Susan J. Oliver: Adjunct Counsel, Ter Molen Watkins & Brandt

The Adjunct Counsel Program is a new initiative at Ter Molen Watkins & Brandt. We currently are adding several adjunct, or of counsel, members to the firm, with the aim of helping our clients with services that we do not make a point of incorporating in our normal ongoing client relationships, often because they may not be part of the expertise of our existing staff.

From the perspective of TW&B, the rationale for this program is:
* To add to the firm’s stable of trusted professionals with expertise in special areas of service on behalf of our clients
* To assure availability of trusted colleagues should the need arise for conventional assistance with the firm’s clients
* To help develop a more extensive and dependable network of client referrals for the firm
* To indicate to the public a larger, more diverse and more imposing scale of TW&B activity

Susan J. Oliver , Adjunct Counsel

Susan Oliver’s professional interests center on the business of not-for-profits. With more and more 501(c)(3)’s competing for mind share and market share every year, how does a not-for-profit build a meaningful brand that serves and matters to all its targeted constituencies? How can organizations structure a portfolio of mission-advancing services that is financially viable and competitive? What messages reach and motivate target audiences?

A business-trained not-for-profit leader, business strategist, and marketer with a record of results, Susan brings thirty years of management and marketing experience to her consulting practice. She has served as the CEO and chief marketing officer of both a not-for-profit and small businesses, and she has held senior development and marketing positions in several not-for-profits.

Susan’s most recent work includes seven years as Executive Director of Playing for Keeps, a national not-for-profit organization that she has successfully merged into the Association of Children’s Museums in Washington, D.C. Susan developed partnerships with Target, Rice Krispies, the specialty toy retailing industry, and other toy companies to use as channels for getting information about play to parents and educators. Other experience includes management of marketing, business development, and philanthropic development at the National Lekotek Center, where she increased philanthropic revenues by 50% and worked closely with leading toy manufacturers to produce line extensions of popular brands to reflect characters with disabilities; and at Family Support America, where she quadrupled annual revenues in less than five years. She has been General Manager of a niche direct marketing agency; adjunct Professor of Marketing at DePaul University; Associate Director of Annual Giving at Boston University; and Admissions Officer at Harvard College.

Susan is a member of the Playing for Keeps Board of Directors; a past president of Women in Direct Marketing International (Chicago Chapter); and a past president of the Radcliffe Club of Chicago. She holds the B.A. degree from Harvard University and the M.B.A. degree from Boston University.

soliver@twbfundraising.com

Next: Angela McCareins, Adjunct Council