The Spitzberg Advisors Team

Ed Spitzberg, Founder + Principal

Ed is a nonprofit executive, fundraiser and strategic advisor with over two decades’ experience in nonprofit leadership.

Spitzberg Advisors, a strategic advisory firm serving nonprofit organizations and leaders, brings a team of experts to draw upon for each project, which include leadership advisory and coaching, board development, transition planning, fundraising planning, program development, retreat facilitation, and strategic planning, with a particular expertise in youth development and the arts.

Spitzberg Advisors’ engagements have included creating a business plan for a national arts education program; restructuring the DC Youth Orchestra Program’s fundraising processes to increase its capacity; leading a strategic retreats for organizations including the Voter Participation Center, Kid Power, The Capitol Hearings, and the Yale Alumni Nonprofit Alliance; serving as interim executive director for the DC Youth Orchestra Program, U.S.-Japan Bridging Foundation and BEST Kids.; and working with the Minister of Education of Aruba to plan an island-wide afterschool program.

Ed provides leadership advisory sessions, called “Soundboarding,” to board members and senior leaders at organizations including Dance Institute of Washington. Spitzberg Advisors’ clients range from new organizations to organizations that have served the community for decades; with budgets from $100,000 to funders with endowments in the billions.

Ed served as Executive Director of nonprofit organizations including the multidisciplinary arts education program Sitar Arts Center, serving young people from low-income families and winning the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities' National Arts and Humanities Youth Program award under his tenure. Ed was also a senior development executive for Arena Stage, a Tony Award-winning regional theater, and the Afterschool Alliance, the national voice for the afterschool field. Ed is on the steering committee of the Interim Executive Network and the advisory board of the Innovation Collaborative.

Prior to his nonprofit career, Ed worked in the corporate arena, including senior product management positions at the Walt Disney Company and an internet start-up, Comedy World.

Ed has an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA, where he serves on the Alumni Board of Directors; and a BA in Ethics, Politics and Economics from Yale University, where he serves on the board of the Yale Alumni Nonprofit Alliance.

Margaret Acquaviva Bell

**Margaret Acquaviva Bell,** also **Principal with Bell Associates**, is a versatile professional with over **twenty-five years’ experience** consulting to **mission-driven organizations**, working in education management, and with businesses that serve non-profits. She is a skilled manager, experienced in engaging multiple stakeholders to achieve organizational goals. She has a multidisciplinary business background complemented by outstanding communication skills. Margaret has a strong understanding of how to leverage technology to improve operations and outreach.
Margaret works alongside nonprofit and education partners in the areas of strategic planning and decision-making, project planning and management, business process redesign, change enablement, communication program design and management, and technology planning.
Margaret is an honors graduate of **Georgetown University** in Washington, D.C. with a degree in Marketing and English and is a **Prosci-certified Change Management Practitioner**. She is a native Washingtonian and lives with her family in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Bianca Beckham image — Bianca Beckham

Bianca brings more than **20 years of fundraising experience in the arts** to Spitzberg Advisors from working with some of the DC area's premier arts and cultural establishments including the **Folger Shakespeare Library, Arena Stage, Strathmore**, and currently **Director of Development at Studio Theatre.**
As the **vice president of development at Strathmore**, Bianca led a five-person development team responsible for raising $5M annually in both annual fund and capital contributions. With a demonstrated ability to manage and support a comprehensive fundraising effort, Bianca guided her team to achieve successful results in year-end appeals, special event and fundraising galas, and a re-launched planned giving program. A strong proponent of donor engagement, Bianca has a record of leading the development and implementation of strategies that have successfully grown Strathmore’s membership contributions by 24%.
As the **primary gift officer leading Strathmore’s major gifts program,** Bianca has designed and implemented effective cultivation and solicitation strategies that have led to the acquisition of seven-figure capital gifts from individuals; annual and multi-year corporate sponsorship support; and six-figure annual gifts from private foundations.
Serving in an upper-level leadership capacity, Bianca has successfully collaborated with high-level board members and volunteers to raise revenue. A skilled writer, Bianca has served as the primary liaison for government relations, at both the national and local level, where her efforts have resulted in regular bonus awards and competitive advancement grants, in addition to earning critical, six-figure annual grant awards.
A native Chicagoan, Bianca is a graduate of both **Carnegie Mellon** and **American Universities**. She remains in the local Washington, D.C. area with her husband and three daughters.

