For Duane Dyer, it was an easy transition from successful entrepreneur and nonprofit leader to senior fundraising counselor. All require strong management skills, vision, solid communications and diverse expertise.

"Those experiences are clearly connected," he says. "They all point toward building the organization from the inside so its leaders can present themselves to their community with credibly and respect. Strong vision and strong leadership are critical to fundraising, as they are to an organization’s overall success. At the same time, I believe there is a difference between fundraising and philanthropy – and focus on the latter. Love of human kind is what philanthropy means – and what it accomplishes."

As an Exeutive Vice President for Hartsook Companies, Inc., Duane provides counsel for clients on the West Coast. He is located in the San Francisco area.

Before joining Hartsook Companies, Duane was President and Founder of TreesAmerica, Inc., a national nonprofit for urban reforestation whose efforts include a $15 million project for Arlington National Cemetery. He also founded Natural Treesource, Inc., a private landscape design/build company developing urban forestry projects.

Earlier in his career he served as Executive Director of Galichia Research Institute, Inc., in Wichita, and as President of the Research Institute of Kansas. He was the first President of the Kansas Health Foundation (then known as the Wesley Foundation), where he oversaw $15 million in development. Early on he served as Vice President for Development at Kansas Wesleyan University, raising more than $3 million. He also started the fundraising program at Wichita Collegiate School and successfully directed an annual-fund and capital campaign that raised more than $6 million.

He has taught seminars and workshops on management, fundraising, planning and organizational development nationwide. Duane received his Master of Theology degree from Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, Calif., and a Bachelor of Arts from Friends University in Wichita. Friends University named him a Distinguished Alumnus in 1988. Duane also has studied at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Wharton School and Duke University.

Duane is a former Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Wichita Collegiate School and a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Wichita Center for the Arts. As well, he has served as a Board member for Grantmakers in Health (New York) and the Health Promotion Advisory Board of the Kaiser Family Foundation in Palo Alto, Calif.