Celebrating Excellence in K–12: Golden Ticket and Developer Impact Award Winners at bbdevdays

Lauren Barker

Blackbaud Developer’s Conference—our 3-day virtual conference where customers explore new ways to automate and extend their Blackbaud solutions. As recipients of the prestigious Developer Impact and Golden Ticket awards, these educators and thought leaders demonstrated creativity and dedication in their fields and proved that you don’t have to be an engineer to innovate.We’re delighted to honor four members of Blackbaud’s K–12 community for their exceptional contributions to



K–12 made a “clean sweep” in the Golden Ticket Awards—with three sessions earning the highest feedback scores from attendees! Congratulations to our winners:

• Brian Cibelli, English Teacher, and Jeanne Townsend, Database Administrator at Thayer Academy, for their dynamic session, "Beyond the Bar Chart." Their innovative approach to data visualization is inspiring and transformative.

• Nick Marchese, Director of Academic & Strategic Technology at Emma Willard School, for his presentation, "Break Free from Manual Data Exports: Using the Query API." Nick’s insights can enhance data practices for any school.

• Vicky Wong, Director of Research & Advancement Information Systems at University School, and Rebecca Sundquist, Sr. Principal Consultant at Blackbaud, for their collaborative session, "Insights at a Glance: Unlocking the Power of Power BI Dashboards." Their work empowers institutions to make confident data-driven decisions.

And a big round of applause for our Developer Impact Award winner:

• Rochelle Toomer​, Director, Advancement Services​ at Emma Willard School, whose “Event Check-in" template streamlines the in-person check-in process. ​The school is currently in a 5-year campaign that hit its goal early—after only 3 years—thanks to their fundraising CRM, Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT, and the event tool that Rochelle built.

Mark Davis, VP of Education Products at Blackbaud, expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “We are immensely proud of the outstanding accomplishments of these individuals and their schools. Their sessions exemplify a commitment to excellence, fostering collaboration and driving advancements in education and technology. Blackbaud Developer’s Conference continues to serve as a vibrant platform, uniting Blackbaud's research and development teams with its dedicated customers. This partnership not only delivers impactful solutions but also consistently inspires progress in educational technology and practices.”



The executive director of Blackbaud’s K–12 Advisory Board also remarked on the importance of fostering innovation in educational practices, emphasizing the lasting impact of such initiatives. “I could not be prouder of the K-12 participants at this year's event. #bbdevdays continues to grow in both involvement and impact, and to see K-12 schools ‘crack the code’ and earn accolades from this impressive, brilliant community means a lot. I can’t wait to see the results of this event benefit both schools and the larger non-profit community.” – Austin Ewachiw, Director of Technology, Calvert Hall.



Learn more about #bbdevdays and watch their influential presentations on demand by visiting this link.



Congratulations again to all winners—you’ve set a high standard for future presenters and educators alike!