Karee and Greg Sampson: Inspiring Philanthropy Through UT Southwestern’s Vanguard and Estate Planning Initiatives

Karee and Greg Sampson are valued members of the joint Estate Planning Council established by Southwestern Medical Foundation and UT Southwestern Medical Center. Karee is Managing Director at Dix Sampson Consulting Group of U.S. Capital Advisors, LLC. Greg is a Trusts and Estates attorney at Gray Reed & McGraw, P.C. In their respective roles as financial advisor and estate planning attorney, Karee and Greg are privileged to work with clients to help them achieve their charitable goals, including those who have a special interest in supporting UT Southwestern.

A Legacy of Support Through the Vanguard Program

In addition to serving on the Estate Planning Council, they co-chair The Vanguard program, an event series enabling donors to learn from nationally and internationally recognized physicians and scientists at UT Southwestern. Karee also serves on the Finance Committee of the President’s Advisory Board and co-chaired the Women’s Health Symposium in 2023.

With the insights they have gained through their extensive involvement with UT Southwestern, they reflected on their relationship with UT Southwestern and their work with clients who have made significant gifts in support of UT Southwestern.

“There are so many ways for donors to support UT Southwestern. Matching donor passion with various UT Southwestern needs and opportunities maximizes the relationships and is key to retaining donors’ engagement and building long-term partnerships.”

Karee and Greg Sampson

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Q&A with Karee and Greg Sampson

Q: How did you become involved with UT Southwestern?

Karee: I served many years as a Trustee of the Jim and Joanie Hatcher Charitable Trust, a private entity established and funded by Jim Hatcher in loving memory of his wife, Joanie, who passed away from breast cancer in 1996. I co-chaired the Joanie Hatcher Survivor Brunch, an annual celebration of survivors underwritten and hosted by the Hatcher Trust for many years at the Anatole Hotel. In 2011, when the Hatcher Trust was seeking an organization to support, I was introduced by a business colleague to UT Southwestern leaders Cyndi Bassel, Amanda Billings and Liza Skaggs, who proposed several breast health-related programs the Hatcher Trust might fund. Thus began a long-term relationship and ever-expanding engagement with UT Southwestern.

Greg: My initial involvement with UT Southwestern was through the Estate Planning Council. Later, dealing with my mother’s Alzheimer’s experience and while serving as a chair of the Dallas Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, I looked for information about Alzheimer’s research being conducted in part through the Peter O’Donnel Brain Institute and Dr. Mark Diamond that might lead to synergistic opportunities. Karee and I found so many great resources and progress being made on that front and other areas of personal interest through the Estate Planning Council and Circle of Friends program that our voluntary and financial involvement have naturally grown.

Q: How has your role as co-chairs of the Vanguard program deepened your relationship with UT Southwestern?

Karee and Greg: In October 2019, we were asked to chair the Circle of Friends, now named The Vanguard. We find that donors who attend these educational Vanguard events not only increase their knowledge but also deepen their relationship with UT Southwestern. Spending an evening with these world-class doctors and scientists and being able to ask questions is a rare and enriching opportunity for any donor, which also leads them to invite their friends to share the Vanguard event experience.

But perhaps even more enriching was our opportunity to serve on the Steering Committee of the Vanguard program helping to select promising new research projects at UT Southwestern to receive seed money grants provided through gifts from The Vanguard and Circle of Friends donors. These grants enabled many of those researchers to reach the next level where more funding from the NIH and other sources could be attained to continue their critical research.

Q: Can you give an example of how you have worked with one of your charitably-minded clients to direct their giving to UT Southwestern and what it has meant to them to do so?

Greg: I had an estate planning client whose wife battled cancer and eventually passed away. The husband was so expressively grateful for the life-extending and positive experience they had while she was undergoing treatment at UT Southwestern, that it was easy to ask if he wanted to provide a gift to help others in their cancer journey at UT Southwestern. He ended up making a formula gift in his Will equal to the excess of his available exemption that would cause his estate to have zero estate tax, while still providing plenty of non-taxable benefit to his family.

Karee: What began in 2011 as annual support for breast health programs by the Hatcher Trust quickly expanded in 2013 with the Joanie Hatcher Survivor Brunch becoming an official event of UT Southwestern. At that time the event was held on the campus and funded by the Hatcher Trust. The beautiful fun-filled brunch for 400+ breast cancer survivors was enhanced to include a panel discussion with esteemed physicians and surgeons from the Breast Center.

In 2017, development leadership surfaced the need for a Patient Resource Guide to empower breast cancer patients with easy-to-understand, yet comprehensive current information on their treatment. The guide provides much-needed directions and details about UT Southwestern facilities and much more vital information customized for each patient and delivered without expense to the patient. After connecting a dear friend of mine with the team of doctors to shepherd her through her breast cancer diagnosis in 2019, I forwarded to Jim a copy of her Thank You note and a photo of her holding her own Patient Resource Guide – here is his response:

In 2022, the Hatcher Trust’s focus shifted from the Patient Resource Guide to multi-year funding of the Integrated Therapies Program at the new Simmons Cancer Center.

Jim Hatcher’s strong and enduring partnership is still going strong. Not only is he looking forward to funding the next critical need to support breast cancer patients, but he is also now positioned for his love and memory of Joanie to endure through legacy planning that will ensure all of his estate will pour into the Hatcher Trust to support breast health programs at UT Southwestern long after he is reunited with his beloved Joanie.

Karee and Greg: Last year, we had a dear friend who monetized his business and wanted to make a significant gift to fund Alzheimer’s-related programs. Having met internationally recognized expert Dr. Marc Diamond and hearing him present on his original neurogenerative disease discoveries at a Circle of Friends event, we invited our friend, Randy, to a ‘Lunch and Learn’ to hear Dr. Diamond. Shortly after, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Amanda Billings arranged for Randy to meet Dr. Diamond privately. Subsequently, Randy made a very large donation to Dr. Diamond’s lab in his parents’ memory. This year he has expressed interest in making a gift to a breast health program at UTSW in his sister’s honor.

There are so many people throughout DFW who love and appreciate UTSW — with so many ways to engage with meaningful support to help address various needs, there are countless opportunities for each of us to shepherd these connections and help nurture these long-term relationships.