Meagan Niese is the Development Director and Chief Operating Officer for the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County. She has been in nonprofit fundraising leadership for more than 15 years and is a Certified Fundraising Executive. Meagan co-facilitates the IPA Peer Development Group as well as a local development professional group. She also serves on the Indiana Philanthropy Alliance's Public Policy Committee. Prior to joining the Community Foundation she was the Development Director for the Monroe County Habitat for Humanity affiliate, a nationally recognized Affiliate of Distinction since 2010, and was responsible for fundraising, marketing, and communications. She and her husband Joel have called Bloomington home for the last 20 years, where they live with their three young children. 

Rebecca Gilliam began serving as the Executive Director of the Wayne County Foundation at the end of 2019.  She grew up in Richmond, Indiana, and attended Indiana University, completing a BS in Biology. She continued her education at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, earning a Master’s Degree in Education with a focus in Marketing and Environmental Science. Rebecca began her professional career working in the museum field. Before taking the role at the Foundation, she served the Muncie and Delaware County community as Vice President - Visitor Experiences at Minnetrista - leading a team of professionals that created dynamic natural and cultural experiences for the East Central Indiana region. In 2023, Rebecca was selected as a Mitch Daniels Leadership Fellow, which enabled her to connect with thought leaders across the state. At the Foundation, she is excited to help individuals and families create a philanthropic legacy, provide community development leadership, and support nonprofit organizations through grantmaking and educational resources.

Emerald Blankenship is the senior vice president at the Community Foundation of Howard County, which serves Howard, Clinton, and Carroll counties. In addition to managing grant and scholarship opportunities, she works with donors to establish endowment funds, connects nonprofits to resources, and oversees the implementation of a leadership and capacity building program for local nonprofit organizations. Blankenship previously worked in higher education and as an advocate for quality healthcare in underserved areas. She received her bachelor's degree in marketing and international business from Saint Mary's College and holds an MBA in nonprofit leadership and management from Liberty University. She resides in Kokomo.

Eric Hessel started working with the Community Foundation in 2003 as a youth grantmaker and has since worked in both the direct service and funding areas of nonprofits. Prior to joining HCCF full time, Eric worked in youth programming and with the US Census Bureau, in addition to building relationships in the local community that assist in strategic and effective grantmaking decisions. Eric grew up in Pittsboro and currently lives in Carmel, IN with his partner and dog.

Linda is the President & CEO of the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana. Linda has nineteen years of experience in the community foundation field. Before joining CFSI, her nonprofit work experience included serving as the Vice President of Development & Stewardship for the Community Foundation of Louisville, Vice President of Gift and Trust Administration for the Presbyterian Church (USA) Foundation, and Director of the Samuel L. Greenebaum Public Service Program at the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville.  She is a former litigation attorney with the Louisville law firm of Frost Brown Todd. She received her B.S. from the University of Kentucky and J.D. from the Vanderbilt University School of Law.

 
Linda currently serves on the boards of the Indiana Philanthropy Alliance (Chair), the Louisville, Kentucky-based Center for Nonprofit Excellence, and the Governing Board of Align Southern Indiana. She is a member and past president of the Southern Indiana Estate Planning Council, the Kentuckiana Partnership for Philanthropic Planning and the Fund Raising Executives of Metro Louisville, and she is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Metro Louisville.