HonorHealth Foundation Leadership
- Jared A. Langkilde, MBA, CFRE, President & CEO
- Joanne Smith, MBA, Senior Vice President, Development
- Debra J. Stevens, MBA, Senior Vice President, Communications & Donor Relations
- Jennifer Bradshaw, MS, Senior Vice President, Finance
- Jason Wyssmann, Senior Vice President, Technology & Data Analytics
Department Leadership
- Pat Elder, CPA, MNA, CAP, CFRE, Vice President, Planned Giving
- Katy Gilbert, MA, Vice President, Grants
- Ashleigh Leite, CFRE, Senior Vice President, Major Gifts
- Stephanie Mahrer, Vice President, Corporate & Events
- Carrie Siegel, CFRE, Vice President, Annual Giving
- Jennifer Stackhouse, CPA, Controller
- Chandra Stewart, Director, Communications & Donor Relations
- Heather Walton, Vice President, Physician Relations
At HonorHealth Foundation, we serve as a bridge between changemakers who want to make an exponential impact on causes that align with their values, and HonorHealth experts who are transforming healthcare to be more personalized for the patient, and more customized to the needs of the patient, his or her family and the community. Giving through HonorHealth Foundation means you’re supporting more than great care. Your contributions save lives, improve community health, fuel medical breakthroughs and drive innovative research.
Jared A. Langkilde, MBA, CFRE, President & CEO
Jared Langkilde is a passionate and effective advocate for the role of philanthropy in transforming healthcare. As president and CEO of HonorHealth Foundation, his donor-centered approach inspires philanthropy that advances HonorHealth’s world-leading innovations in patient care, research and education.
Under his leadership, HonorHealth Foundation has achieved consecutive years of record-breaking revenue, surpassing $60.4 million in 2021, despite the ongoing challenges of a pandemic.
Prior to joining HonorHealth Foundation, Jared served 20 years in higher education, performing development and community relations roles.
Jared holds board and volunteer roles with the Mesa Chamber of Commerce, Boyce Thompson Arboretum and the Arizona Alliance of Nonprofits. He earned his MBA from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
Joanne Smith, MBA, Senior Vice President, Development
Joanne Smith recognizes donors have a multitude of options when making philanthropic investments, and her priority is to keenly understand each benefactor. This involves exploring their individual philanthropic interests and specifically matching those interests to needs within HonorHealth. Not surprisingly, Joanne builds lasting relationships with donors, who are inspired by their ability to touch lives, as well as advance HonorHealth’s nonprofit mission to improve the health and well-being of our community.
Joanne, who has more than 30 years of healthcare fundraising experience, joined HonorHealth Foundation in 1999 and first served as Operations Administrator and Vice President of Major Gifts and Annual Giving before being named to her current role. Prior to HonorHealth Foundation, she worked 12 years at Phoenix Children’s Hospital Foundation, where she oversaw office operations and gained a wealth of expertise in technology systems and management.
In addition to a bachelor’s in business administration from Northern Arizona University, Joanne holds an MBA from Arizona State University.
Debra J. Stevens, MBA, Senior Vice President, Communications & Donor Relations
Debra Stevens joined HonorHealth Foundation in 2020 with the challenge to build the organization’s brand and reimagine donor recognition.
She is well-equipped for these challenges as she previously served at the helm of marketing and communication programs supporting some of Arizona’s most visible brands. Most recently, she served as executive director of marketing and communication for Arizona Care Network. Previously, she transformed marketing and communication during her 11 years at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where she was instrumental in driving growth, brand value and consumer engagement. Across 13 years with the Phoenix Suns, Stevens rose through the marketing ranks and also served as executive director of Phoenix Suns Charities.
Serving the community has always been a personal priority for Stevens. Currently she serves as advisory board chair for the Scottsdale/Paradise Valley YMCA and chairs the Opioid Stigma Reduction efforts for Valley Leadership.
