2025 NAAG/NASCO Charities Conference

Abigail Jacobs

Assistant Attorney General at Ohio Office of the Attorney General

Abigail Jacobs joined the Ohio Attorney General's Office in 2012. She began her work in the Charitable Law Section with a focus on civil investigations and enforcement involving charitable trusts and fiduciary duties, gambling, and charitable fundraising. Abby currently focuses her work on nonprofit and hospital transactions and mergers and probate matters and is a leading expert in the section on charitable registration issues and how they intersect with IRS provisions affecting exempt organizations. She leads the section's five-year rule-review process and coordinates all hearings before the Joint Commission on Agency Rule Review on changes to the Ohio Administrative Code. Abby frequently provides training to charitable organizations about board governance and fiduciary duties and also serves as one of the section's public records attorneys. Prior to joining the office, she worked for a large, national charity that provides advocacy and programming for at-risk children.

Art Taylor

President and Chief Executive Officer at Association of Fundraising Professionals

Art Taylor is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). AFP is the professional association of fundraising professionals that advances philanthropy through advocacy, research, and education. The association fosters development and growth of fundraising professionals and promotes high ethical standards in the fundraising profession. Previously, Mr. Taylor served as President and CEO of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance (2001-2024), where he significantly expanded the organization's impact by increasing charity reports from 250 to over 1,400 nationally soliciting organizations. Under his leadership, the Alliance introduced the Accredited Charity Seal, which has garnered more than 1 billion impressions in the public domain, providing donors with a clear indicator of trustworthy organizations. He also launched innovative initiatives including givesafely.io, the first charity donation platform built on blockchain technology, and The Heart of Giving Podcast, ranked first nationwide in the nonprofit genre. Mr. Taylor is a respected voice in the nonprofit sector on charity accountability, transparency, governance, and strategy. He is a co-author of "The Overhead Myth" letters and collaborated with GuideStar and Independent Sector to create ChartingImpact. His "Advancing Collaboration" initiative, which included a partnership with Stanford Social Innovation Review, received the 2018 ASAE Foundation's Innovation Award. As an educator, he has been a Lecturer at Columbia University School of Professional Studies and an Adjunct Faculty Member in the Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy. He has been a featured guest lecturer at Georgetown McDonough School of Business and George Washington University. Prior to his work at BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Mr. Taylor headed the Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America (1990-1999), where he grew the employment and training programs to serve more than two million disadvantaged Americans. Mr. Taylor has been named four times to the Non-Profit Times list of Power and Influence Top 50 and is a member of its Hall of Fame. He serves on numerous boards including Franklin & Marshall College (Senior Vice Chair), Convergence Policy (Chair Elect), and Mobile Giving Foundation (Chair). He holds a BA in Business Administration from Franklin and Marshall College (1980), a JD from Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law, and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Beth Short

Director of Outreach and Education at Ohio Attorney General's Office

Beth Short, who handles outreach and education for the Ohio Attorney General's Charitable Law Section, has spent her career working for and with nonprofit organizations. Her passion for the nonprofit sector is evidenced by her professional and volunteer background working with charities as a staff member, board member, consultant and volunteer for large and small organizations. She brings a background in journalism, legislative and public affairs and training, complemented by a master’s in business that focused on nonprofit management issues. Her work in the Charitable Law Section focuses on the development of strategies aimed at strengthening the nonprofit sector. She is a graduate of the Ohio State University and Ohio University.

Bill Sieck

Section Counsel / Assistant Attorney General at Ohio Attorney General's Office

Bill Sieck is a Principal Assistant Attorney General and Attorney Unit Supervisor in the Office of the Ohio Attorney General's Charitable Law Section. Bill joined the attorney general’s office in June 2018. He works with skilled attorneys, investigators and accountants to protect charitable donors and beneficiaries through investigation and litigation to resolve complaints involving charitable trusts, charitable solicitations, and Ohio's charitable gaming laws. Bill also helps nonprofit leaders focus on providing charitable services that strengthen Ohio's communities by providing training about board governance and fiduciary duties. Prior to joining the attorney general's office, Bill spent nearly two decades in the litigation department of a large law firm in Columbus, where he worked on a wide variety of commercial and business litigation in state and federal courts in Ohio. From 1999-2000, Bill served as a judicial clerk in the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Clark Kellogg

Former Ohio State and NBA basketball star Clark Kellogg has always appreciated the value of the programs and services provided by the charitable sector since he was young. It was part of his DNA growing up which paired with his family’s values grounded in a strong faith commitment. Kellogg, who is a national television basketball announcer who escorts millions of Americans through the thrills of March Madness, has been even more committed and visible in supporting the sector following his pro sports career. Kellogg believes it is critical that Americans who are able identify various ways to support this critical work of charities. He also chairs Columbus Foundation’s board of trustees. He will also discuss how college athletes today can value and support charities through NIL and other approaches.

