Berkeley Office of Gift Planning

Carl A. Wayne joined the Office of Gift Planning as its executive director in January 2024. Carl most recently served as the assistant vice president for planned giving at the University of Washington. His other advancement roles have included positions at UCLA, UNCF, United Way, and the American Heart Association where he covered 10 western states as a senior advisor for charitable estate planning. As a skilled fundraiser, relationship builder, and strategist, he also sits on the national boards of the American Council on Gift Annuities, Financial Planning Association, and Advisors in Philanthropy.

Charitable gift planning is Carl’s chosen career. He enjoys working collaboratively with others. Respect, dialogue, and being a good listener have been key to developing strong relationships. Learning is a lifelong endeavor. He strives to learn something new every day. Doing so helps him to envision new and different ways of doing his work to maintain interest and excitement, and it has resulted in contributing to new successful programs throughout his career. Carl earned his undergraduate degree at UCLA and his J.D. at the University of West Los Angeles Law School. When not working, Carl enjoys spending time with family, biking, walking, movies, cooking, reading, and perusing vintage bookstores.

As a proud graduate of the University of California, Carl is excited to join the advancement community at UC Berkeley and to engage in the meaningful services provided by the Office of Gift Planning team.

Read less

Melanie Keilholtz is a California native, who grew up in rural Shasta County. Before entering college, Melanie had a bad case of wanderlust and lived abroad in Europe and Africa before coming back to graduate from UC Santa Cruz (Go Slugs!) and Boston University (Go Rhett!)

Melanie worked for Bay Area nonprofits such as the Oakland Museum, the Dunsmuir Historic Estate, and Opera San Jose. She was the marketing director of ANG Newspapers (Oakland Tribune, San Mateo County Times, and The Tri-Valley Herald to name a few) prior to coming to UC Berkeley.

Melanie came to Berkeley in 2006. Since then, she has had the opportunity to work with Berkeley alumni and friends, and their advisors on a wide range of gifts funded with assets including real estate, securities, cash and, occasionally, works of art. She knows that for students past, present, and future, studying at Berkeley is the opportunity of a lifetime. She enjoys collaborating with alumni who want others to have the same experiences — or even better ones — than they did at Cal. She is a Certified Specialist in Planned Giving having completed her studies with the American Institute for Philanthropic Studies and California State University, Long Beach (Go Prospector Pete!)

Melanie is an avid gardener and backpacking enthusiast who lives with her family and assorted critters in the North Bay.

Read less

Samantha is a San Francisco native who is delighted to be working with donors to support UC Berkeley as a preeminent teaching and research university. Having spent the majority of her career in university and other non-profit environments, Samantha has a deep appreciation for the power of public-private partnerships in supporting the common good. She finds great satisfaction in facilitating such partnerships to help secure Cal’s future.

After graduating from Stanford University with B.A.s in linguistics and German studies, Samantha dedicated the first twelve years of her career to higher education and non-profit management, focusing on budget, finance, and administration. Upon earning her law degree, Samantha worked in the for-profit arena for a technology start-up in San Francisco before happily returning to academia at UC.

Facilitating planned gifts to support Cal integrates the aspects of Samantha’s career she enjoys most — working with individuals and organizations to achieve their strategic, financial, and legal goals while benefiting the larger community.

Read less

Becky Thompson began her role as deputy director in the Office of Gift Planning in February of 2025. Becky brings a wealth of development and fundraising experience to her new role. She is an experienced philanthropy leader with 28 years of progressive leadership experience in healthcare, higher education, and nonprofit organizations.

In 2012 she joined Sutter Health Philanthropy and steadily progressed in a variety of roles including principal, major, and planned giving. She served as the executive director of philanthropy, gift planning for the greater Sacramento, Central Valley, and Sutter Care at Home divisions of Sutter Health, building the gift planning program and team from the ground up.

Prior to Sutter Health, Becky was chief philanthropy officer for Mercy Foundation, raising funds for the Mercy Neurological Institute campaign and Mercy San Juan hospital. She began her career in nonprofit fundraising, then moved into higher education fundraising at San Francisco State University, Northern Arizona University and Sacramento State University. At Sacramento State, she oversaw the development department as associate vice president for development, leading a staff of 23 and managing a capital campaign.

Becky received her B.A. in Journalism from Franklin College of Indiana and has completed the Certified Specialist in Planned Giving (CSPG) program at Long Beach State. She currently serves as immediate past president of the Planned Giving Forum of greater Sacramento and is a member of the Sacramento Estate Planning Council. She lives in Carmichael, CA with her husband, her two children (and four rescue dogs) and enjoys gardening, hiking along the American River, and reading.

Read less

Rachelle Regan is the Director of Administration in the Office of Gift Planning. Rachelle has held her current role as the director of administration since 2016, overseeing the administration of estate gifts, the management of the life income gift program, and office operations. She also staffs the UC Berkeley Foundation (UCBF) Trust & Annuity Subcommittee.

Rachelle graduated from the University of Oregon with a BA in Art History and earned an MA in Museum Studies from San Francisco State University. After earning her law degree from Loyola University Chicago in 2010, she worked as a law clerk at Harpo Productions and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and volunteered at CARPLS Legal Aid and the Center for Disability & Elder Law. Before joining the Office of Gift Planning, Rachelle worked on Berkeley’s campus as a development officer for the College of Environmental Design where she cultivated a deep appreciation for the intelligence, creativity, and generosity found in Berkeley students, faculty, and alumni.

Read less

A former estate planning attorney, Kimberly now works as an Associate Director in the Office of Gift Planning at her alma mater UC Berkeley. She received her J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law and is a member of both the California and Washington State Bar Associations. Kimberly recognizes the vital importance of philanthropy and the critical role that it plays in advancing public education in our beloved state. In fact, her entire immediate family consists of University of California graduates! Kimberly finds working with donors to design and structure gifts so that Cal receives the highest and best benefits now and in perpetuity both profoundly rewarding and fulfilling. Go Bears!

Read less