Amy DeLouise image — Amy DeLouise

Amy DeLouise has more than **20 years experience in cause marketing, branding, and nonprofit governance**. An experienced speaker, retreat facilitator and workshop leader, Amy also produces and directs mission-driven video content for such organizations as **Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts**, **Children’s National Medical Center,** and the **Jewish Federations of North America.**
She is the author of *The Producer’s Playbook: Real People on Camera* (Routledge), a resource being used in more than 50 college film and communications programs worldwide. With her down-to-earth style and finger on the pulse of trends in communications and marketing, Amy is a **popular keynote speaker at conferences** **around the world**, including the **National Association of Independent Schools** (NAIS), the **National Association of Broadcasters** (NAB), **Government Video Expo, NAB Shanghai, IABM London**, and the Interagency Visual Media Group (IVMG). Recent favorite projects include helping design a national conference for a major international charity, developing multiple outreach videos for an issue advocacy organization, and leading a successful board retreat for an independent girls' school. An avid musician, Amy performs five charity concerts a year as co-principal violinist of the **NIH Philharmonia** and also sings with the *a cappella* women's octet *Venus d Minor.* Amy has a degree in English Literature from **Yale University**. She and her husband have two boys.

Paul W. Ruppert

Over the past 27 years, Paul W. Ruppert has launched a number of successful community-driven spaces in the arts, humanities and hospitality industries. Paul began his career leading a nonprofit organization, spending several years in New York City as Director of the American Irish Historical Society. Upon returning to Washington in 2001, he developed and led the Warehouse Theater, Gallery & Café, a center for independent artists. In 2014, Paul founded Upshur Street Books, Washington's first independent, new bookstore in over 20 years and one that received national recognition as a favorite of the then First Family.

Paul is also a successful restaurateur, with a particular skill of creating community gathering spaces. In 2009 he launched Room 11, a wine bar in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, and The Passenger, a downtown neighborhood bar. In 2010 he opened the Columbia Room, a reservation-only cocktail bar that has been selected as one of America’s best bars. In 2012 he expanded Room 11 into an adjoining space and opened Hogo, a tiki-influenced rum bar. In 2013 he opened Petworth Citizen, a neighborhood bar in the Petworth neighborhood. In 2014 he opened Crane & Turtle, a chef-driven, neighborhood restaurant with French and Japanese influences. Paul's latest project, Slim's Diner, a traditional, neighborhood diner also in Petworth, opened in June, 2016. Paul has an MA in Irish Studies from Catholic University and lives in Washington, D.C. with his family.

Kristen Zory King

A **writer**, **teaching artist**, yoga instructor, **creative consultant**, and **nonprofit administrator** based in Washington, DC.
An advocate for the intersections between creativity, community, and wellness, Kris has **led programming**, **operations**, and **fundraising efforts** at culture institutions across the United States and brings her diverse functional experience with nonprofit organizations to support Spitzberg Advisors' engagements and clients in a variety of capacities.
Kris is a **six time recipient** of the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities Fellowship, a 2023 **"Create and Thrive"** Teaching Artist, a **2022 Nancy Ludmerer Flash Fiction Fellow**, a **2021 Humanities Fellow** with Many Languages One Voice, and an alum of the **5th Woman Fellowship** in Knoxville, TN and the **202Creates** Residency Program in Washington, DC, where she has also served as a mentor. Learn more.

Kendall Ladd image — Kendall Ladd

Kendall Ladd is a life-long champion for arts education, **an illustrator, and a development professional.** She has worked in the nonprofit field for many years using her **fundraising skills** to bring needed resources to children and youth served by community nonprofits, with a focus on arts and arts education. Kendall has extensive **grant-writing experience with government, foundation, and corporate sector programs**. She has worked at **Sitar Arts Center, Art Works Now**, and the **D.C. Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative** in development, and at the **D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities** in funding. These positions have provided her with experience on both sides of the funding process, as the grant writer and the grant maker. Additionally, she provides prospect research and grant writing consultation to individual artists and organizations close to her heart. Kendall is proud alumna of the Arts Management program at **American University.**