The Signatry Team

Stephen (Steve) French is President and CEO of The Signatry. His primary role is strategic management and leadership of the office. He also devotes his time meeting with advisors, attorneys, individuals, and business owners to develop strategies and solutions to minimize tax liability, while maximizing charitable giving. This is executed with specific emphasis in the area of non-liquid assets such as: stock, real estate, mutual funds, and portions of closely held businesses.

Prior to joining The Signatry, Steve was the founder and CEO of Quovant, a Legal Spend Management company working with law firms in over 13 countries.

Steve is married to his wife Debbie and they have two daughters – Marnie and Rachel, who have blessed them with four grandsons.

Mark Klinger is the Chief Financial Officer for The Signatry.  He manages the daily finance and accounting operations for the foundation and supports the development of operating budgets and long term strategic financial planning.  Mark has an MBA in Finance with experience in large corporate and start-up businesses.

Dale Armstrong serves as the Chief Revenue Officer of the Signatry. In his role, Dale equips and encourages individuals to pursue a life of biblical generosity through sound principles, creative solutions and charitable strategies. Having spent his career as a business owner and consultant working in faith driven initiatives, Dale is uniquely qualified to come alongside Christian business owners and philanthropists who have a passion for growing the Kingdom of God.

Larry Scott serves as Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Counsel. He has extensive experience with transactional, operational, and tax matters from his legal and accounting career. His focus is on tax and corporate issues of nonliquid asset donations and addressing those issues with donors and their professional advisors. He also provides analysis, planning, and implementation of legal and tax strategies for The Signatry.

Trevor Bunch serves as The Signatry’s Chief Information Officer. He is responsible for coordinating the technical solutions that will enable securely serving donors. Trevor collaborates across The Signatry to streamline processes and elevate data to facilitate decision-making by the Board, key executives, staff, and clients. He is responsible for securing platforms and guiding and expanding the footprint of The Signatry’s services.

Trevor started his career in Enterprise Architecture and IT portfolio management consulting for federal agencies. For the past decade, he pivoted his focus on fusing together technical, operational, and marketing goals for nonprofit organizations. Trevor has served as a field-based CIO for a global nonprofit, set product direction for a nonprofit marketing agency, consults on data strategy, and teaches computer science courses.

Trevor and his wife, Julie, along with their three children live, play, and serve in South Central Pennsylvania.

Jason Yakelis serves as The Signatry’s Chief Operating Officer. Drawing from over two decades of professional experience guiding businesses and nonprofits from idea to implementation, he champions the operational requirements for the foundation’s internal and external customers to successfully engage with its mission. With responsibility for driving decisions around corporate planning, technology, talent recruitment and development, donor care, nonprofit success, investment account management, and administrative support, Jason plays a key role in the activation of The Signatry’s mission.

In addition to his formal role with The Signatry, Jason is a Paterson Guide for StratOp & LifePlan. Through this work, he facilitates organizational, team, and individual development processes, allowing participants to glean new perspectives from their personal or corporate stories, gain clarity on the direction they wish to grow, and commit to living and acting intentionally and accountably from that purpose and vision.

Jason and his wife, Meredith, along with their daughters Zoe and Sage, live in southcentral Pennsylvania.

Jason Yakelis serves as The Signatry’s Chief Operating Officer. Drawing from over two decades of professional experience guiding businesses and nonprofits from idea to implementation, he champions the operational requirements for the foundation’s internal and external customers to successfully engage with its mission. With responsibility for driving decisions around corporate planning, technology, talent recruitment and development, donor care, nonprofit success, investment account management, and administrative support, Jason plays a key role in the activation of The Signatry’s mission.

In addition to his formal role with The Signatry, Jason is a Paterson Guide for StratOp & LifePlan. Through this work, he facilitates organizational, team, and individual development processes, allowing participants to glean new perspectives from their personal or corporate stories, gain clarity on the direction they wish to grow, and commit to living and acting intentionally and accountably from that purpose and vision.

Jason and his wife, Meredith, along with their daughters Zoe and Sage, live in southcentral Pennsylvania.

