Our Team
We pride ourselves on working as a team in synergy – leveraging each other's strengths to produce more significant results than can be accomplished alone.
Phil George
Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer
Phil is a senior advisor to higher education presidents and advancement leaders on ambitious campaigns, transformational philanthropy, and principal and major gifts. A campaign strategist at his core, Phil helps lead institutions through campaign planning and execution, bringing together the strategy, structure, leadership, teams, and donor relationships required to pursue consequential philanthropic goals. He works closely with presidents and advancement leaders to build and align high-performing teams and partners across campus, translate institutional priorities into compelling philanthropic opportunities, and ensure campaigns are thoughtfully structured, paced, and positioned for success. Having personally secured major and principal gifts throughout his career, Phil also advises on strategies for an institution’s highest-capacity donors and prepares leaders for the conversations that can lead to transformational support. He brings a highly practical, relationship-driven approach to complex campaigns, helping institutions align ambitious ideas with the people and resources capable of bringing them to life.
phil@georgephilanthropy.com • Connect on LinkedIn
Meg George
Co-founder & President
Meg George is a nationally recognized speaker and thought leader on campaigns, major and principal giving, and the evolving landscape of philanthropy. As a strategist, she advises higher education and nonprofit leaders on campaign planning and readiness, philanthropic vision, leadership alignment, and building major gift programs capable of securing significant support. Meg works closely with presidents, advancement leaders, deans, boards, and development teams to identify the ideas with the greatest philanthropic potential and create the institutional conditions, strategies, and relationships necessary to advance them. Beyond her client work, Meg is an active leader with The Giving Institute and a national speaker on philanthropy, generational giving, and the future of generosity. Her broader thought leadership explores women’s growing influence on philanthropy, family and next-generation generosity, and the ways institutions can inspire deeper investment. She is the author of the children’s book What’s Philanthropy to Philomena? and contributes to national conversations about generosity through writing, podcasts, conferences, and media, including appearances on CBS Mornings.
Samantha Harmon
Vice President of Operations & Client Relations
Sam comes with over a decade of experience in higher education and higher education adjacent advancement operations. She has served in a variety of roles overseeing and executing annual giving, alumni engagement and individual major gift operations. Her focus on development in education stems from donor-centric experiences in these fields, including many years in the NYC and central New York markets, and most recently within the Washington, DC market. With a fondness for organizational development leadership and relationship building, Sam excels at building trust with teams and guiding strategic best practices on advancement operations, individual and annual giving, as well as alumni engagement and volunteer management.
sam@georgephilanthropy.com • Connect on LinkedIn
Nicole Cicoria
Lead Consultant & Philanthropy Advisor
Nicole brings more than two decades of experience in the education nonprofit space, having served ten-years as a lead member of an Advancement team. With an expertise in visioning, she has helped lead organizations through successful strategic planning processes, and thereafter, the execution of institutional plans. As such, she brings keen sensibilities for the development of cases for support, and highly effective written and verbal communication to prospects and donors. Nicole is most passionate about helping to shape a powerful framework for a high-impact, relationship-based philanthropic strategies at organizations. As a natural people-person and a forever optimist, she commits herself to partnering with clients to articulate visions as funding priorities to make them a reality, and believes deeply in the positive impact this has on all communities.
nicole@georgephilanthropy.com • Connect on LinkedIn
Rodney M. Grabowski
Of Counsel
Rod is a nationally recognized leader in higher education advancement. He is known for building and leading teams with a forward-thinking approach to strategy, data, and innovation in philanthropy. For more than three decades, Rod has led and advanced some of the field’s most ambitious campaigns that have surpassed the $1 billion mark at institutions including the University at Buffalo, the University of Cincinnati, the University of South Florida, and the University of Central Florida. In his role with George Philanthropy Group, Rod serves as a trusted advisor and thought partner, bringing deep experience from complex campaigns to help shape the firm’s strategy, priorities, and relationships across the field
Connect on LinkedIn
Erin Lore
Director of Strategic Initiatives
Erin brings extensive experience in business strategy, marketing, strategic partnerships, and organizational growth to GPG in order to advance research and thought leadership initiatives. Her focus areas include the firm’s work examining women and philanthropy, and supporting strategic projects that expand GPG’s ideas, partnerships, and reach. Prior to joining GPG, Erin held senior roles with IBM and Kyndryl focused on business growth, strategic alliances, and client engagement. She brings a cross-sector perspective to GPG’s work and a particular interest in how research, relationships, and ideas can influence meaningful change.
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Caitlin Griffin
Advancement Services Specialist
Caitlin’s expertise in advancement services spans two decades and includes experience across nonprofit sectors. Possessing in-depth knowledge of development operations and donor services, coupled with a high level of proficiency with database implementation and organization, Caitlin helps organizations build the infrastructure necessary to grow and sustain a successful major gifts program. She is most passionate about helping organizations transform their database systems to increase effectiveness and efficiency, offering clients personalized training and education to help them maximize the potential of their database. Her work equips development operations with protocols, processes, and templates that align with industry best practices for sustainable and measurable success.
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Shelby Riedl
Client Coordinator & Assistant
Shelby helps to ensure the firm’s client engagements and day-to-day operations run smoothly and efficiently. She coordinates scheduling, meetings, communications, and project logistics, serving as a key point of contact for clients and the GPG team. Shelby brings an organized, responsive approach to managing the many details that keep GPG’s work moving forward across all fronts.