Building Blocks Speakers
Keynote & Closing Speaker:
Cherian Koshy is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) and Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP), is a distinguished innovator and strategist. Renowned for leveraging technology to redefine fundraising and operational efficiency, his approach marries ethical considerations with cutting-edge digital tools. Cherian’s insights, shared through keynotes, workshops, and publications, empower leaders to navigate and thrive in the evolving sector. He is a member of the global board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the recipient of the 2022 Governor's Volunteer Award for his work as chair of Volunteer Iowa. His NonprotOS, an AI-driven platform was acquired by Kindsight where he is now a Vice President. His commitment to ethical innovation drives significant, impactful change, positioning him as pivotal in advancing social impact excellence globally.
Main Session Speaker:
Michael P. Geis, CFRE, FAHP, FCEP Founder and President, The Geis Group | Omaha, Nebraska
Michael Geis has devoted more than 50 years to advancing philanthropy through nonprofit leadership, capacity building, and relationship-centered fundraising. Throughout his career, he has spearheaded fundraising initiatives generating more than $750 million and served a diverse national clientele through development assessments, feasibility studies, capital campaigns, nontraditional funding strategies, and organizational advancement.
Michael is widely recognized for his ability to identify the individuals most closely connected to an organization’s mission and to translate that affinity into meaningful philanthropic relationships. His pioneering work integrating donor affinity with wealth intelligence culminated in Assay™, The Geis Group’s proprietary approach to helping nonprofits identify, prioritize, and engage their most promising prospects.
A specialist in transformational fundraising, Michael is also an authority on structuring blended gifts that combine current and future gift components. He is the author of the Further Faster series, which provides practical frameworks for relationship-centered major and legacy giving.
Michael received the J. Robert Sandberg Award for noble and distinctive service to the planned giving profession. He has also earned the nationally respected distinctions of Fellow of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy and Fellow in Charitable Estate Planning.
Breakout Speaker:
Chris McGurn serves as Director of PNC's Planned Giving Solutions group, where he ensures the consistent delivery of investment advice, administration, and education to PNC's institutional clients. His team specializes in life-income gift administration and the investments behind charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, and pooled income funds.
Chris earned his CAP® designation in 2024. He currently serves as a board member of the Northeast Florida Planned Giving Council and as chair of the Board Management Committee for the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners (NACGP). He previously served on the NACGP board from 2015 to 2018, including a term as its chair in 2018.
A graduate of Towson University, Chris holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with concentrations in finance, marketing, and management. He began his planned giving career with Mercantile Bank & Trust in 1992, and in 2000 became Director of Gift Planning at Catholic Charities of Baltimore, where he secured a significant number of gift annuities and grew membership in the organization's planned gift recognition society. He returned to Mercantile in 2003 and joined PNC Bank following its acquisition of Mercantile in 2007.
Breakout Speaker:
Kevin Conley, JD, CPA, is Associate Professor of Business & Economics at Baker University, where he teaches business law, economics, and related courses while serving as a pre-law advisor. An attorney and Certified Public Accountant, Conley holds a B.A. from the University of Northern Iowa and a J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law. His professional expertise spans business, law, and higher education, helping prepare students for careers in business, law, and leadership.
Breakout Speaker:
Joe Growney is a partner at Lathrop GPM LLP, where he concentrates his practice in all areas of estate planning — from preparing basic and complex estate planning documents to implementing sophisticated planning techniques. He advises high-net-worth individuals and closely held businesses on business succession and tax planning, including the formation of corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies and the structuring of corporate reorganizations and recapitalizations. His work also spans life insurance planning, charitable planning, and estate planning with retirement benefits, with a focus on closely held and family businesses, private client services, and trust and estate litigation.
Joe earned his J.D. with distinction from the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law (2004) and graduated as valedictorian from Rockhurst University (2001). He is admitted to practice in Kansas and Missouri, has been selected among The Best Lawyers in America® (2025–2026), and is recognized in the Chambers High Net Worth Guide as a "Leading Practitioner of Private Wealth Law" (2024–2026).
Active in the profession and community, Joe is a past president of both Mid-America Charitable Gift Planners (2022) and the Estate Planning Society of Kansas City (2018–2019), and serves on the board of the Kansas City Estate Planning Symposium. He is also a member of the Missouri Bar, the Kansas Bar Association, and the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association.
