project, and chairs the Evaluation Roundtable, a group of evaluation and program executives at the nation's largest foundations dedicated to improving evaluation practices across philanthropy. Previously, she served as Director of Evaluation at the Pew Charitable Trusts, and conducted health services research as a senior analyst at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics of the University of Pennsylvania and was a member of the faculty. Ms. Patrizi holds degrees from Bryn Mawr College and the University of Pennsylvania. She is a research fellow at Harvard University.

Renata J. Rafferty

Renata J. Rafferty is a philanthropic advisor and the founder and president of Rafferty Consulting Group. For more than two decades, she has assisted individuals, families, and foundations in defining and maintaining a clear focus in their philanthropic activities. Her firm also provides comprehensive consulting, training, and facilitation services for nonprofit and public agencies operating in areas that include education, the arts, health and community, and social services. Ms. Rafferty holds a B.A. from Loyola University, an M.A. from Tufts University, and is a former Fulbright Scholar with Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.

Nadya K. Shmavonian

Nadya K. Shmavonian is the President of Public/Private Ventures (P/PV), a national nonprofit that works to improve the lives of children, youth and families in high poverty communities through program design, research and evaluation, and replication and assistance on the ground. Prior to joining P/PV, she worked as an independent consultant, providing strategic counsel to private foundations and to local, national and international nonprofit organizations. Ms. Shmavonian currently serves on the Surdna Foundation Board, the Board of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, and the Board of The Alliance for A Green Revolution in Africa (a joint partnership of the Rockefeller and Bill and Melinda Gates foundations). Ms. Shmavonian holds a B.A. from the University of Chicago and an M.B.A. in healthcare management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

John F. White, Jr.

John F. White, Jr. is President and CEO of The Consortium, a Community Mental Health/Mental Retardation Center in West Philadelphia. In this role, he advocates for the health and well being of the consumers in the West Philadelphia Community. Mr. White served as a member of Pennsylvania's House of Representatives and during his five-year term, he sponsored several key pieces of legislation tackling a range of public policy concerns. As a member of Philadelphia's City Council, he served as Chairman of Council’s Health and Human Services Committee. Mr. White formerly served as Pennsylvania's Secretary of the Department of Public Welfare – the Commonwealth’s largest State agency. He also completed a four-year term as the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA). Mr. White attended West Chester University and the John F. Kennedy School of Government for Senior Executives.