She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Arizona State University and an MBA from University of Phoenix. A lifelong learner, she recently completed a graduate certificate through the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunication at ASU. Debra and husband have two grown sons.
Jennifer Bradshaw, MS, Senior Vice President, Finance
Jennifer is an accomplished finance leader who joined HonorHealth Foundation in 2022, where she is responsible for building and leading the Finance Department. Previously, she served more than four years at Great Hearts Academies, most recently as Senior Director of Finance. Jennifer also served as Senior Accounting Manager for Make A Wish America.
Jennifer brings deep experience in budgeting, financial statement preparation, team management, project management, audit preparation, internal controls and establishing procedures to streamline department efficiencies. She enjoys taking the finance department to the next level by implementing process improvements and focusing on meeting the needs of the end users.
Jennifer graduated with honors from the University of Phoenix with a Master of Science in Accountancy degree. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, traveling and exploring new places, both within Arizona and beyond.
Jason Wyssmann, Senior Vice President, Technology & Data Analytics
Jason Wyssmann thrives at the intersection of data, technology and philanthropy, and loves championing both gratitude and generosity to support innovative and exceptional healthcare.
As a nonprofit technologist for nearly 20 years, he is known as a data-driven leader and dynamic communicator able to catalyze opportunity into success.
Although, for as much as he embraces big data and predictive analytics, his work as a frontline fundraiser also provides him a strong foundation of donor engagement and stewardship.
Prior to joining HonorHealth Foundation, Jason served nonprofits in the areas of regional social services, national cause-and-cure and regional multi-hospital/clinic healthcare. Additionally, at Virtuous, he served as an enterprise-level technical lead and strategic consultant. Throughout his professional experiences he values authenticity and curiosity, along with a bias toward action and scalable impact.
Jason graduated with honors from Missouri State University with a bachelor's in social work, focusing on community programming and fund development. He also served as a Quality Improvement Advisory Council Member with Children's Mercy Hospital. In his personal life, he and his wife, Sarah, enjoy the creative arts, family time and the adventure of raising their three teenagers.
Pat Elder, CPA, MNA, CAP, CFRE, Vice President, Planned Giving
Pat Elder is Vice President of Planned Giving at HonorHealth Foundation, where she leads the team responsible for helping donors make a life-long impact at HonorHealth with a gift through their will or estate plan.
Previously, Pat served for nearly 11 years at Banner Health Foundation as Chief Development Officer, where she revitalized its planned giving program. Prior to that held the position of Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations. Pat’s extensive experience also includes serving as Executive Director of the Phoenix Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, following more than 20 years in finance, accounting, internal audit and business operations at organizations that included Lucent Technologies and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona.
Along with service on many community boards and professional associations such as the Junior League of Phoenix, Arizona Society of CPAs and Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation, Pat’s professional affiliations include the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Arizona Charitable Gift Planners, Paradise Valley Estate Planners Group, Valley Estate Planners and East Valley Estate Planning Council.
Pat earned her MBA from Arizona State University, a bachelor’s in accountancy from Rosary College and holds Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy and Certified Fund Raising Executive designations. She is also a graduate of Valley Leadership Class XXIX.
Katy Gilbert, MA, Vice President, Grants
Katy has spent her career helping hospital systems and physicians secure the funding needed to meet their patient care and research goals.
With a proven track record of growing awarded grant funding to provide innovative and effective patient care, she served previously as neuroscience research program manager at Dignity Health and director/officer of grant strategy development and administration at Banner Health.
Katy holds a master’s in communication and journalism from the University of New Mexico and a bachelor’s in social work from New Mexico State University.
Ashleigh Leite, Senior Vice President, Major Gifts
Ashleigh Leite is responsible for leadership and oversight of the major gifts program and its team of professionals. Ashleigh joined HonorHealth in 2017 and since then, has secured more than $76 million dollars in new philanthropic support, including the transformational investment to create the Bob Bové Neuroscience Institute.
Ashleigh is passionate about people — especially working with generous donors to identify how their desire to impact the lives of others can be realized through philanthropy.
