Demont & Associates

Demont Team

Robert D. Demont, CFRE, President, has been a proponent of the highest standards in direction and counsel to philanthropic institutions, their staff, and volunteers since 1979. In addition to managing, directing, and counseling hundreds of clients and helping them raise over $700,000,000, Bob has been a teacher, coach, camp counselor, board member, political campaign manager, international performer, and marketing representative. He formed Demont Associates in 1993 after serving as regional manager and president of the New England Division of Ketchum, Inc., when it was the largest fund-raising counseling firm in the world.

Bob has personally chaired six capital campaigns for not-for-profit organizations. He is past president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Northern New England Chapter, was a faculty member of AFP's First Course and Survey Course, and a guest lecturer at Lesley College. He also has completed the Executive Leadership Institute sponsored by AFP in conjunction with the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy. Bob is the former Chair of the Board of Visitors of the University of Maine at Machias, and President of the Board of Directors of Agawam Council, a private character-based camp serving American youth since 1919. Bob remains a development committee member for Agawam, President of the Yarmouth High School Alumni Association, and is a member of his church’s finance committee. He has been an active volunteer and class capital campaign chair at his alma mater, Bowdoin College, and also chaired Up With People's International Alumni Association Founders Campaign.

Kate White Lewis, CFRE, Vice President, has served numerous clients with campaign planning and direction services since 2000. Her primary responsibilities are in the areas of service quality, communication, supervision, training, planning, and marketing direction. In serving clients, she is responsible for creating and implementing campaign plans; recruiting and training volunteers; managing campaign solicitations; managing donor and prospect databases; developing marketing materials; and organizing campaign activities.

Kate has previous experience in political campaigns and public interest organizations. Prior to joining Demont, she completed a fellowship program with the state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs). Her experience in that capacity included fund raising, lobbying, directing media relations, building membership, financial office systems, and training, managing, and motivating staff and volunteers. Kate holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science and French from the University of Vermont, where she concentrated in environmental studies. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Northern New England Chapter of the Association of Fund-Raising Professionals (AFP NNE). She is former co-chair of the Board of Directors for Maine People’s Alliance, current volunteer treasurer for the Maine People’s Resource Center, and has been active with the Sierra Club and South Portland Land Trust.

James J. Boyle, Ph.D., Senior Associate, has been a successful institutional development professional for 30 years. Jim provides Demont’s not-for-profit clients with institutional advancement counsel, comprehensive capital campaign management and counsel, strategic planning, and awareness and marketing program development. He also serves as chief editor of the firm’s quarterly publication Accent on Philanthropy. Previously, he served as vice president and senior development officer at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Cortland for seven years. In 2000, SUNY Cortland received a CASE Circle of Excellence for overall improvement in educational fund raising. Prior to his work with SUNY Cortland, Jim served as vice president of LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York.

Jim also served as chief development officer for SUNY at Binghamton. During his nine years at Binghamton, Jim earned a Ph.D. in higher education research at Syracuse University, completed a dissertation on college quality and alumni giving that was funded by the Lilly Endowment, and won an outstanding dissertation award in 1992 from the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

After graduating from Boston College and earning an M.P.A. from Penn State University, Jim served as a consultant to more than 100 Red Cross chapters across New England, focusing on development and membership campaigns. Jim’s professional and volunteer affiliations included serving on the board of directors for Maine Endwell Dollars for Scholars and on the board of education for the Maine Endwell School District.

Robert J. Buckla, Ed.D., Senior Associate, offers Demont clients more than 21 years of fund-raising, public relations, and consulting experience. For the last seven years at Demont, he has served clients with comprehensive capital and endowment campaign counsel; institutional advancement counsel; strategic planning; program assessment & analysis; and marketing program development.

Rob serves as vice president of development & external relations at Hyde Schools where he oversees a four-campus group of boarding and public charter schools. Prior to his appointment to Hyde’s administration, Rob engineered the boarding school’s $16.3 million capital and endowment campaign as a Demont & Associates’ consultant and campaign director. He has served as vice president for institutional advancement at Averett University in Virginia, as well as associate vice president for Development at Regis University, in Denver, CO, Director of Development at Theological College of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, Director of Development and Alumni Relations at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, MA, and Director of Development and Alumni Relations at Doane Stuart School in Albany, NY.

Throughout his career, Rob has specialized in fund raising at values-centered, religious-affiliated institutions and organizations. He holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Bonaventure University in New York and a master of education degree from Vanderbilt University. He also holds a doctorate from Vanderbilt, where he studied the impact of organizational culture on fund-raising effectiveness. Rob has been actively involved in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) throughout his career and has attended Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) conferences. He volunteers his time and expertise at his undergraduate alma mater, St. Bonaventure.

