2022 40 Under 40 Winners

Under Adam’s leadership, the Dayton Children’s Hospital Foundation’s digital fundraising has increased tenfold.

During the pandemic, Adam led the conversion of one of Dayton Children’s longtime in-person events to a virtual format, raising over $80,000, which was one of the event’s best-performing years.

He has been a regular presenter at the AHP International Conference and has had an article published in AHP’s Healthcare Philanthropy journal.

Adam holds both his CFRE credential and a master’s degree in organizational leadership and development.

By accident. My wife is a retail pharmacist and previously a pharmacy manager. While researching different job profiles for pharmacy techs, she found a posting at Dayton Children's for a planned giving officer. Not having any experience with planned giving or healthcare philanthropy but intrigued by the organization and curious to learn more, I took a chance and submitted my resume. I had no expectations but interviewed and eventually became one of two finalists. Although they selected the other candidate, that wasn't the end. Over the next two years, I kept in touch with leadership, and when the opportunity for a major gift officer became available, I was hired and began my new career.

When I first began, it was an opportunity for new challenges and to strike a better work-life balance, having just started our family. I have continued choosing it as my career because I recognize the fundamental role we play in helping create opportunities for kids to achieve their optimal health and thrive. My three children are a daily reminder of this and of how grateful I am for quality pediatric healthcare in our community. They're also my motivation to keep going. I'm proud that philanthropy, the work we do to engage and partner with people, is a real catalyst for the quality outcomes that are delivered. 

A former staff leader once told me that it's critical we do what we say we're going to do, and that someone cares enough to ensure we're held accountable for those commitments. He would say that within the four walls of our office, it was his job to guide me, coach me, and hold the line so I could achieve at a high level and effectively represent the organization. Those conversations were tough sometimes, but they weren't punitive. We had an authentic relationship, built on trust, which helped create a very successful working dynamic. This has always stuck with me. 

People leadership. I have learned, and often been reminded, that people in positions of influence and authority are the ones who have helped me grow in my career and accomplish all I have. Whenever I'm given the opportunity to do the same for others, I take it. Although it's never perfect, I gain the opportunity to develop new relationships, learn something, and share my knowledge and experiences. It provides a platform to understand others - their hopes, fears, dreams, motivations, and ideas. My current role blesses me with an incredible group of individuals who work so well together, and of whom I have the privilege to lead and learn from. 

Know that you belong. When I first started, I was intimidated by all the wildly intelligent clinicians and healthcare professionals that were involved in life-changing and lifesaving work. I would ask myself how I could even hold a candle to all they were doing. Then I was at a presentation and heard our profession characterized in a whole new way. We are "healthcare executives," and we are responsible for securing charitable investment that makes the work of our organization, and all those really smart people, possible. This changed the way I see myself as a professional, how I see my work, and how I see all those who call healthcare philanthropy a career.