Our Team

Having served hundreds of organizations throughout the United States, the Demont team combines international experience with local knowledge, service, and commitment. The team brings valuable experience and perspective as past managers, directors, board members, and volunteers of not-for-profit organizations throughout the country. Our associates are dedicated to the profession; they are self-motivated with an entrepreneurial spirit and committed to creating a partnership between client personnel, volunteers, and counsel that promotes fundraising success to make a difference in the communities we serve.

Robert D. Demont, CFRE, President

Bob Demont has been a proponent of the highest standards in direction and counsel to philanthropic institutions, their staff, and volunteers since 1979. In addition to managing, directing, and counseling hundreds of clients and helping them raise over $1,200,000,000, he has been a teacher, coach, camp counselor, board member, political campaign manager, international performer, and marketing representative. He formed Demont Associates in 1993 after serving as regional manager and president of the New England Division of Ketchum, Inc., when it was the largest fundraising counseling firm in the world.

Bob has personally chaired six capital campaigns for not-for-profit organizations. He is past president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Northern New England Chapter, was a faculty member of AFP’s First Course and Survey Course, and a guest lecturer at Lesley College. He also has completed the Executive Leadership Institute sponsored by AFP in conjunction with the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy.

Bob is the former Chair of the Board of Visitors of the University of Maine at Machias, President of Yarmouth High School Alumni Association, and President of the Board of Directors of Agawam Council, a private character-based camp serving American youth since 1919. He remains a development committee member and summer camp counselor at Camp Agawam, serves on the Yarmouth High School Alumni Association, and is former chair of his church’s finance committee, choir member, and chair of its endowment campaign for music ministry. Bob has been an active volunteer and class capital campaign chair at his alma mater, Bowdoin College, and also chaired Up with People’s International Alumni Association Founders Campaign. He is also an avid reader, golfer and gardener.

John Lanham, MBA, CFRE, Vice President

After three years working with the international nonprofit organization, Up with People, John Lanham joined Demont Associates in the fall of 2016. As Up with People's Marketing Coordinator, he oversaw operations, logistics, and media outreach in many different countries. While traveling, he interviewed and recruited participants to the program from over 15 nations. John managed partner relations with community sponsors including the International Lions Club, Habitat for Humanity, The University of Arizona, public schools in Eskilstuna, Sweden, and government organizations throughout Mexico. He also expanded upon his passion for the performing arts as the group’s lead male vocalist and vocal instructor.

Following undergraduate work at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, John completed his MBA at the University of Denver focusing on marketing and management. While studying at the University of Denver, John worked directly with the Dean of the Daniels College of Business and the ethics department as the Graduate Assistant for Diversity and Inclusion in order to bridge cultural gaps between foreign and domestic students. He was awarded Business Graduate Student of the Year in the spring of 2016 as a result of his progressive work.

Since joining Demont, John has contributed his professional expertise to organizations such as Camp O-AT-KA, The Timanous Foundation, Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire, Burke Mountain Academy, Pierce Pond Watershed Trust, Scarborough Public Library, Hale Education and Tilton School. John manages Maine- and Massachusetts-based fundraising campaigns ranging from $3,000,000 to $40,000,000, while overseeing daily operations of the company alongside Robert Demont, President, and Joseph Cannon, Managing Director.

John now resides in Portland, ME with his partner Alejandra and their super mutt Francis. He enjoys running, reading, live concerts, and a good movie. John also volunteers as a Big for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Maine.

Caisil Weldon, CFRE, Associate

A graduate of St. Michael's College in Vermont, Caisil Weldon has 16 years’ experience in marketing and fundraising for national and local nonprofits and Vermont businesses. She brings to the Demont team extensive experience in project and donor prospect management, marketing and communications, event planning and implementation, corporate sponsorship management, and campaign and volunteer management.

