SUSAN KLEINMAN
Founder and CEO

Susan has over two decades of experience in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. As a consultant, Susan helps nonprofit clients to strengthen their foundation, corporate, and government fundraising efforts. Before launching Susan Kleinman Wallis Consulting in 2011, Susan spent five years at Team-Up for Youth (now CoachingCorps), where she served as Senior Program Officer and as Program Director for Evaluation and Policy. Prior to that, Susan spent six years as Coordinator of The San Francisco Foundation's Koshland Civic Unity Program, where she was responsible for grant making as well as providing technical assistance to grantees in fundraising, program development, and strategic planning. Susan received a Master's Degree in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley and a B.A. in Women's Studies from Wesleyan University.

PATRICIA BENTSON
Senior Vice President

Pat has worked in fundraising, communications, and community relations in the nonprofit sector for more than 20 years. Previously, Pat served as Director of Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, an international nonprofit at the heart of the ​art/science  community of artists, scientists, educators, and theorists. Her roles encompassed nonprofit management, strategic planning, and financial oversight; communications and fundraising; program development; and serving as Managing Editor of peer-reviewed art/science journals and books published by the MIT Press. Pat holds a B.S. in Journalism with a Photojournalism concentration from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where she also studied Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design.

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Julia Epstein
Senior Associate

Julia has more than 15 years of experience in media relations and fundraising for national public interest legal services organizations and community-based social justice nonprofits. She served as Director of Development & Communications at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, and at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund in Berkeley, CA. Prior to her development career, Julia taught at Haverford College, where she was Barbara Riley Levin Professor of Comparative Literature and chaired the joint Haverford–Bryn Mawr Comparative Literature Program. She holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University and a B.A. from Washington University.

Tiffany Major
Senior Associate

Lynne Larson
Associate

​Tiffany has worked professionally as a grant writer and consultant in academia and nonprofits since 2009. She has interfaced with clients on a wide range of federal, state, corporate, and foundation grants, including National Institutes of Health, Health Resources and Services Administration, and Department of Justice. She has a wide range of pre- and post-award experience, including developing strategic plans, conducting prospect research, conducting evaluations, analyzing program data, and writing proposals and reports. She has also supported clients in developing manuscripts, annual reports, and Institutional Review Board applications. Tiffany earned a Ph.D. at the University of Georgia in Microbiology and a B.S. in Chemistry from Grand Valley State University.

Lynne possesses 20 years’ experience in foundation relations, sponsored research development, and grant writing for top academic research institutions, including Brown University, Vanderbilt University, and The Jackson Laboratory. She specializes in proposals to private foundations, as well as to the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health. Highlights during Lynne’s career include successfully securing a $291 million grant from the State of Connecticut for a new research institute on the University of Connecticut Health Center campus. Lynne was managing editor for the 10th and 11th editions of Goodman & Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics — the number-two medical textbook in the U.S. She holds a B.S. in Journalism from Middle Tennessee State University.