As the Senior Vice President of Client Success, Stewart Rawley provides strategic direction, operational accountability, and leadership development to the Donor Care, Investment, and Nonprofit teams at The Signatry. Stewart’s expertise from leadership roles in people, culture, operations, and human resources helps serve and facilitate the journey of our donor families from the point of contribution to approved grant recommendation. Stewart has over 30 years in leadership experience that he carries into his coordination with The Signatry’s senior leadership on developing our first class donor, nonprofit, and advisor relationships. Stewart lives in the Nashville, TN area with his wife and has three children.

Kristin Hammett is the Director of Nonprofit Success for The Signatry. She partners with nonprofits to train, consult and equip them with fundraising solutions. Her passion is to help ministries connect God’s resources to His work. Kristin is an experienced development director and consultant with over 10 years in fundraising support.

Lesli Tyson Carnes serves as Director of Donor Care for The Signatry. Hailing from a background of ministry, missions, and music, she understands the crucial relationship between donors and the ministries they love and support. Lesli has spent years training and developing customer service teams that recognize the unique needs and goals of donors involved in advancing the Kingdom of Christ, equipping the team to serve with excellence and care. Her experience in directing a team of eight international offices and a US-based call center has culminated in her desire to integrate strategic process for growth and scaling with a heart of compassion.

Jake serves as the Director of Investment Education and Accounts for The Signatry. His primary role is assisting donors and their financial advisors, RIA’s, and family offices with transforming their charitable giving and investments through Advisor Managed Accounts (AMAs). He serves our AMAs by deepening relationships through investment education and being a value-add to advisors in their practice. Jake holds FINRA Series 65 and Series 3 Licenses as well as a Harvard Business School Certificate in Alternative Investments. Over the course of the last 15 years, Jake has held numerous roles in the investment management industry, as well as co-founding a 501(c)(3) with his wife, Brooke.

Lesli Tyson Carnes serves as Director of Donor Care for The Signatry. Hailing from a background of ministry, missions, and music, she understands the crucial relationship between donors and the ministries they love and support. Lesli has spent years training and developing customer service teams that recognize the unique needs and goals of donors involved in advancing the Kingdom of Christ, equipping the team to serve with excellence and care. Her experience in directing a team of eight international offices and a US-based call center has culminated in her desire to integrate strategic process for growth and scaling with a heart of compassion.

Lauren serves as a Senior Donor Care Specialist for The Signatry. Her main role is assisting donors with their funds and the causes they support and providing lead support for the Kansas City Donor Care team. Lauren has served in customer service and donor relations for over 15 years.

Christine York serves as a Donor Care Process Coordinator for The Signatry. She serves The Signatry community by helping donors with their funds and generosity needs, and coordinating updates with the online giving platform. Christine brings over 7 years of experience in administrative support with nonprofits and higher education institutions.

Sarah serves as a Donor Care Specialist for The Signatry. Her role enables her to assist in Kingdom work by aiding donors with their funds and grant recommendations as they practice Biblical generosity. Prior to joining the organization, she served in customer services rolls in the public sector for over a decade.

Kerry serves as a Donor Care Specialist at The Signatry. Kerry is an experienced professional in business and event planning. Her background in volunteering for various organizations and nonprofits brings a desire to serve others. She looks forward to helping donors live out their legacy.

Desirae Stirling serves as the Donor Care Communications Coordinator at The Signatry. She manages the intake of donor questions and provides support to the Donor Care team with resolving customer needs. She has a background in various fields including education, missions, and office settings, and is skilled in communication, organization, and customer service.

Julia Oliver serves The Signatry as Senior Grants Processing Coordinator. Her main role is assisting donors with their funds and the charitable causes they support through their grants. Julia brings over two decades of experience in serving donors through foundation and donor advised fund sponsor work.

Stephanie serves as a Grants Processing Specialist at The Signatry. She has worked in customer service, sales, and marketing for many years, including 17 years as a realtor and 5 years in nonprofit development.

