October 2006
“Sabre Leek worked with Illinois State University over a 7 month period in 2006 as the project manager for a database conversion project. When Sabre was hired, Illinois State had been in the process of upgrading our fund-raising data base. Over the course of several years, we had been through multiple changes in staff and the project was suffering from a lack of leadership and direction. Not only were we dealing with implementation issues but staff changes significantly impacted the project timeline. Many believed the project would never reach full closure.”
“Our decision to hire Sabre as the project manager was the best investment the University could have made. Sabre's organizational and project management skills are outstanding. She is highly professional and her interpersonal skills and enthusiasm helped energize staff to believe that the project would succeed. Sabre's help and support was critical in the implementation of our new database. Sabre was able to communicate effectively with everyone involved in the project – from highly technical Systems Support staff to casual end-users of the system. She helped organize the project into manageable elements and was a positive force driving us to meet our timelines. In a matter of a few weeks, she managed to get things back on track. She literally saved an otherwise ill-fated system conversion project.”
“Sabre provides real solutions to real problems. We learned a great deal from Sabre Leek and would hire her again in a heartbeat.”
Jill A. Jones, Executive Director Development, Donor and Information Services
April 2006
"Sabre Leek worked with Boston College for approximately 18 months as an independent consultant. She was instrumental in our fundraising software implementation, and helped us finish the conversion in 9 months. This was an extremely complex project, involving multiple systems, a large number of users, high-end technology needs, and very extensive and challenging data. Sabre's expertise and experience really made a big difference. We took advantage of all of the information that she gained from working with lots of other organizations on their implementations!"
"After we went live, there was still a lot of work to be done putting users needs in place. Sabre worked with us to handle some of the complex systems that needed to be put in place, including a major gift dashboard for launching our campaign."
"I would recommend Sabre Leek as a consultant to anyone who needs help with complex issues. Contact me at mcintoli@bc.edu if you need more information."
Linda McIntosh, Director of Advancement Services, Boston College
March 2006
"Sabre Leek is an accomplished fundraising software consultant who has worked with the UMass Memorial Foundation for the last thirteen months. The Foundation raises funds for the UMass Medical School and its clinical partner the UMass Memorial Healthcare System so our fundraising database is quite complex. Sabre has helped our office with post-upgrade issues for our fundraising software. This was a major systems upgrade that required all of our reports to be re-written. In addition, our senior systems analyst left our employment three months after the upgrade so there were a host of post-upgrade issues that had to be dealt with. During the time that this position was vacant, Sabre filled the vacancy on a temporary basis and she also helped us find our new systems analyst and train him."
"We have found Sabre to be excellent in listening to user needs, is a very creative problem solver , defines the user requests or problems and promptly resolves the issues. She has acted as a project manager for our task force to improve the policies and procedures for using our fundraising software system. She has excellent project management skills and is good at follow through. She has been an excellent trainer for our staff. She has excellent people skills and can relate to people at different levels from the Vice Chancellor for Development to the gift processing staff. "
"I have worked with many IS personnel and I rate Sabre as one of the best technical people I have ever worked with."
Sam Stewart, Controller, UMass Memorial Foundation
January, 2006
"Yesterday's Advanced Gift Training went very well, was well received,
and proved to be extremely useful. We weren't able to get through all of
the topics that Sabre would have liked to have covered, due to detailed
and insightful discussions we had. We'd like to set up another session
in the not too distant future (maybe the week of the 23rd?). We also
realized that a session specific to Planned Giving would also be
worthwhile."
John Bolduc, Systems Administrator, University of Massachusetts Memorial Foundation
" When we converted our fundraising system, Sabre Leek was instrumental in
helping us successfully complete what should have been an 18 month
project in 6 months. She outlined what needed to be done throughout the
process, was available for our many questions, and worked with us to
review all of our business procedures and fundraising reports. Everyone
from our institution who worked with Sabre had a very positive experience. "
Melanie Sherwood, Boston Museum of Science
" Sabre was key to our conversion process, helping us to understand the business rules, and she was the "missing link" between our new conversion team and the technical staff. "
Guillermo Anaya, CHLA Database Manager, Applications and Conversion Team member
" Those of us on the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles conversion team were impressed with not only Sabre's thorough fundraising knowledge combined with her technical database expertise, but also found Sabre to be most pleasant, organized and easy to understand. She was invaluable in helping our conversion go more smoothly. "
Suzanne Szalay, Development Research, Conversion Team
Trudy Miller, Eastern Washington University
" Sabre Leek brings a unique set of abilities to the table while crafting solutions. She combines an IT background with a fund raising management perspective to create value for her clients."
Robert Clyne, VP Development, Oklahoma State University Foundation
" Over a period of two years, I worked closely with Sabre Leek when she was working with JSI Incorporated. Sabre came into the project after the sale and was assigned as an implementation consultant. I was a Systems Analyst at the time and the project leader for this one million dollar project with a two year implementation deadline.
The project involved a radical change in technology and a comprehensive overhaul of the work methodology of our division. In a nut shell, we were moving from a small fundraising shop with few personnel to an organization with large distributed work model requiring a centralized data management tool. None of our managers were technology-savvy and our Divisional Vice President at the time, while very supportive, had no technology background. For project support, Sabre was just what we needed from our vendor.
As with all projects, this one faced setbacks and challenges. However, two unusual circumstances impeded the progress of this project and threatened a successful and timely delivery of the product. Both involved complex human resource challenges in the area of our software development team. These problems should have derailed our project severely and as project leader I faced many long days trying to sort out the problems and find solutions. During these times Sabre offered a level of support and aid which remains unmatched in my 25 years of professional experience.
Her understanding of the system development life cycle helped me and our project teams to anticipate and prepare for each challenge. Her insight into operational issues and her candor with regards to them often made the difference in moving management to act proactively instead of reactively. She has a firm grasp of technology requirements and she never left me waiting on vendor issues; her follow-up and communication skills are the best.
If you would like to discuss Sabre’s qualifications with me in person, please contact me. "
Seth E. Worley, Director of Corporations and Foundations, Texas State University-San Marcos
"The United States Olympic Committee went through a conversion and implementation in early 2001. We worked closely with Sabre and Michelle Lynch in developing policies and procedures for the database. Their years of experience and expertise were invaluable to us during this time. Michelle was extremely helpful and made several on-site visits and was "on-call" for quite a period of time for any questions that arose. Their professionalism and enthusiasm for the task at hand was commendable."
Janet Hotzel, Database Administrator, United States Olympic Committee
