Luncheon Keynote: Damion Cooper, Founder/
Executive Director, Project Pneuma

Damion is the Founder and Executive Director of Project Pneuma. Damion uses his startling life’s story of being shot an inch above the heart at point-blank range by one of two gunmen to teach lessons of forgiveness, self-control, discipline and redemption via mentorship. While mentoring a young man in prison during his years in Seminary, he discovered that his mentee was the assailant who shot him years earlier. This inspired him to create Project Pneuma; a holistic program focused on forgiveness and curbing impulse actions in young African American males by teaching them yoga, mindfulness, breathing techniques, and martial arts. Project Pneuma also partners with the Baltimore City Police Department so that the young men and new officers can build bonds of trust, respect and cultural competencies. 

Damion is a graduate of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.  He continued his education at Coppin State University, where he earned a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Business Management with a concentration in Marketing.  He has also attained a Master’s Degree in Theology from the United Baptist College and Seminary. 

Damion is a certified Gang Awareness and Intervention Trainer through the Department of Juvenile Justice and trains with the Warlord’s Academy of Martial Arts. He is a 2014 BME Leadership Award Recipient, 2016 Maryland Out of School Time (MOST) Emerging Leader, 2016 Presidential Volunteer Service Recipient, 2017 Champion of Courage Recipient and 2017 Warnock Foundation Social Innovation Fellow. Damion also served as a featured panelist for a national Civil Rights Initiative with the University of Chicago’s Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture; which is to promote future-oriented and evidence-based approaches to addressing inequalities that impact historically marginalized groups in urban and metropolitan areas.

Morning Keynote: Kathleen Loehr, Senior Consultant, Aspen Leadership Group

Kathleen Loehr is a Senior Consultant at the Aspen Leadership Group.  Her partnership with nonprofit leaders is grounded in thirty years in the nonprofit sector.  She combines nonprofit expertise, fundraising, coaching, and strategy to help individuals and groups navigate change.

Kathleen knows that women are more frequently in the philanthropic driver seat, given the increased money being earned and inherited, and their influence in the household giving.  Kathleen translates the research on how women give into practical action fundraisers can take.  Her book, Gender Matters: A Guide to Growing Women’s Philanthropy, was published by CASE in August 2018.

Kathleen was a C-suite leader of fundraising for the American Red Cross, Save the Children, the International Crisis Group, and key departments at Cornell University.  She is the chair of the Advisory Council for the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.  Kathleen received a BA in Government from Cornell University’s College of Arts and Sciences.