Leader Dog Leadership

Prior to being appointed as president and CEO, Weisse served as the vice president and chief philanthropy officer and led the organization’s national philanthropy and fundraising strategy and execution. With over 20 years of experience in fundraising and nonprofit leadership in the blindness and low vision community, Weisse has raised over $150 million dollars during her tenure, diversified and grown Leader Dog’s revenue streams and led the successful $14.5 million-dollar capital campaign for the new canine development center. She raised over $17 million dollars annually working with a team of dedicated fundraisers.

She oversaw Leader Dog’s philanthropic efforts, including major and planned giving, foundation gifts, direct mail, annual giving, estate giving, donor relations and stewardship, and Lions clubs giving, which encompasses over 4,000 participating clubs nationwide. During her tenure as chief philanthropy officer, the organization’s philanthropic revenue grew 121% and estate revenue by 163% to grow and refine service provision for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Weisse is one of 117 people in the world to hold the designation of ACFRE, Advanced Certified Fundraising Executive, the highest professional accreditation for professional fundraisers.

Prior to coming to Leader Dog, Weisse was a private client advisor at Christies, London, the world’s leading art business, where she worked extensively with high-net-worth individuals and foundations in 46 countries and ten international showrooms. She has worked in Hong Kong, Singapore and Washington, D.C.

Weisse graduated from the University of Notre Dame and has a master’s degree from the University of Glasgow. She is a graduate of nonprofit leadership and fundraising programs at Georgetown University and the Lily School of Philanthropy at Indiana University Purdue University and the Non-Profit Executive Leadership program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Weisse sits on the Board of the American Foundation for the Blind and serves as Chair of AFB Resource Development Committee. She is a Board member and past president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Detroit Chapter and has served on the Board, Ethics Committee Taskforce and the Finance Committee for AFP Global. Weisse is a member of Lions Clubs International. She was the recipient of Crain’s Notable Women in Non-Profits award in 2018 for women who innovate and lead in the social sector.

Lorene Suidan brings over 25 years of nonprofit management expertise, financial leadership, program development and strategic planning to her role as the chief financial officer of Leader Dogs for the Blind. Her role as CFO is to provide leadership and management of the organization’s financial, information technology and facilities functions.

As chief financial officer at Leader Dog, she provided financial oversight and leadership for over $128 million dollars in philanthropic and other revenue raised. In addition, she has overseen all financial aspects of the $14.5 million-dollar capital campaign, the largest in the organization’s 80-year history, to create the canine development center.

Prior to her arrival at Leader Dogs for the Blind, Lorene served as chief financial officer at Jewish Senior Life of Metropolitan Detroit (JSL), where she was instrumental in designing effective systems and encouraging board involvement and oversight of the finance function. Lorene has been privileged to serve in a variety of nonprofit environments prior to coming to Leader Dog including Sacred Heart Major Seminary and The Order of the Fishermen Ministry. Lorene is an adjunct professor at Rochester College, teaching courses in nonprofit management and nonprofit budgeting & financial management.

Lorene is a graduate of James Madison College at Michigan State University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in justice, morality, and constitutional democracy. She holds a Master of Science degree in professional accountancy from Walsh College. Suidan completed Harvard Business School’s executive education coursework in “Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Nonprofit Organizations.” Lorene is a member of the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants, serves on its Nonprofit Task Force, and is a registered CPA. Lorene is a member of the Wixom-Walled Lake Lions Club.

Dani Landolt joined Leader Dogs for the Blind in August 2014 and has held roles as campaign manager, director of corporate relations and chief marketing officer. Dani currently serves as Leader Dog’s first ever chief impact officer and began in this role in February 2024.

In her time with Leader Dog, Dani has developed a corporate sponsorship program and established the current Leader Dog logo and brand with associated messaging. She has overseen corporate, third party and special event fundraising as well as all marketing and communication functions for the organization. In her current role, Dani oversees client services and the Leader Dog residence as well as all aspects of the guide dog program, including client training, canine development center operations and Leader’s canine welfare efforts. She also oversees client outreach and recruitment efforts as well as our volunteer engagement program including on-campus volunteers, puppy raisers and host home volunteers.

Prior to her arrival at Leader Dog, Dani led international marketing efforts in the automotive industry as well as sponsorship and brand activation planning for major corporate brands such as Rolex, John Deere, Lincoln Motor Company, and Purina developing unique activation plans for national and international target markets.

Dani is an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania where she earned her bachelor’s degrees in communications and cultural anthropology. She is also a graduate of the University of Kentucky where she earned her master’s degree in communication.

Prior to taking on the role of Chief Philanthropy and Marketing Officer, Missy Aupperle served Leader Dog in the role of Director of Personal Giving for six years.

Before coming to Leader Dog, Missy worked for over a decade at Grace Centers of Hope, a nonprofit organization which provides programming, life skills and shelter for those experiencing homelessness, chemical dependency and abuse. Missy specifically raised funds to support women and children experiencing homelessness. During her time at Grace Centers of Hope, Missy worked closely with the program team identifying critical needs, specifically pertaining to that community and advocating for services.

As the Director of Children’s Programs at Grace, Missy worked on the capital campaign for a new childcare center, raised funding for the project, secured state licensure and funds for the ongoing sustainability for the program benefiting this underrepresented community. Missy partnered closely with the CEO in cultivating and stewarding the organization’s major donors and longstanding partners. She facilitated components of the organization’s programming and funding and oversaw operational areas including volunteer management.

Missy worked with that organization’s communications team in a forward-facing role, speaking on live radio each morning and appearing on local television sharing the critical needs of the organization.

Missy partnered with the marketing team to create organizational assets, materials and written communications including their quarterly magazine and developing the organization’s narrative across multiple platforms.

Missy has spent her time at Leader Dogs for the Blind advocating and raising funds to benefit the mission and working closely with our clients in sharing the Leader Dog story nationwide. As Director of Personal Giving, she worked with the Leader Dog team and board to steward our major donors. This past fiscal year, working with her team, she secured the highest major gift revenue the organization has ever achieved.

David Smith, DVM, is the director of veterinary services at Leader Dogs for the Blind, supervising the Leader Dog veterinary clinic and team. He is a member of the Leader Dog Breeding Committee and was coordinator of the Leader Dogs Breeders Forum, a former educational outreach program for the canine breeding community. He supervised the development of the Leader Dogs cryogenic laboratory to preserve semen of highly regarded male breeding dogs.

In 1986, Dr. Smith accepted the position of staff veterinarian at Leader Dog. During the next 15 years he also provided veterinary relief services to numerous small animal and emergency practices in southeast Michigan.

Dr. Smith is a member of the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association, Southeast Michigan Veterinary Medical Association, American Veterinary Medical Association and the Society for Theriogenology. He has been recognized as a member of SEMVMA Academy for educational excellence and was awarded SEMVMA Outstanding Contribution to the Community.

Dr. Smith graduated from the University of Rhode Island with highest distinction from the honors program in animal science in 1979. He received his DVM from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University in 1983 and worked in general practice in Rhode Island and Massachusetts for three years.

He enjoys continuing education and application of advances within veterinary medicine. He has been a member of the Rochester Lions Club since 1986.