Gretchen Mote

Director of Loss Prevention at Ohio Bar Liability Insurance Company

Gretchen Mote has also served on the DRI Women’s Sharing Success Seminar planning and marketing committees. She frequently writes for publications for lawyers on ethics and loss prevention topics.

Heather Weigler

Senior Assistant Attorney General at Oregon Office of the Attorney General

Heather Weigler has served as an Assistant Attorney General at the Oregon Department of Justice in the Civil Enforcement Division’s Charitable Activity Section since 2008. She serves on the board of the National Association of State Charities Officials (NASCO) and is past chair of the Oregon State Bar’s Nonprofit Organizations Laws Section.

Jonathan Blanton

First Assistant Attorney General at Ohio Attorney General's Office

First Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Blanton is the senior appointed officer to Attorney General Dave Yost and is responsible for overseeing the legal and investigatory work of the office. Blanton began his career in rural southern Ohio where, after a brief stint in private practice, he spent more than 10 years as the elected prosecuting attorney for Jackson County. In that role, he represented the state of Ohio in cases ranging from speeding violations to aggravated murder and child sex offenses, sometimes within the span of a single day. In 2011, Blanton joined the Attorney General’s Office as director of the office’s then-new Economic Crimes Unit, a group dedicated to assisting local law enforcement with tracking down and prosecuting scammers, bad contractors and criminal telemarketers. He went on to serve as chief of the office’s Consumer Protection Section from 2014 through 2018 and, from 2019 through July 2022, as deputy attorney general for major litigation. In the deputy attorney general role, Blanton directed and led some of the office’s highest-profile civil matters, including litigation against a number of opioid manufacturers and pharmaceutical distributors. In 2021, he was recognized by the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) for his role in securing settlements that will require four companies to pay a combined $26 billion toward the nation’s fight against the opioid epidemic. Since joining the Attorney General’s Office, Blanton has served as a subject-matter expert and trainer for NAAG on a variety of topics, including tactics for maximizing the effectiveness of prescription drug monitoring programs, regulating medical professionals, and developing and litigating claims against pharmaceutical supply-chain participants. He has also served as a faculty member for a number of litigation-focused trainings within the Attorney General’s Office and has presented at multiple law enforcement and legal training events on the state and national levels. Blanton, a graduate of Ohio University and the University of Kentucky College of Law, is admitted to practice in Ohio’s state courts and before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Jonathan Blum

Attorney at Holland & Knight

Jonathan Blum is a nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations attorney in Holland & Knight's Dallas office. Mr. Blum's experience includes assisting nonprofit leaders in managing their legal matters on a broad array of issues affecting charities, foundations, trade and professional associations, advocacy groups, educational organizations and other nonprofit organizations. Mr. Blum recognizes the importance of concentrating on the key issues affecting clients and moving quickly to identify practical legal options in order for clients to stay mission-focused and make informed decisions. Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Blum worked in the nonprofit practice group for a national Am Law 100 firm in Dallas, where he served as counsel and later as shareholder. He also spent nearly seven years serving as in-house counsel for tax-exempt organizations such as a national breast cancer foundation and a private family foundation. In addition, Mr. Blum served as a transactional attorney for an international law firm headquartered in New York City. He previously served as an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law. Mr. Blum is a frequent speaker on best practices in governance, fundraising, tax compliance and current developments for nonprofit organizations. In addition to his law and undergraduate degrees, Mr. Blum has completed course work at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Argentina and Universidad de Carabobo in Venezuela.

Josh Studor

Assistant Attorney General at Washington Attorney General's Office

Josh Studor is NASCO's vice president and an Assistant Attorney General with the Washington State Attorney General Office's Consumer Protection Division where he leads the office's Charitable Asset Protection Team - affectionately called "CAPT." CAPT addresses all things charity for Washington State including compliance with fundraising regulations and laws, ensuring proper board governance, oversight of charitable trusts, and educational outreach to the State's nonprofit sector. He also serves on the AG's internal Ethics Committee where he focuses on legal ethics requirements for the office's affirmative litigation sections. Josh is a litigator who has completed dozens complex criminal and civil trials. He has spent his 15-year career as a public servant: first as a deputy prosecutor in Kootenai County, Idaho and then as a Washington AAG based in the Seattle office. He has always had a heart for the victims of crime, fraud, and deception and has found a home working to protect charities from those who would seek to abuse them.