President, GivingSMITH

Judith A. Smith, MA, CFRE, President of GivingSMITH, has been involved in planned giving since she helped the Springfield (MO) Symphony, as its Executive Director, begin an endowment. Two years later, her alma mater Missouri State University hired her as its second Director of Planned Giving. In her 18-year career there she ended up heading the Office of Development and Alumni Relations. She spent 10 years in St. Louis as ED of Optimist International Foundation and as a consultant. Now in Arizona, having concluded a five-year stint for Arizona Community Foundation as Senior Director of Planned Giving, Judi has returned to consulting.

Helping organizations assure sustainability through endowment is Judi's passion. An excellent teacher and presenter, she directed the Arizona Endowment Building Institute, and has presented for AFP's international conference and various AFP chapters, planned giving councils around the country, civic clubs and churches, as well as APRA, CASE, Wyoming Community Foundation, National Hemophilia Foundation, Arizona Foundation for Women, Bloomerang, and Board Builders. She is immediate past president of the Planned Giving Round Table of Arizona and a past president of the St. Louis Planned Giving Council.