Terri serves as a Gifts Processing Coordinator for The Signatry. Terri brings over 20 years of experience in church business management, bookkeeping, and pastoral support. She is also very involved in the Worship and Children’s ministries at her church.

Shyla Collins serves as a Phone Coordinator on the Donor Care team. She is the first contact an individual has when they reach out to The Signatry. Her education is in Psychology, and she has experience working in behavior therapy and administrative support.

Mark Klinger is the Chief Financial Officer for The Signatry.  He manages the daily finance and accounting operations for the foundation and supports the development of operating budgets and long term strategic financial planning.  Mark has an MBA in Finance with experience in large corporate and start-up businesses.

Michelle Dightman serves as the Director of Complex Asset Tax for The Signatry. In her role, Michelle manages accounting and tax processes for complex assets under management with The Signatry. She works closely with legal on the intake and processing of complex asset gifts. With over 30 years of experience in finance and accounting, Michelle has worked in a variety of industries including private family foundations.

Colby Leseberg serves as the Director of Finance with The Signatry team. In his role, Colby handles the accounting processes required for complex assets under management with The Signatry. Colby manages financial functions for gifts of real estate, our biblical artifacts, our Supporting Organizations, and is responsible for finance and accounting functions associated with alternative investments, a rapidly growing part of our business. With over 10 years of experience in finance and accounting, Colby has worked on high level projects in the commercial real estate industry.

Megan Yeomans serves as Director of Financial Planning and Analysis for The Signatry. Megan serves with the Finance Team to drive management reporting, cash forecasting and results analysis, and other team processes. She has over 9 years of finance experience, including her work as an international mutual funds accountant.

Bethany serves as the Director of Donor Advised Fund Accounting at The Signatry. She is responsible for the fund accounting of donor advised funds as well as corporate accounting functions and bank reconciliations. Bethany holds a MBA in International Business and has several years of experience in international mutual fund accounting. Bethany also has ministry staff experience and has had the opportunity to teach English overseas.

Amber serves as a Staff Accountant & Treasury Analyst at The Signatry. She has over 6 years of experience in Finance Services. Amber pays the grants and reconciles our bank accounts. She loves being able to use her skills and knowledge to help grow the Kingdom of God.

Nikki Carlson serves as Manager of Finance Operations for The Signatry and is responsible for Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, billing, reconciliations, and other internal accounting activities. Before joining The Signatry, Nikki gained her accounting knowledge while bookkeeping for a small product-development company, and she has over 10 years of experience in accounting.

Kim Butler serves as a Donor Fund Analyst at The Signatry. She is responsible for donor fund accounting and cash management for The Signatry donor advised funds in our Give Interactive software platform.

Angie Hopper serves as a Donor Fund Analyst for The Signatry. She is responsible for donor fund accounting and cash management for The Signatry’s donor advised funds. Before joining The Signatry, Angie gained her accounting knowledge through international accounting and financial analysis jobs in for-profit and non-profit settings. She is a licensed CPA in the state of Texas.

Marnie serves as Senior Accountant, Non-Cash Gifts for the finance team at The Signatry. She is responsible for the financial process in business interest gifts, managing the cash flow of business interest gifts, distributions, and sale proceeds with DAFs. Marnie has 30+ years experience in financial planning and analysis, financial reporting, accounting research, and public accounting audit and tax.

Brenson serves as a Senior Accountant at The Signatry. He assists with complex gifts of real estate, supporting organizations, and alternative investments. With 8 years of accounting and finance experience in manufacturing, logistics, and banking, Brenson has worked to implement and optimize many different financial systems.

Yanli serves as a Senior Accountant for Tax and Nonliquid Gifts at The Signatry.

Kiley serves as a Finance Specialist for The Signatry. In her role, Kiley supports the Finance Team on Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, expense reporting, and certain finance functions within our online donor platform.

Shannon Bartkoski serves The Signatry as Senior Accountant, Donor Fund Accounting. Shannon works on the Finance team to monitor gifts related to donor fund accounting and cash management via Give Interactive. She has over six years experience in wealth management processing and finance services.