Panelists:
Molly Nail with Chinnery Evans & Nail, P.C. has practiced with the firm since 1999. This longevity has allowed her to counsel many clients with equal doses of humor, humility, and straightforward, no-nonsense advice. She especially enjoys hearing clients say, “Well that wasn’t so bad!” after initial consultations.
She graduated from Vanderbilt University with a bachelor’s degree and received her law degree from the University of Missouri at Columbia. Molly is a member of the Missouri Bar, the Kansas Bar, the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, the Greater Kansas City Estate Planning Society, and the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys. She has been named both a Rising Star and subsequently Super Lawyer by the Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers Magazine and KC Magazine since 2008.
She is active in the legal community, having served on the Trust & Probate Committee of the Missouri Bar and has been an adjunct professor at Avila University in the Paralegal Studies Program. When she is not spending time with her husband and their two sons, Molly gives back to the community by serving as a member of the University Health Foundation Board and as a past president of the Lee’s Summit Rotary Club. She is also a sucker for dogs, international travel, live music and sporting events.
Elizabeth Keever serves as Chief Resource Officer at Harvesters—The Community Food Network, where she leads fundraising, communications, volunteer engagement, food drives, and advocacy efforts. Prior to this role, she was Chief Development Officer at Heartland Community Health Center, and spent nearly a decade at Harvesters’ partner agency Just Food, where as Executive Director she expanded staffing, donations, and organizational capacity, launched major fundraisers, and established key partnerships. Elizabeth began her career in Kansas politics, contributing to the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. She holds a B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Kansas and a Food Systems Leadership Graduate from Iowa State University. A committed community leader, Elizabeth has served on the Lawrence Emergency Planning Committee, the Douglas County Food Policy Council, LiveWell Lawrence/Douglas County, and K-State Research and Extension, and is a graduate of Leadership Lawrence and Leadership Kansas. She has been recognized with the Don Volker Leadership Award and named a KU “Hawk to Watch.” She is currently the Board Treasurer of the Kansas Voter Network.
Jonathan Klem, JD, serves as Senior Vice President and Trust Officer at Midwest Trust, specializing in personal trust and estate administration. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, having joined Midwest Trust in 2024 after serving as manager of trust administration at UMB Bank and manager of estate administration at Country Club Trust Company. His broad background also includes earlier roles at U.S. Bank, DST Systems (now SS&C), Bank One (now Chase), and the Internal Revenue Service.
Jonathan holds a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and is a member of the Wisconsin Bar.
He is active across the region's planned giving and estate planning community as a past president of both the Kansas City Estate Planning Society and Mid-America Charitable Gift Planners, a board member of the Kansas City Estate Planning Symposium, and past co-chair of the MOKAN Trust and Financial Services Conference. He also serves on Children's Mercy Hospital's Donald H. Chisholm Planned Giving Council and Starlight Theatre's Planned Giving Advisory Council, and on the board of Gordon Parks Elementary School.
Daniel W. M. Maitland, Ph.D. received his doctoral degree from Western Michigan University in 2015 and is currently a clinical psychologist and an associate professor of psychology at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. He’s a certified Functional Analytic Psychotherapy trainer and has in the past acted as the director of clinical training at Bowling Green State University. His research focuses on the bi-directional relationship between social connection and mental/physical health.
Moderator: Brian Ellison
As a host and senior news analyst at KCUR, I seek to create a more informed citizenry and richer community. I want to enlighten and inspire our audience by delivering the information they need with accuracy and urgency, clarifying what’s complicated and teasing out the complexities of what seems simple. I work to craft conversations that reveal realities in our midst and model civil discourse in a divided world.
Having studied for careers in both journalism and the ministry, I've served as a Presbyterian minister in Kansas City since 1999 and part-time in KCUR's newsroom and talk show studios since 2008. I'm a frequent substitute host of KCUR's Up to Date and Kansas City Today podcast, an occasional newscaster, and election night anchor. My work includes appearing regularly on Kansas City PBS's Week in Review and KMBC's Heart of the Matter. I continue to preach, teach and organize as executive director of a national non-profit organization.
