Madeline Luceno is the director of major gifts and institutional partnerships at Chesapeake Conservancy, where she cultivates and stewards strong donor relationships, builds robust institutional partnerships and drives comprehensive fundraising strategies to support the organization’s mission of watershed restoration, land conservation and community resilience.

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Before joining the Chesapeake Conservancy, Luceno was the director of development for the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), where she led comprehensive fundraising strategies, managed core development functions and partnered with executive leadership to drive growth. Previously, Luceno held key fundraising roles at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), including associate director of development for global and experiential learning and development analyst for the UCSB Library.

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Melding her professional fundraising expertise with a deep-rooted passion for the environment, Luceno holds a master’s of science in earth science from UCSB and a bachelor’s of arts in archaeology from The George Washington University. Luceno is a published researcher in the American Geophysical Union’s scientific journal, Tectonics, and is a dedicated advocate for diversity in the sciences. Luceno served as the President of the DC, Maryland & Virginia Chapter of the Association for Women Geoscientists (AWG) in 2018-19 and 2024-25 and is a member of the AWG Geoscience IDEA Scholarship Committee.

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A Maryland native, Luceno resides in Annapolis with her husband and pets, where she enjoys exploring the natural preserves and parks along the Chesapeake Bay.