Prior to HonorHealth, Ashleigh served as Senior Director of Development for Banner — University Medicine. While at Banner, Ashleigh served on the senior management team, building fundraising programs to advance and integrate the partnership between Banner and the University of Arizona College of Medicine.
Prior to that, Ashleigh served Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business, one of the nation’s top ranked and largest business schools, leading the major gifts team as Senior Associate Director of Development. During her nearly eight years at ASU, Ashleigh grew development and alumni relations programs including principal gift fundraising, planned giving, operations, board development and communications.
Ashleigh recently was named the Association of Fundraising Professional’s 2023 Outstanding Fundraising Executive of the Year, and is a Certified Fund Raising Executive.
Stephanie Mahrer, Vice President, Corporate & Events
Stephanie joined the Foundation in 2016, bringing with her extensive events and catering experience honed through decades at 5-star resorts such as the Phoenician, JW Marriot Camelback Inn and other organizations.
In her time at HonorHealth Foundation, Stephanie has elevated our fundraising events and launched a highly effective third-party events program.
Along the way, she has developed her fundraising skills through her relationships with event sponsors. Her true heart for our mission shines through in every project she leads.
In her free time Stephanie enjoys cooking, hiking and spending time with her family and friends.
Carrie Siegel, Vice President, Annual Giving
Carrie Siegel-Benell joined HonorHealth Foundation in 2022 as the Vice President of Annual Giving and has made significant improvements in attracting new donors and leading the HonorHealth employee annual giving campaign, Honored to Help.
Before that time, Carrie served as Manager of Annual Giving for Barrow Neurological Foundation. There, Carrie built the annual giving program and increased donations to the annual fund by 83 percent.
Prior to her time there, she served as the Senior Director of Annual Campaigns and Development Operations for Great Hearts, where she worked for 12 years establishing fundraising programs and systems for their entire network of schools in Arizona and Texas. Carrie is also a Certified Fund Raising Executive.
Jennifer Stackhouse, CPA, Controller
Chandra Stewart, Director, Communications & Donor Relations
Chandra Stewart has made a career as a storyteller, and her role at HonorHealth Foundation has allowed her to immerse into donor relations including stewardship program design and management, donor communications — including writing the Reflections of Honor magazine — and event planning. With a passion for helping the vulnerable she made a career move into the nonprofit sector in 2006 to align her values with her work.
Graduating with a Liberal Arts degree from Michigan State University, she began her career in internal communications at Motorola and eventually moved into managing global events, traveling the world and leading marketing efforts at key industry conferences.
Since 2009 she has served as a leader in non-profits, overseeing diverse programs including public relations, program development, executive communications, social media, business development, traditional and digital marketing and event planning. She has led marketing and communications efforts for Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona and The Nature Conservancy in Arizona with a focus on expanding brand awareness and cultivating community support.
Her proudest moment was being profiled as a "Best Boss in the Valley" by Impact Magazine after being nominated by her Goodwill team. Known for balancing heart and head, she puts a focus on people and productivity.
Chandra has served on various Boards in the community, and in her spare time she volunteers at animal shelters, enjoys live music and walking her dogs. She is also a contributing writer to I Am Music Magazine, crafting new music reviews and profiling artists.
Heather Walton, Vice President, Physician Relations
Heather Walton joined HonorHealth Foundation in 2021 to establish a physician relations program that nurtures a culture of philanthropy among HonorHealth physicians and advance practice providers.
Heather brings strategic creativity to her role. She led the creation of the Ovation grateful patient program and established the annual Advancing Philanthropy Physician Awards program that honors physicians for outstanding leadership, advocacy, volunteerism and philanthropy.
Before joining the Foundation, Heather served at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, first as a certified Child Life Specialist before transitioning to Physician Relations.
Heather earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Arizona State University. She is also the recipient of the city of Phoenix Partnership Award for her work implementing the Healthy Homes program for at-risk children.