TEAM
A collection of talented humans driven to make a positive impact
Before we go any further, we think you should know something: we love our jobs. No, seriously. We were founded in 2005 with the vision of helping nonprofits grow their specialized audiences, and over a decade later we are still helping organizations amplify their good … with a new name … a new brand … and so much more.
We’ve been lucky (and determined) enough to build a crew of world-class experts in marketing, fundraising and analytics. We come together on a daily basis to solve problems, push boundaries, change the world—and drink tons of coffee.
Meet our leaders
Candice Briddell
Principal, Owner
Passionate about data-driven analytics, Candice uses her 20 years of industry experience to push her clients to think outside of the box and break through old plateaus. Candice understands (and loves) the need for comprehensive systems to address internal organizational and external environmental challenges.
Erica O’Brien
Principal, Owner
With 20 years in the marketing and nonprofit industry, Erica prides herself on helping clients create and leverage multi-channel strategies that maximize revenue, donor engagement and organizational brand power. She is proud to have created award-winning creative and package strategies for her clients.
Courtney Lewis
EXECUTIVE Vice President
Courtney has spent the last 15 years in the direct marketing industry developing complex, multichannel strategies for some of the country’s most successful brands. She has a strong analytic foundation with a solid creative eye that leads to unique, exciting and successful fundraising campaigns.
David Jorgensen
Senior Vice President, Analytics & Reporting
Dave is a master analyst with a knack for bridging the gap between the art of fundraising and the science of data. With
over 26 years of experience in nonprofits and direct response agencies, Dave answers the ‘why’ by drilling into results to uncover and exploit the most promising opportunities.
Nancy Eiring
SENIOR Vice President, fundraising strategies
Over the course of more than 25 years, Nancy has worked at and with many big and small organizations. Her passion is designing growth strategies for multichannel direct response fundraising programs to help diversify channel and donors to meet long-term revenue goals. She innovates to solve for her clients so their programs can evolve and deliver on their mission.
Joey Katzenstein
Senior Vice President, TECHNOLOGY & INFRASTRUCTURE
Joey has worked for the last 10+ years to develop and extract actionable value from large datasets in a variety of industries. With a background in machine learning and data science, Joey provides a mathematical perspective to supplement the extensive domain expertise of the Fuse Team.
Leah Farmer
Vice President, CREATIVE DIRECTOR
With more than 20 years of experience in advertising and marketing — as well as deep roots in direct response fundraising — Leah is a natural leader, strategic partner and creative dynamo. She is dedicated to crafting award-winning marketing campaigns that translate powerfully (and beautifully) across both traditional and digital channels, for maximum impact on brands and donors alike.
Madeline Ruffin-Thomas
Vice President, FUNDRAISING STRATEGIES
Madeline Ruffin-Thomas has 15+ years experience in nonprofit marketing and fundraising. She uses her passion for direct marketing and analytics to improve nonprofits' campaigns, strengthen their strategies and build their programs. She develops integrated and channel agnostic strategies to help nonprofits acquire, retain and deepen their connection with supporters.