Caisil has contributed her professional expertise to organizations such as the American Heart Association, UVM Medical Center Foundation/Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, Cabot Creamery Cooperative, Saxon Hill School, and WGDR-Goddard College. She joined Demont in 2015 and has been managing a $6,500,000 campaign for the Mad River Glen Cooperative-Stark Mountain Foundation.

Living in Essex, Vermont with her husband and two sons, Caisil enjoys all that Vermont has to offer: skiing, maple sugaring, gardening, and the occasional obstacle course race and 5K. Caisil also volunteers for the Nordic Soccer Club as a team manager, Essex Town Schools in the classroom, and recently completed a three-year term on the Essex Town School Board.

Joseph Cannon, Managing Director

As Managing Director, Joseph Cannon coordinates with both clients and Demont staff as he manages the firm’s day-to-day operations. With a broad range of experience in fast-paced, detail-oriented positions, he brings a combination of technical know-how and can-do attitude to the office. Prior to joining the Demont team in 2016, Joe was a Network Associate at Professional Disability Associates, a local business where he worked closely with doctors and accreditation staff to assist injured Mainers.

Joe graduated magna cum laude from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he earned his BA in psychology. Both his course of study and his time at Cheverus, Portland’s Jesuit preparatory high school, have instilled in him the value of being a “person for others”—a sentiment exemplified by the nonprofits he now serves. Joe is a lover of the outdoors, and makes frequent excursions to the many wooded trails and scenic beaches that the greater Portland area has to offer. Other interests of his include compelling fiction in all its forms, ornithology, board games, and, most recently, disc golf.

Mari Mattuchio, Bookkeeper

Mari Mattuchio joined Demont Associates in early 2019, with five years' experience in banking and 13 years in accounting. She was a full-charge office manager of a small construction company for eight years before becoming an accountant for a golf course, aligning with Demont's number one pastime of hitting the links. Mari originally hails from Chicago, and moved to Maine in 2003 with her husband Ryan, a Kennebunkport native. She has two beautiful daughters, Matti and Ria.

Mari received her AA from the Community College of the Florida Keys and her BA from the University of Southern Maine. She enjoys volunteering at Wells Elementary School, Girls on the Run, and Dress a Girl. In her free time, she is an avid runner, currently working on her second Ultra Event.

Laura Young, Senior Associate

Laura has over 30 years of extensive professional development, donor engagement, family philanthropy, marketing, and public relations skills. She is experienced as both a funder and a fund raiser. For the past 18 years, she was Vice President of Philanthropy at the Maine Community Foundation, overseeing the statewide organization’s advancement and communications/marketing efforts. She and her team annually brought in $40–$60 million to help strengthen Maine philanthropy.

Laura is a strategic thinker and great listener. In addition to strategizing with philanthropic donors to help them fulfill their charitable goals through Maine Community Foundation, Laura launched campaigns with community volunteers to successfully build permanent county funds throughout the state and provided fund-raising counsel to land trusts and other nonprofit organizations to help them build new organizational endowment funds. Laura was also an active member of the Amelia’s Group, which consisted of vice presidents of philanthropy for the largest community foundations in the nation, to collectively research and discuss best practices in fund raising and donor engagement.

Prior to her time at the Maine Community Foundation, Laura was Senior Vice President at Demont Associates. For nearly 10 years, she provided on-site capital campaign counsel and associate supervision, and was integral to setting the company’s high standards for planning studies, institutional assessments, and capital campaign counsel. Laura’s unique and valuable perspective has developed through her experiences on a wide array of local and national campaigns.

Earlier in Laura’s career, she spent seven years working on campaigns and donor development strategies on a national level in Washington, DC, with senator George Mitchell and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Laura is a graduate and former trustee of Bates College, serves on the board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Maine, and is an active Portland Rotarian. Laura previously served as a Board member for the Center for Grieving Children and the Association of Fundraising Professionals - Northern New England chapter.

