In this episode, I chat with Tom Kuhn (Grants Consultant) and Aubrey Leaman (Grants Researcher) about some of the topics and questions arising from our February webinar! We touch on compliance vs. advancement, whether funders will be prioritizing shorter-term grants, how to reframe your research for competitiveness, and more!
Tom has 25 years of proposal development experience and 20 years as a federal peer reviewer across NSF, NIH, USDA, HRSA, PCORI, and HUD. That background gives him direct knowledge of how funding decisions are made and what reviewers need to see. He has supported more than 1,000 proposals and helped clients secure over $800 million in grants and contracts. His work spans the full funding pipeline from basic and applied research through technology transfer and commercialization to center-scale and multi-institutional initiatives. Tom works with executive, faculty, technology, clinical, and entrepreneurial teams seeking support from NSF, NIH, USDA, DoE, DoD, and SBIR/STTR programs as well as private foundations and major donors.
Aubrey Leaman brings a diverse background in higher education, nonprofit development, and management to her work at Hanover. Before joining the Hanover research team, she coordinated programming and fundraising efforts for a nonprofit organization working with higher education populations and served as a marketing manager for several arts-focused organizations. Aubrey holds a PhD from Northwestern University and has extensive interdisciplinary expertise, with degrees spanning both the arts and cognitive sciences. She has also worked as a tutor, instructor, and guest lecturer in higher education settings. At Hanover, Aubrey enjoys leveraging this broad experience to help clients by identifying funding opportunities, engaging with relevant programs, and conducting research on the evolving funding landscape.
With over a decade of grants management and writing experience, Mallory brings exceptional project management skill to her clients in the higher education and healthcare space at Hanover. A certified Project Management Professional, Mallory specializes in complex projects, helping clients navigate challenging and rigorous grant development, review, and revision processes. Mallory understands that proposal development is not one-size-fits-all, and brings a customized management approach to each project. Exceedingly client-service oriented, Mallory serves as a thought partner to those she works with, enabling a collegial and professional working relationship with her clients and the faculty members with whom she interacts. Prior to joining Hanover, Mallory worked as an Administration Analyst with the San Diego Superior Court, where she wrote and managed federal grants for the Collaborative Courts.
Katy serves as a Senior Content Director specializing in the higher education sector. She manages a diverse portfolio of clients, from community colleges to R1 institutions, and has helped these partners secure over $97 million in funding to date. She coordinates directly with grants support offices to plan out a sequence of work, conducts outreach to faculty grantseekers to discuss their needs and outline the scope and timing of Hanover support, and coordinates with the internal Hanover team to oversee execution of planned projects. Katy has over fifteen years of grants experience. Prior to joining Hanover in 2014, she worked in the nonprofit sector as a grantwriter and frontline fundraising coordinator for a variety of small to mid-sized organizations. She has experience in preparing competitive funding proposals for a variety of funders, developing organizational fundraising strategies, and in planning and executing individual donor outreach campaigns.
