Online registration for this even is now closed. If you would like to attend, e-mail admin@vafre.org to determine availability, or sign up for the virtual program.

Join VAFRE on the afternoon of May 2nd as we honor our 2023 Nina Abady and Rising Star Award winners during a reception at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.

(For sponsor and group registrations, click here.)

This year's honorees are:

• Nina Abady Honoree Brian Thomas (pictured below at left)
• Rising Star Honoree Elizabeth Mason (pictured below at right)

Brian Thomas joined the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) Foundation staff in 2009 as Senior Executive Director of Development and was promoted to Vice President and Chief Development Officer in 2015.  Before joining the MCV Foundation, Brian was the Vice President for the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Engineering Foundation. Brian has more than 39 years of fundraising experience and has served in leadership positions in national organizations, including the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the American Bar Association Section for Institutional Advancement.   In 2020, Brian received the CASE District III Distinguished Service Award and was inducted into the CASE Laureates community. Brian has served as president of the Virginia Gift Planning Council since 2021.  During his career, Brian has worked for Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, Stetson University College of Law and Vanderbilt University.  Brian earned his M.B.A. from the University of Richmond and his B.A. in economics from Hampden-Sydney College. As Vice President and Chief Development Officer for the MCV Foundation, Brian works with donors to secure principal, major, and planned gifts for the benefit of the MCV Campus, including five health sciences schools, Massey Cancer Center, VCU Hospitals and other centers and programs.

Elizabeth Mason is the Director of Development at St. Joseph’s Villa, where she has been since 2016. A native of Richmond, Elizabeth is passionate about serving our community, and loves being able to affect change by connecting community members and leaders with the real needs of our neighbors. Elizabeth has been involved with other local organizations including St. Andrew’s School, the Virginia Home for Boys and Girls, Fellowship of Christians in Universities and Schools (FOCUS), and the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. She currently serves on the VAFRE Board of Directors and is a member of Leadership Metro Richmond’s class of 2023. Elizabeth graduated from Collegiate School and Sewanee: The University of the South.  

Our Program

Join us as we welcome Valerie Cassel Oliver (pictured at left) the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts as our keynote speaker.

Prior to her position at the VMFA, Cassel Oliver was Senior Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Over the past two decades, she has organized numerous exhibitions including the acclaimed Double Consciousness: Black Conceptual Art Since 1970 (2005); Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art (2012) and major exhibition surveys for Donald Moffett; Benjamin Patterson, Jennie C. Jones, Angel Otero and Annabeth Rosen.  Her debut at the VMFA was the celebrated retrospective, Howardena Pindell: What Remains to be Seen, co organized with Naomi Beckwith (2018). In 2021, she mounted the groundbreaking exhibition, The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture and the Sonic Impulse (2021) that toured nationally.  She is currently organizing the exhibition, Dawoud Bey: Elegy that celebrates the artist’s meditation on the landscape of history. Opening in November, 2023, the exhibition will feature newly commissioned work of Richmond’s Historic Slave Trail.

Cassel Oliver is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards including a fellowship from the Center of Curatorial Leadership (2009); the High Museum of Art’s David C. Driskell Award (2011); and the James A. Porter Book Award from Howard University (2018). In 2022, she was presented with the Alain Locke International Arts Award, Detroit Institute of Art; the College Arts Association’s Excellence in Diversity Award; the Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College; and the Brandywine Workshop and Archives’ Lifetime Achievement Award. She holds an Executive MBA from Columbia University, New York; an M.A. in Art History from Howard University in Washington, D.C. and, a B.S. in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin.

OUR SCHEDULE

• 3:00 p.m. Registration Begins
• 3:30 p.m. Welcome
• 3:35 p.m. Welcoming Remarks by Jamie O. Bosket, President & CEO of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture (pictured at right)
• 3:50 p.m. Presentation by Valerie Cassel Oliver
• 4:10 p.m. Awards Presentation
• 4:50 p.m. Conclude Presentation/Toast/Networking
  
• 5:30 p.m. Adjourn
  

Cost to attend

• $35 for Members (no additional fee for Season Pass holders, $20 for Virtual Season Pass holders)
• $40 for Member Organizations
• $45 for Nonmembers
• For sponsor and group registrations, click here.
• Virtual registration is available at no fee.

SUPPORT OUR COMMUNITY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

To ensure that VAFRE membership is accessible to, and truly reflective of, Richmond's diverse fundraising community, we are offering scholarships so that individuals may join VAFRE regardless of their financial ability or the financial ability of the nonprofits for which they work. If you would like to make a gift of any size to support scholarships for VAFRE memberships, please select the "Make a donation" button when you register for this event, and we will gratefully apply your donation to the Susan Early Scholarship Fund*.  

Questions?

Contact VAFRE Administrator Mary Kidd at (804) 368-3398 or by e-mail to admin@vafre.org.

*This donation is not tax deductible.