Sheri Leahan, Associate

Sheri provides expertise and training in capital campaign procedures and documentation, database assessments, and prospect research and analysis to client staff and Demont campaign directors and associates in addition to administering internal assessments and planning studies. She facilitates the setup of campaign offices and campaign office management training, specifically on gift and acknowledgment procedures, database management, coding and report writing, prospect and foundation research, and campaign communications materials and cultivation events.

Sheri has served as a Demont associate on numerous capital campaigns throughout New England, and as the firm’s marketing coordinator. She has significant institutional leadership and management experience, including being the former Director of the Washburn-Norlands Living History Museum in Livermore, Maine, where she led the organization through a significant time of transition and rebuilding. Previously, she served as Curator of the Senator Margaret Chase Smith Library and Museum in Skowhegan, Maine, and as Director of the Noyes House Museum in Morrisville, Vermont. Sheri has provided development, grant writing, strategic planning, and other marketing and educational services to a variety of museums such as the Skowhegan History House Museum & Research Center (Skowhegan, ME), Rokeby Museum (Ferrisburgh, VT), Southport Historical Society/Henricks Hill Museum (Southport, ME), William Seward House (Auburn, NY), Plymouth Plantation (Plymouth, MA), the New York State Historical Association (Cooperstown, NY), and Maine Historical Society (Portland, ME).

Sheri has served on the Board of Directors for the New England Museum Association and the Maine Archives and Museums Association. She earned an MA in history museum studies through the Cooperstown Graduate Program at the State University of New York College at Oneonta, after attaining a BA in history from the University of Southern Maine.

Sheri lives in the foothills of Western Maine and enjoys frame drumming, camping, letterboxing, and exploring the trails with her husband and dog, a Great Pyrenees mix named Amos.

Lauren Geiger, Senior Associate

Lauren Geiger’s association with Demont Associates spans 14 years and includes assignments with the Keewaydin Foundation (Salisbury, VT), The Mayhew Program (Bristol, NH), The League of NH Craftsmen (Concord, NH), Stowe Community Church (Stowe, VT), The Cathedral Church of St. Paul (Burlington, VT), Keene Family YMCA (Keene, NH), Franklin Medical Center (Greenfield, MA), Thomas Memorial Library (Cape Elizabeth, ME), Vermont Commons School (Burlington, VT), Green Mountain Club (Waterbury, VT), St. John’s in the Mountains Episcopal Church (Stowe, VT), Boys & Girls Club of Burlington (Burlington, Vermont), Ohavi Zedek Synagogue (Burlington, VT), the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust (Brunswick, ME), and Hale Reservation (Westwood, MA). She also worked with Demont Associates while serving as a volunteer for a capital campaign for the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum (St. Johnsbury, VT). During her tenure with the firm and in her previous positions, she has raised over $45 million in campaign, annual, and endowment funds.

Lauren served as Director of Development at Keewaydin Foundation in Salisbury, Vermont from 2014 to 2019. Prior to this, she served as Chief Advancement Officer at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont (2012 to 2014), and as Vice President of Demont Associates’ New England West division (2004-2012). Before joining Demont, she served as Executive Director of Kingdom County Productions in Barnet, Vermont, and as Director of External Relations for the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

While raising her daughter, Lauren served as a freelance writer and public relations consultant to organizations including Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital, Chelsea Green Publishing, Readers’ Digest Books, Scribner’s, Athenaeum Publishing, and The New York Public Library. Before moving to Vermont in 1991, she held public relations roles at organizations such as Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The New York Public Library, Macmillan Publishing Company, and St. Martin’s Press.

Cathy Coffman, Senior Associate

Cathy Coffman has 33 years of institutional advancement and not-for-profit counsel experience. She has worked with a broad range of clients, including social service agencies, environmental and scientific organizations, universities, and independent schools. Although Cathy has served many large institutions, such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, her particular interest is in assisting small to medium not-for-profit entities to improve their fundraising capacity, strengthen organizational leadership, and tell their story more effectively.

