Apra Carolinas has so many talented members, we would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge them through this Member Spotlight series. If you, or someone you know, would be a good fit, please connect with us! 

Angie Herrington is a Senior Consultant for Helen Brown Group (HBG). She began her career in development in 1999 at Virginia Tech in Corporate and Foundation Relations and later in prospect research at the University of Connecticut Foundation. Her past experience also includes grants management at the University of South Carolina, program evaluation for South Carolina Research Authority, and human resources analysis for Nissan North America. She returned to development in 2007 and worked in various prospect research positions at Vanderbilt University, including as Associate Director. She was named Director for Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s research office in 2015 before joining HBG in 2016.  Below is a Q&A between Angie and Megan Gregg as part of the Member Spotlight series. 

Photo of Angie Herrington

How long have you been an Apra Carolinas member, and what has been your most meaningful experience with the chapter?

I’ve been a member since 2016 and was Communications Chair for a year. Apra Carolinas puts in the effort to provide regular programming and services I’ve rarely experienced with other professional organizations. The collaboration with other Apra chapters has also been great and opened even more opportunities for education and networking that I was already benefitting from with our own chapter.

What do you like most about Prospect Research?

Every day I learn something new. Each individual or organization is unique. One day I’m prospecting individuals in Spain, searching for the average compensation of a clown performer, reading how the Tulsa Race Massacre influenced future generations of a family’s wealth and career paths, then another day someone is “allegedly” and “accidentally” involved in a gold heist gone wrong involving a Nigerian war lord. Everyone has a story to tell – big or small – that makes them unique.

Describe your professional journey and what the trajectory of your career has looked like. What drew you to make the transition to your current role with The Helen Brown Group?

Everyone I know says they fell into it and I’m the same. I majored in history because I loved researching and learning about people. When my husband was in graduate school at Virginia Tech, I simply needed a job. I was hired as a development associate in corporate and foundations relations and had no idea “development” is fundraising. The prospect research office had two people in 1999 and didn’t have the capacity to support us. Tamara Overcash, who later became director of research at Duke University until she passed in 2011, gave me a few pointers and the link for Prspct-L and I was hooked. My first job as a researcher was at the University of Connecticut but we moved around and there weren’t many research openings during those times. I returned to prospect research in 2006 at Vanderbilt University. We moved to Raleigh in 2015 and I was taking a break when a former co-worker put me in touch with HBG. I began here in a temporary role and six months later we made it official!

What are some of the challenges that come with working in more of a consulting role versus a standard Prospect Research shop? Alternatively, what aspects of the role are stimulating?

I can’t immediately think of any major challenges working in my consulting role and the services HBG provides. When someone hires us, it means they already understand and value how prospect research helps them. In a standard research shop some fundraisers don’t always understand or are willing to learn how we can help them be successful and make their jobs easier. I never feel like it’s an uphill battle to advocate our worth.

There are two aspects of working with HBG I find the most stimulating. The most important is my coworkers. We all come from a variety of backgrounds and our knowledge and specialties makes for an amazing “brain trust” of collaboration. The other is our clients. For 25 years I've primarily been in higher education but have now worked with museums, public policy think tanks, and people on the front lines of social justice reform. All are making a difference and it's rewarding to have even a small part of that impact through our wide range of clients.

What are the most valuable skills for prospect researchers to develop?

You can teach people databases and websites to find information, but you can’t teach them the curiosity and critical thinking to pull it all together. Don’t rely on a check list of resources and think you’re done. Recently I noticed a pattern of someone with several direct connections to a sanctioned oligarch. I would have missed it if I didn’t think it was odd the person is chair for a company that didn’t fit their career history. Curious about the company, I immediately found several name changes and lawsuits. The sanctioned individual’s roles and investments to this and several other companies connected to the person I was researching became a potential red flag. Similarly, you have to know when to stop and that’s a difficult skill to develop over time.

Thinking back on your career history, share about a time that you hit a “roadblock” while conducting a research project. What was it, and how did you move through it?

News alerts. I’ve had a few clients find them important, but not everyone understands it can be time consuming and more of a manual process than pushing a button. Manage their expectations as well as yours. Sources have to be vetted for validity, create search strings to get the best results, review content for bias and accuracy, and an article from 5 years ago might be dated today. I wrote a blog post a few years ago and still believe you have to use more than one product to cover your bases. For example, out of three products only one caught an article where a high-profile individual received an OBE from the late Queen Elizabeth that week. I currently use Lexis Nexis (subscription), Talkwalker (free), and Google (free).

Tell us something fun about yourself that others might not know!

This isn’t necessarily “fun,” but thinking about my career history I realized I’ve lived in seven states and moved homes 19 times. My home in Raleigh is the longest I’ve lived – almost eight years now. No plans to contact U-Haul anytime soon!