Nick serves as a financial analyst for The Signatry. His professional experience includes full-cycle accounting in several industries, as well as assisting with modernization efforts to streamline finance and accounting processes, increase efficiency, and mitigate risk.

Aubrey Hills serves as a financial analyst for The Signatry. Aubrey helps serve our donor families and internal processes through reporting, forecasting and results analysis, and other internal team studies.

Jake serves as the Director of Investment Education and Accounts for The Signatry. His primary role is assisting donors and their financial advisors, RIA’s, and family offices with transforming their charitable giving and investments through Advisor Managed Accounts (AMAs). He serves our AMAs by deepening relationships through investment education and being a value-add to advisors in their practice. Jake holds FINRA Series 65 and Series 3 Licenses as well as a Harvard Business School Certificate in Alternative Investments. Over the course of the last 15 years, Jake has held numerous roles in the investment management industry, as well as co-founding a 501(c)(3) with his wife, Brooke.

Jenn Wynn serves as Senior Specialist, Account Administration at The Signatry. With over a decade of experience in administrative services, she is responsible for overseeing and monitoring the information workflow to establish and maintain Advisor Managed Accounts (AMAs) and the investments therein at The Signatry. The position works closely with The Signatry’s legal team to coordinate the alternative investment intake and administrative process, as well as tracking ongoing alternative investment recommendations. Jenn’s role is key in strengthening the relationships between The Signatry and investment managers recommended by our donors.

Lindsee Willis serves The Signatry as Senior Specialist, Capital Administration. Lindsee is responsible for overseeing and facilitating the deployment of capital within and amongst Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) that are invested in Advisor Managed Accounts (AMAs), and Alternative and Private Investments of The Signatry. The position works closely with The Signatry’s legal, finance, and complex accounting teams to coordinate the funding, investment, and divestment of capital gifted to The Signatry. Lindsee brings 9 years of experience from roles in accounting and the mortgage finance industry.

Stephen serves as an AMA Specialist at The Signatry. Stephen brings his experience working as a Financial Planner to develop relationships with our Advisor Managed Account investment advisors and to serve as our primary point of contact for advisor teams wanting to open and maintain AMAs.

Larry Scott serves as Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Counsel. He has extensive experience with transactional, operational, and tax matters from his legal and accounting career. His focus is on tax and corporate issues of nonliquid asset donations and addressing those issues with donors and their professional advisors. He also provides analysis, planning, and implementation of legal and tax strategies for The Signatry.

Erik Schartner serves as Executive Vice President of Administrative and Compliance Counsel for The Signatry where he provides analysis, planning, and implementation of legal and tax strategies. He also serves as a resource to generous donors who desire to integrate their giving with their overall estate plan.  Erik spent ten years in private practice as an estate planning lawyer in the Boston area before he transitioned to The Cru Foundation in 2017.

Dane Frazier serves as Executive Vice President & Associate General Counsel for The Signatry. He structures gifts to maximize the amount that goes to charities by navigating tax issues associated with nonliquid assets. Dane is an attorney licensed in Kansas and Missouri, and has previously practiced estate planning and tax law.

Nick serves as Executive Vice President of Deputy Asset Stewardship Counsel at The Signatry. His primary focus is on gift intake, management and disposition of gifted assets, and investment of liquid proceeds from dispositions. Prior to joining The Signatry, he spent 29 years in private practice as an estate planning, business, and tax attorney.

Amy serves as Legal Project Manager for The Signatry. Incorporating her background in analyzing and organizing processes for visionary nonprofits, she stewards non-liquid asset gifts, alternative investments, and compliance projects with a keen sense of detail.

Shannon serves as a valuable member of The Signatry’s legal team. Shannon facilitates the efficient intake, management, and sale of asset-based gifts; practices in the operations of benevolence funds; and handles legal and operational duties of the organization. Shannon was a trial attorney and litigator for over ten years prior to joining The Signatry’s legal team.  Shannon and her family live in Charlotte, NC.