Christopher E. Crooker, Consulting Associate, has been connecting alumni, parents and friends with Cornell University since 1997. Most recently, as the assistant dean for alumni affairs and development for the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, he has experience in all phases of alumni relations and fund raising for Cornell.

During his career he has been entrusted to work with key volunteer leaders throughout the organization, from trustees to class officers and alumni club presidents. Crossing the spectrum of non-profit fund raising, Chris has built participation in annual fund and reunion giving programs, provided staff leadership to campaigns, developed and executed major gift strategies and coordinated and conducted gift planning discussions. He has worked on the project teams for Cornell’s $200 million scholarship challenge campaign and an $85 million campaign for the university’s athletic programs. He currently leads the ILR School’s $60 million capital campaign.

Prior to his time at Cornell, Chris served in the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer for seven years, including service in the Northern Arabian Gulf during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. He remains in the Navy Reserve.

Chris volunteers his time as a board member of the Ithaca, NY Babe Ruth Baseball League, and as a trustee of the Alpha Psi of Chi Psi Fraternity Educational Trust.

J. Patrick Gugerty, Consulting Associate, brings to Demont nearly two decades of corporate and philanthropic experience. Throughout his professional career he has been involved with many aspects of consumer marketing, executive administration, human resources management, education and development, and not-for-profit board governance.

Pat held a variety of key leadership positions for MBNA, which at the time was one of the nation’s largest and fastest growing banking organizations. He was responsible for partnerships and marketing with numerous organizations headquartered in New England. As an executive Board member for a national education foundation, he and his colleagues were responsible for the approval of teacher grant requests and student scholarship awards for the New England portion of the $60 million fund.

As board and committee member, Pat has played a pivotal role for various organizations, including: Penobscot Bay Medical Center’s occupational health arm, Health Connections, Penobscot Bay YMCA, and Tanglewood 4H Camp and Learning Center, all located in mid-coast Maine, and Ursuline Academy in Wilmington, Delaware. Pat has also worked independently as a consultant to organizations to develop strategic plans, case statements, and campaign planning and feasibility studies.

Pat holds a bachelors degree from the University of Maryland at College Park and resides in Wilmington, Delaware.

Susannah H. Kerest, Associate, provides campaign and study direction for Demont clients. Throughout 13 years of fund-raising experience, Susannah has conducted major gift fund raising in organizations of varying scale across New England.

Susannah has held development positions in leadership giving at Wesleyan University, Cornell University, University of Vermont, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Prior to re-locating to Maine, Susannah served as a major gifts officer at Horizons for Homeless Children in Boston.

A graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, Susannah has held volunteer roles with Wesleyan University, local public radio stations, and as a member of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and Women in Development of Greater Boston. She currently serves as a volunteer at the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project as well as her childrens' school, Ocean House at the Farm.

David W. Lawrence, Senior Associate, an expert in healthcare fund raising and advancement, provides Demont’s not-for-profit clients with institutional advancement counsel; comprehensive capital campaign management and counsel; ongoing/periodic program counsel; and strategic planning, awareness, and development program marketing and operational organization counsel.

In addition to his role as senior associate with Demont & Associates, David has served as senior philanthropic advisor for the Office of Resource Development at Harvard Medical School, providing strategic guidance for philanthropic support of medical research and educational programs. He currently serves in a similar capacity for the Sick Kids Foundation of the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto. He has also counseled Duke University Medical Center, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Georgetown University Medical Center, Jackson Laboratory, Bates College, National Parkinson Foundation, and several health systems nationwide.

Previously, David served two years as president of the Northwestern Memorial Foundation affiliated with Northwestern University Medical School. He also served 18 years as chief development officer for Mayo Foundation, leading the Mayo Clinic’s multi-site philanthropy activities.

A graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, David holds a master of arts degree from George Washington University. David completed 23 years of service as an active and reserve naval officer retiring at the rank of Captain.

Sheri M. Leahan, Director of Campaign Systems, offers over fifteen years of development expertise in prospect research and analysis, capital campaign procedures and documentation, and donor database assessments and management to client staff and Demont campaign directors and associates. She holds extensive knowledge in prospect and foundation research techniques utilizing online and print resources. Sheri supervises the setup of campaign offices, gift and acknowledgement procedures, database management, and training on campaign database coding, report writing, and prospect management systems. In addition to administering internal assessments and planning studies, Sheri has served Demont & Associates as a campaign associate for numerous capital campaigns throughout New England and as the firm’s marketing coordinator.