Cathy has held positions across the spectrum of not-for-profit advancement and management. She has led annual, capital and planned giving efforts, and her communications positions have ranged from lead public relations officer to publications editor. For 19 years, she served as both Director of Advancement and Chief Financial Officer at Thornton Academy in Saco, Maine, and knows firsthand how staff at small institutions must wear and balance multiple hats. At Thornton Academy, positions held included Campaign Director, Annual Fund Director, Director of Public Affairs, and Alumni Director. In addition, she has experience in the roles of Managing Editor, Publications Editor, Science Writer and Editor, and Evaluation and Data Management Assistant. She also oversaw the building of Thornton’s new Middle School.

A graduate of both Ohio State University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she completed her doctoral coursework, Cathy now lives in Saco. There she has served on local community boards and efforts and enjoys volunteering in the summer at the Fifth Maine Museum.

 

Additional Demont Partners

Thomas W. Smith, CFP ®, Planned Giving Consultant

Tom Smith is a private consultant in planned giving with more than 40 years of development experience, both as a manager, front-line fundraiser, and consultant specializing in major and planned gifts. His private and independent sector work, together with his extensive knowledge of financial planning and tax issues, have resulted in more than $125 million in planned and major gifts at numerous nonprofits throughout the United States.

Mr. Smith was formerly Senior Philanthropic Advisor at The Vermont Community Foundation. His additional experience includes Director of Gift and Estate Planning at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, and various development roles at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. Tom has been a presenter for various groups including NSFRE (AFP), NACUBO, NCPG (CGP) and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Some of his presentations have appeared in print in CASE Currents, The Journal of Gift Planning, and Planned Giving Today. Prior to his career in development, Tom was a language professor on the college level.

Tom has an AB degree from Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, and an MA degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana. In 1986, he received his certified financial planner designation from the College for Financial Planning in Denver, Colorado. He currently resides in Ripton, Vermont.

Craig Freshley, Strategic Planning Consultant and Facilitator

Craig Freshley is a professional speaker, author, and meeting facilitator with an inspiring attitude and a well-earned reputation for helping groups to be efficient, harmonious, and productive. He works with a wide range of clients of all sizes and in all sectors, including many nonprofits for which he has provided strategic counsel and helped to get focused and organized prior to launching a capital campaign.

Craig is the owner of a Good Group Decisions, Inc. and the author of The Wisdom of Group Decisions. He has professionally facilitated over 3,000 meetings, helping groups of all kinds address challenging issues in practical, visionary, and sustainable ways. He has also published hundreds of videos, tips, and handouts on his website on all aspects of group dynamics. Craig understands the value of getting clarity on exactly what an organization seeks to achieve, and why.

Craig has bachelor’s degrees in political science and philosophy from the University of Maine and a master’s degree in public policy and management from the Muskie School for Public Service. He has worked for the Maine State Planning Office and for the Maine Development Foundation. He has extensive experience in public policy development with special expertise in community indicators, environmental policy, downtown revitalization, education policy, and healthcare policy. His research and writings serve as valuable resources for government, nonprofit, corporate, and community leaders.

Learn more about Craig here, including a list of clients and testimonials.

Joel Osgood, Videographer

Joel Osgood is a freelance videographer living in North New Portland, Maine. He graduated from Syracuse University’s New House School of Communications with a BS in television, radio, and film in 2001.

Joel produces web videos, commercials, corporate videos, and live events. He works as a grip and gaffer for multiple local and national production companies such as The History Channel and the National Geographic Channel. Other grip credits include the films See Girl Run, and 48-Hour Film Festival best film winners A Brief Case of Love and Flippy Day. In addition to grip work, he is hired as a camera operator, teleprompter operator, and production coordinator.

Joel is a skier, golfer, and outdoorsman. In the winter he speeds down the slopes and produces ski videos for Sugarloaf Mountain.