Ken Turpen, CFRE

Ken Turpen, CFRE, President with Turpen & Associates, is also a Vice President at Thompson & Associates and Principal at Jerold Panas, Linzy & Partners. A senior foundation executive of five nonprofit organizations during the past 25 years, Ken serves as a consultant in secondary education, higher education, and healthcare fundraising. Ken has expertise in all areas of fundraising including estate planning, planned giving, capital campaigns, major gifts, and annual giving.
 
Ken’s professional experience includes secondary education and administration in Texas and Nebraska. While serving as Principal of Platte Valley Academy in Shelton, Nebraska in the early 1990s, he helped to start a successful alumni giving campaign with more than 40 percent of alumni giving back to the school every year. From Platte Valley, Ken accepted a position as the Executive Director of Philanthropic Service for Institutions (PSI), a department located at the World Headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. During his 12-year tenure he led the church’s philanthropy efforts for Adventist healthcare, education, and nonprofits at large.

​Ken has served as the Executive Director of two successful healthcare foundations and as the Associate Vice President for Advancement at the University of Texas at Brownsville. He was named as a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) by CFRE International in 1996 and still maintains that distinction. Ken is also recognized as a Certified Governance Trainer by BoardSource and frequently works with nonprofit boards in improving leadership, recruiting, and advocacy.
 
Since 1994, Ken has been an active member of the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) and the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). He received his undergraduate degree in education from The University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley, and his master’s degree in education administration from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

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