CURRICULUM VITAE MARK L. HEFTER, JD, CPA, LLM (Taxation) Mark L. Hefter is a Vice President of the American Technion Society (ATS). Mr. Hefter s principal responsibility is to work directly with prospects, donors and their advisors, and with ATS Leadership and Staff on marketing, design, cultivating, soliciting, closing, implementing and stewarding of all types of major gifts and gift plans. He also has responsibility for managing the ATS National and Regional Fundraising Staffs, and the general financial and administrative operations of ATS. Mr. Hefter additionally maintains his long-term role in directing and managing all aspects of ATS s gift planning, gifts of non-cash assets and philanthropic fund programs. Mr. Hefter also acts as internal counsel to the organization, drafting and reviewing complex gift agreements, providing legal advice to all departments, helping set operational policies, procedures and best practices for all aspects of ATS s work, and collaborating with outside counsel on matters in which ATS has a legal interest. Since Mr. Hefter joined the organization, ATS has raised nearly $1 billion in planned and deferred gifts, and over $2 billion in all types of conventional major gifts. Mr. Hefter is also current President of the New York City Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). The New York City Chapter is the founding chapter of AFP. AFP represents nearly 31,000 members in more than 200 chapters throughout the world, working to advance philanthropy through advocacy, research, education, and certification programs. Founded in 1960 as the National Society of Fund Raisers, AFP fosters development and growth of fundraising professionals and promotes high ethical standards in the fundraising profession. The New York City Chapter is a vital and unparalleled source of information and resources for the New York area from workshops and informal networking opportunities to Fundraising Day in New York, the largest one-day conference in the world on philanthropy. Prior to joining ATS in May 1995, Mr. Hefter practiced law for nearly eighteen years in his native Louisiana, New York and California. During the last six years in which he practiced, Mr. Hefter was a member of the management team of a large international law firm. His practice focused exclusively on tax and estate planning and representation of non-profit organizations. In this capacity, Mr. Hefter provided over one thousand donors and several hundred charities with advice concerning major and planned gifts. He also designed and implemented numerous planned giving programs for charitable organizations. Mr. Hefter also represented numerous public charities and private foundations as general
outside counsel. As principal of Creative Philanthropic Strategies, Mr. Hefter provided a wide range of estate, tax and philanthropy consulting and recruiting services to foundations, non-profit organizations and their donors. Mr. Hefter is a graduate of Louisiana State University (with honors) and New York University School of Law. Mr. Hefter also holds a CPA certificate from the State of Louisiana. A frequent author and speaker on planned giving, estate planning, non-profit law and taxation, Mr. Hefter has written articles for the California Tax Lawyer, Louisiana Bar Journal and The Journal of Law and Taxation. He has co-authored or edited guides to non-profit organization governance, charitable giving, and estate planning for professional associations in New York and California. He has provided board and volunteer planned giving, major gifts and related training to over two hundred non-profit agencies and professional councils throughout the United States. Mr. Hefter has also served as adjunct faculty, teaching both substantive courses in law, taxation and accounting as well courses in ethics and professional responsibility at several universities and law schools, including Louisiana State University, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Golden Gate University and McGeorge School of Law (University of the Pacific). Mr. Hefter has also lectured to non-profit management graduate and certificate students at Bay Path College (Springfield, MA), where he has also directed research projects and served on the graduate program advisory committee. Mr. Hefter is a member of the Non-Profit Organizations Committee of the New York State Bar Association. He is a former member of the California State Bar Taxation Section Executive Committee, where he served as chair of the Tax- Exempt Organizations and Estate and Gift Tax Committees. While chairing the former he reported to the House Ways and Means Committee on legislation to add Section 170(f)(8) to the Internal Revenue Code [relating to charities disclosure requirements to donors of certain gifts for which they receive a benefit]. After passage of the legislation in question, Mr. Hefter assisted a cooperative venture of the Internal Revenue Service (Exempt Organizations Section) and the United Way of California in creating a series of educational programs for charitable organizations on corporate responsibility and tax compliance. Upon request, he continues to provide input to the staff of the Senate Finance Committee on legislative issues relating to tax-exempt organizations and the charitable contribution deduction. From 1991-1994, Mr. Hefter was a principal reporter to the American Bar Association Taxation Section on recent developments in tax issues affecting tax-exempt entities and charitable contributions.
Mr. Hefter is an active member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. He serves on the Board of the AFP s Political Action Committee and is a reporting member of the AFP s National Governmental Relations Committee; the committee works directly with federal, state and local legislators, policy-makers, and other charitable sector leaders on legislation of interest to the non-profit community. He remains active in the New York City Chapter of AFP, for which he is a frequent speaker. He serves additionally as a member of the professional education, development, communications (which he formerly served as chair), nominations and government relations committees. He previously served as liaison to the Chapter s educational institutions task force, during which time he successfully led an effort to establish an AFP Student Chapter at Columbia University. He is a member of the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning and the American Society of CPAs as well. Mr. Hefter is also a volunteer to several national and local charitable organizations, including the American Friends of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Windham Foundation, the Metropolitan Opera, Marywood University, and the Louisiana State University Foundation, where he served as co-chair of the campaign cabinet.