THE ELIZABETH KEITEL PGGCT LEADERSHIP AWARD

[Ron Fleury] Now comes one of the great pleasures of serving as President of the Planned Giving Group of Connecticut.

A few years ago, this council established the Elizabeth Keitel Leadership Award, honoring Elizabeth and her extraordinary commitment to the PGGCT. And we’re delighted that Elizabeth could join us today. She was a founding member of this planned giving council and an esteemed professional within this community. The award in Elizabeth’s name was intended not only to honor her but also to further one of the ambitions of her support for the council—to inspire excellence in the field of charitable gift and estate planning.

The Elizabeth Keitel Leadership Award recognizes a PGGCT member who has demonstrated those qualities that distinguished Elizabeth throughout her career: the highest professional standards—accessibility—creativity—sense of humor—and generosity of time and talent in the field of planned giving.

I would also like to thank the Elizabeth Keitel Leadership Award committee for their good work this year.

With that as preface, and without further ado, it is my great honor and privilege to announce the 2007 recipient of the Elizabeth Keitel PGGCT Leadership Award: Millie Devine.

For the past 10 years, Millie has managed her own business, Devine Planning specializing in planned giving, estate planning and grants application advisement. Prior to starting her own business, Millie worked for 32 years for the Trust & Investment Group of Hartford National Bank, now Bank of America, retiring as Vice President in 1997. In addition to personal trust administration, Millie has worked closely for the past 25 years in creating and administering community and private foundations. She has also generously given of her time and talent to numerous civic and professional organizations and is a past board member of PGGCT.

In addition to her consulting work, Millie has been an important leader in the LEAVE A LEGACY CT movement. Her tireless efforts in Southeast Connecticut for LAL extend back to the very beginnings of the program.

Millie served as co-chair of the Southeast Connecticut Region until 2006 and continues to work with a very active committee. Aided by her leadership, the Southeast Connecticut region has served as a model for other statewide committees in its creative and effective outreach to promote the mission of LAL CT. And not only did preside over these efforts, Millie was always available to present the case for LAL to the boards of interested nonprofits.

As many of you may know, Millie is a wonderful mentor and colleague; I have seen this first hand. She is knowledgeable and modest; astute and patient; earnest and sincere; and eager to laugh and enjoy life. And those of us who know Millie can attest—there is no finer example of the qualities our friend Elizabeth Keitel hoped to inspire and which we recognize each year through this award.

Please join me in congratulating Millie Devine as recipient of the 2007 Elizabeth Keitel PGGCT Leadership Award.