Who We Are

Stacy Bauer serves as outsourced corporate counsel for diverse clients, partnering with executive management to design, plan and implement stated and defined business objectives, and as a senior legal resource involving complex strategic transactions. Her background includes mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, corporate governance, corporate finance, regulatory compliance matters, human resources,  and contract drafting/negotiating. Stacy is a founding member of BauerGriffith, a business law firm providing high quality legal and business counsel to a wide array of clients, with an emphasis on non-profit organizations and small businesses. Previously Stacy was Vice President and General Counsel of VESTAX Securities Corporation, an ING company, providing legal and regulatory consultation to its broker/dealer subsidiaries. Earlier she was Vice President of KeyCorp, responsible for its investment management and commercial lending activities. Stacy graduated cum laude from The George Washington University National Law Center, and received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Miami University. Stacy served on the COSE Board of Advisors and is the immediate past chairman of the COSE Ambassador program.  She also served on the Board of Directors of Envalo and Dare2Care, and the advisory boards of the Douglass MacArthur Girls Leadership Academy, New Tech Facing History High School and the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins.Stacy is a member of the Ohio Bar as well as the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.  She is also an arbitrator for FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.  Stacy is a founding member of BG Consulting Group, serving diverse clients as business coaches; turn-around consultants; outsourced CFO; non-profit board development and fundraising consultants; corporate finance, due diligence and corporate restructuring consultants; and more.

Nancy Hancock Griffith has served as an attorney and consultant in the field of exempt organization representation, and philanthropic and gift planning, since 2005, providing strategic planning, compliance and technical counsel, program implementation, and guidance on a wide range of business, governance, and planning issues to non-profits and tax exempt organizations of all types, as well as individuals and professionals.

Nancy is a founding member of BauerGriffith, a business law firm providing high quality legal and business counsel to a wide array of clients, with an emphasis on non-profit organizations and small businesses.  Previously, she was the Director of Institutional Advancement for The Cleveland Music Settlement, integrating all fundraising, marketing and public relations activities for its Performing Arts, Early Childhood and Music Therapy Divisions, and the Director of Major and Planned Gifts and Director of Endowment and Planned Giving for The Cleveland Orchestra, significantly expanding its sophisticated planned gift program and developing its strategy to integrate major gift solicitations across the Development Department. Prior to her work in planned giving and development, Nancy practiced corporate and securities law in Cleveland, first with the law firm of Thompson Hine, and then as Vice President in the corporate law department of KeyCorp. Nancy graduated magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and received her Bachelor of Arts in Music and English, graduating summa cum laude, from Concordia University in Ann Arbor.

Nancy is a frequent speaker for area professional organizations, and created a well respected half-day gift planning training course, which she presents at least annually.  Nancy currently serves on the board of directors of Cleveland Play House and the Hermit Club. She is a past president and current member of the Northern Ohio Planned Giving Council, and a member of the Estate Planning Council of Cleveland, the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and the Ohio and American Bar Associations.  In addition to her professional activities, Nancy is an amateur competitive ballroom dancer, competing in Pro-Am rhythm and smooth division competitions throughout the United States and Canada.

Elise Hara Auvil was born in New York, raised bilingual by French parents, and lived in France as a child. She is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University Law School and began her legal career as an Assistant Public Defender in Philadelphia.  Cleveland has been her home since 1994.  She served as General Counsel to Eliza Jennings, (a continuing care retirement community), specializes in human resources and employment law, having also worked as Associate Counsel for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA), Director of Human Resources and Employment Counsel for Cuyahoga County (2011), Human Resource Manager for the City of Westlake (2019), and Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Cleveland (2023).  She enjoys helping political subdivisions and non-profits navigate employment issues efficiently.