She brings significant museum leadership, research, and curatorial experience to the firm having earned an M.A. in History Museum Studies through the Cooperstown Graduate Program at the State University of New York College at Oneonta. She has previously served as Curator of the Senator Margaret Chase Smith Library and Museum in Skowhegan, Maine and as Director of the Noyes House Museum in Vermont. She brings valuable project management, educational, marketing, and other skills from her work with a variety of museums throughout Greater New England. Sheri is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine with a B.A. in History and an active volunteer for the New England Museum Association and the Central Kennebec Heritage Council (Maine). She is a member of the New England Development Research Association and the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement.

Phyllis A. Lockhart, Senior Associate, brings extensive professional business development; project and office management; and marketing and public relations experience to Demont clients. She serves as an on-site Campaign Director, managing all aspects of capital campaigns such as prospect research and review; database management; public awareness and cultivation programs; volunteers; and campaign divisions. Phyllis’ experience combines healthcare administration and business development, having worked for medical centers, large physician groups, major health plans, and the United Way.

Phyllis has served as a loaned executive and campaign coordinator for the United Way of Greater Portland. As a former senior practice administrator for PracticePartners of Portland, Maine, she provided leadership and direction on planning and coordinating the operations of 10 primary care physician practices. Phyllis has provided business and project management for Connecticut Multispecialty Group in Hartford, Connecticut and the Permanente Medical Association in Dallas, Texas. While in Dallas, she also provided product development and marketing services for Baylor Health Care System and Cigna Healthplan. Phyllis is a graduate of Trenton State College with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology. She is an active volunteer for the Second Congregational Church in Newcastle, and is on the Board of Directors of the Carpenter’s Boat Shop and the Coastal Chorale.

Lauren Geiger Moye, CFRE, Senior Associate, supports Demont clients with extensive experience in development, public relations, and media. She serves on the Demont Management Team.

Prior to joining Demont & Associates, Lauren served as executive director and co-producer at Kingdom County Productions (KCP) in Barnet, Vermont, where she was responsible for fund raising, public relations, sales and distribution, special events, donor relations, and publications. While at KCP, Lauren co-produced two full-length feature films and one Emmy-award winning independent TV Series, Windy Acres.

From 1998-2003, she served as the director of external relations at Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium (St. Johnsbury, VT), responsible for increasing the Museum’s resources through management of annual and corporate giving, membership, foundation support, marketing, and public relations.

Before moving to Vermont, Lauren was associate manager of Public Relations at the New York Public Library and publicist at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Lauren graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A in English literature from Middlebury College. She currently serves as a council member of the Vermont Women’s Fund and a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Youth In Philanthropy Task Force. She is a former president of the Board of the AFP-Northern New England chapter.

Lauren is a Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium Fellow, and the recipient of the AFP Chamberlain Scholarship.

She lives in St. Johnsbury, Vermont with her husband Richard and daughter Lizzie.

Erica Mullen, Communications Coordinator, provides support for client and staff communications. Her responsibilities include production of study reports and marketing communication materials; maintenance of professional memberships, sponsorships, and advertising; website management; preparation of conference presentations; and associate support as it relates to client service. She also serves as an assistant to the President.

Erica received a B.A. in art from the University of Southern Maine and has experience with layout design, digital photographic editing, and marketing. She resides in Saco, Maine and has volunteered for therapeutic riding centers in Maine, including Riding to the Top and Hearts & Horses.

Thomas W. Smith, CFP® With more than 30 years of planned giving experience, Tom is a private consultant in planned giving and senior philanthropic advisor at The Vermont Community Foundation. His additional experience includes eight years at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA, and 11 years at the University of Vermont, in Burlington, Vermont. Tom is active in local and national levels of planned giving and currently serves on the Editorial Review Panel of The Journal of Gift Planning, published by the National Committee on Planned Giving. Prior to his career in development, Tom was a language professor on the college level.

Tom has an A.B. degree from Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio, and an M.A. degree from the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana. In 1986, he received his certified financial planner designation from the College for Financial Planning in Denver, Colorado. He currently resides in Ripton, Vermont.

Aric L. Walton, Director of Operations, is responsible for overseeing day to day operations at Demont headquarters, including financial account management, technology management, personnel matters, supervision of client deliverables production, and tracking of company goals, staffing, and contracts.

Since joining Demont in 2005, he has served clients throughout New England in various capacities including: Campaign Office Manager for capital campaigns, phonathon coordinator, prospect researcher and analyst, and planning study coordinator.

A native of Yarmouth, Maine, Aric earned a B.S. in Recreation Management & Policy from the University of New Hampshire. His volunteer experience includes work with the STRIVE program of Portland, ME, where he serves as an Advisory Council member, helping to guide program direction and community outreach efforts; and Club Chameleon, a wilderness therapy program for community youth ages 10 to 16 based in Newmarket, New Hampshire where he consults staff members on fund-raising efforts and program development.