Ben Martin serves as VP of Marketing at The Signatry. Ben is responsible for leading the content and fundholder marketing efforts of The Signatry, including creating marketing strategy for our platforms and managing the project workflow for The Signatry brand initiatives. With over two decades marketing experience with ministries and nonprofit organizations, Ben brings a creative perspective in expanding content approaches and growing donor engagement.

Nick serves as Marketing Engagement Specialist at The Signatry where he focuses on website, email, social, and video content. With a background in documentary film, radio, and journalism, Nick also brings stories of encouragement and Kingdom impact to life from The Signatry community.

Savannah Ansett serves as the Digital Marketing Specialist at The Signatry. Savannah works to support the mission of The Signatry by enhancing search engine optimization, search advertising, and display advertising. She brings experience from the corporate and non-profit worlds and lives in Nashville, TN with her husband.

Hannah serves as the social media specialist at The Signatry. She works collaboratively with the digital marketing, multimedia, and content leads to guide the creation and implementation of strategies for The Signatry’s social media presence. Hannah’s heart is to connect likeminded givers and doers in God’s Kingdom and create an environment for generosity to thrive through our digital mediums.

Jessie McBirney serves as Content Marketing Specialist at The Signatry. Jessie works to share the story of The Signatry, its donors, advisors, and ministry partners through multiple communication mediums, while delivering fresh educational and inspirational content to our audiences. Jessie is a graduate of Biola University and George Mason, and lives in Washington D.C. with her husband.

Kristin Hammett is the Director of Nonprofit Success for The Signatry. She partners with nonprofits to train, consult and equip them with fundraising solutions. Her passion is to help ministries connect God’s resources to His work. Kristin is an experienced development director and consultant with over 10 years in fundraising support.

Gretchen serves as a Nonprofit Success Specialist for Nonprofit Success at The Signatry. In her role, Gretchen provides administrative support to ensure efficient operations for The Signatry team. She is responsible for a variety of tasks to maintain thorough organization and communication. Gretchen brings over 10 years of experience in event planning and nonprofit development to The Signatry.

Michelle serves as Nonprofit Research Specialist for The Signatry. Her main role is to coordinate the vetting and approval process of grants to nonprofits from The Signatry. Michelle brings over 20 years of experience in the banking and donor service industries to The Signatry team.

Stephen Myers serves as a Nonprofit Research Specialist for The Signatry. In his role, Stephen assists in the research and vetting of nonprofits for the purpose of alignment with The Signatry’s faith and values. Stephen brings a variety of job experience from his roles in finance, church ministry, and Director of National Outreach in partnering with and supporting nonprofit organizations.

Jason Yakelis serves as The Signatry’s Chief Operating Officer. Drawing from over two decades of professional experience guiding businesses and nonprofits from idea to implementation, he champions the operational requirements for the foundation’s internal and external customers to successfully engage with its mission. With responsibility for driving decisions around corporate planning, technology, talent recruitment and development, donor care, nonprofit success, investment account management, and administrative support, Jason plays a key role in the activation of The Signatry’s mission.

In addition to his formal role with The Signatry, Jason is a Paterson Guide for StratOp & LifePlan. Through this work, he facilitates organizational, team, and individual development processes, allowing participants to glean new perspectives from their personal or corporate stories, gain clarity on the direction they wish to grow, and commit to living and acting intentionally and accountably from that purpose and vision.

Jason and his wife, Meredith, along with their daughters Zoe and Sage, live in southcentral Pennsylvania.

Donna England is the assistant to Steve French, President & CEO of The Signatry. Her role is to serve the president and others as needed, while devoting time to market research, event planning and coordination, and operational support. Donna is a former teacher, with over 16 years of experience teaching business classes.

Drew serves as the Lead of Strategic Projects at The Signatry. In his role, Drew collaborates with functional teams and senior leadership to perform strategic analyses, refine operational practices, and develop sustainable solutions in pursuit of the foundation’s mission and vision. Drew brings experience in data analysis, corporate marketing, and college ministry to The Signatry team.

