Michael Degenhart is currently serving as the Assistant Vice President of the Office of Gift Planning at The Pennsylvania State University, where he is responsible for the development and implementation of university-wide planned giving efforts for Penn State’s 24 campuses.  Widely considered a leader in the field of higher education gift planning, Michael has the unique ability to articulate very technical gift planning techniques in simple, understandable terms for donors.  At Penn State, Michael and his office are tasked with an overall combined gift planning goal of $100 million annually.  He is a key member of the senior management team that directed Penn State’s recently completed $2 billion comprehensive campaign. Preceding this position, Michael served as the Assistant Vice President at Syracuse University and spent seven years in the Office of Trust, Estates & Gift Planning at Cornell University.  Michael has been a Consulting Vice President for Grenzebach Glier and Associates (GG+A) since 2010.  GG+A is the leading international consultant to non‐profit institutions and organizations of all sizes and the foremost authority on fundraising best practices.