Rebecca Dority serves as Office Manager for The Signatry’s Overland Park location. Her role consists of maintaining and managing our home office environment and ensuring our infrastructure supports our team’s culture and business needs going forward. Rebecca has worked as an administrative assistant for over fifteen years, formerly assisting a Christian author with her speaking events and supporting an occupational health team at a major regional hospital.

Bekah Herzog serves as Events Manager at The Signatry. Bekah works to coordinate and carry out several events with our leadership team and donor education base, such as Family Legacy Workshops, Day with David Green events, Women’s Legacy events, and more. She brings several years experience managing educational training and client engagement events.

Macy Shaw serves as an Administrative Assistant for Fundraising at The Signatry.

Jill serves as an Executive Assistant to the Chief Revenue Officer at The Signatry. She has a background in Business from Liberty University as well as experience in administration and event coordination.

Ashleigh serves as an Executive Assistant at The Signatry working directly with the national relationship management team. She is responsible for a variety of tasks to maintain thorough organization, implementation, and communication. Ashleigh is a former business administrator and brings experience working with nonprofits to The Signatry team.

Shelly serves as an Executive Assistant to Midwest Region President Evan Lange and as Event Support at The Signatry. She brings many years of professional and volunteer experience in administration and event planning at school and church organizations.

Dale Armstrong serves as the Chief Revenue Officer of the Signatry. In his role, Dale equips and encourages individuals to pursue a life of biblical generosity through sound principles, creative solutions and charitable strategies. Having spent his career as a business owner and consultant working in faith driven initiatives, Dale is uniquely qualified to come alongside Christian business owners and philanthropists who have a passion for growing the Kingdom of God.

Evan Lange serves as the President of the Midwest Region for The Signatry. He works closely with financial advisors, attorneys, and business owners to develop strategies to minimize tax liability and maximize charitable giving. Evan is a licensed attorney and practiced law at top firms in Kansas City prior to joining The Signatry.

Joe Williams is President of the Oklahoma Region of The Signatry. His role is to meet with donors to help them maximize gifting opportunities through strategic giving plans. Joe has over 20 years of experience as a community bank CEO, and 8 years as a stewardship pastor.

Alan Pratt, a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy, serves as the President of The Signatry’s Northwest Region. In his role, Alan works to equip others with the creative tools, strategies, and insight they need to maximize their generosity and establish a lasting legacy. Alan seeks to use his decades of experience as a financial professional, legacy advisor, and business owner to help families flourish.

Ken serves The Signatry team as Senior Director of Generosity. He helps develop The Signatry’s internal fundraising initiatives and partnerships, and works to grow the organization’s donor relationships. Ken has a strong background in financial roles for Christian media and ministry and is a graduate of Wheaton college.

Trevor Bunch serves as The Signatry’s Chief Information Officer. He is responsible for coordinating the technical solutions that will enable securely serving donors. Trevor collaborates across The Signatry to streamline processes and elevate data to facilitate decision-making by the Board, key executives, staff, and clients. He is responsible for securing platforms and guiding and expanding the footprint of The Signatry’s services.

Trevor started his career in Enterprise Architecture and IT portfolio management consulting for federal agencies. For the past decade, he pivoted his focus on fusing together technical, operational, and marketing goals for nonprofit organizations. Trevor has served as a field-based CIO for a global nonprofit, set product direction for a nonprofit marketing agency, consults on data strategy, and teaches computer science courses.

Trevor and his wife, Julie, along with their three children live, play, and serve in South Central Pennsylvania.

Aril Brizendine serves as a Foundations Systems Administrator at The Signatry. Her role consists of managing The Signatry’s CRM database and tracking processes, coordinating data across our multiple software systems, as well as providing operation support to The Signatry team. Aril has worked in non-profit donor development for more than 10 years, including her experience as a Project Manager at Museum of the Bible prior to joining The Signatry.

Alexis serves as Systems Administrator, Employee Solutions for The Signatry IT department. Her role consists of maintaining employee solutions, coordinating and creating system support and infrastructure for both our in person and remote Signatry team.

Kyle Vosen serves as a Data Analyst for The Signatry.