Connor Schmiegel is a Partner and Vice President of The Aubrey Group, where he helps manage all company service lines, reports directly to the CEO, and leads a team of more than 14 professionals. He serves as Project Executive and is one of the firm’s highest-level grant experts across all client accounts. Connor has advised more than 100 public and private entity clients — ranging from local governments to nonprofits and businesses — and currently oversees more than 50 active accounts across service lines, setting the grant-seeking, fundraising, and programming strategy for each.

Connor served as The Aubrey Group’s main grant writer from May 2022 through June 2023, personally authoring or preparing every application submitted across the full client portfolio, and remained a primary author and reviewer through 2024 while hiring and training the team that now supports the work.

Since joining the firm in 2022, Connor has developed or overseen more than 375 grant applications with unique program narratives, budgets, and letters of support, resulting in 169 awards totaling nearly $50 million in federal, state, local government, and private foundation funding — including a $24.25 million NJEDA Cultural Arts Facilities Expansion award for the Battleship New Jersey.

Along with grant strategy and writing, Connor confidently and reliably handles grant administration to ensure the proper execution of grant-awarded programs. He also directs and has directed the administration of more than 170 grant awards and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) entitlement engagements representing more than $115 million in funds, including every HUD entitlement project the firm has managed since 2022 — Camden, East Orange, and Lakewood Township — and has developed deep project management expertise in HUD Program Management and Campaign Feasibility Studies.

Connor helps pro bono nonprofit clients kick-start fundraising and grant-seeking by developing fundable programs and guiding them on where to begin. Connor managed the Rahway Nonprofit Alliance for four years, aligning 20+ nonprofit organizational partners with the training needed to seek grants and donors.

Connor has repeatedly expanded what the firm can offer its clients. Sustainable New Jersey certification, community energy planning, and capital campaign feasibility studies were each new to The Aubrey Group when he took them on; he delivered the first engagement in each, built them into repeatable services, and trained the team to run them for other clients.

Prior to joining The Aubrey Group, Connor served as Associate Director of Public Affairs for the New Jersey Food Council (NJFC), managed the Food Council Committee for Good Government PAC, published public-facing materials for press and social media, authored NJFC’s Annual Report and weekly newsletter, and organized issue-specific Committee meetings and events. He also served as a Research Assistant for Dr. Ben Dworkin, Director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy & Citizenship, and worked on several victorious campaigns during and after college. His background in theatre influenced his path into politics and professional services. Connor was promoted to Vice President in 2023 and to Partner in 2025.

Connor grew up in Gloucester County, New Jersey, and now lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania — a South Jersey upbringing and a Pennsylvania address that mirror the reach of the clients he serves. He lives there with his wife Maeve and their two dogs, Maggie and Archie. He still performs in local theatre productions — the same interest that first drew him to politics and professional services. He spends the rest of his free time on a million house projects, collecting vinyl records, watching movies, helping with local political campaigns, and rooting for Philadelphia sports. Go Birds!

Strengths and skillsets:

• Grant Strategy

• Grant Award Administration

• HUD and CDBG Program Management

• Capital Campaign Feasibility

• Government & Public Affairs

• State and Federal Research and Legislation

• Policy Analysis

• Strategic Planning

• Campaign Organizing

• Nonprofit Development & Fundraising

Noteworthy:

• Bucks County Industrial Development Authority, Board Member

• Falls Township Environmental Advisory Committee, Board Member

• Falls Township Shade Tree Commission, Board Member

• Falls Township & Bucks County Democratic Committee, Committee Member

• Falls Township Democrats, Deputy Chair

• Rowan University Excellence in Communication Studies Medallion Award

• Serves clients across 13 New Jersey counties, multiple Pennsylvania counties, and several additional states with working knowledge of county-level funding programs and local match requirements across the region.

• Helped secure 78 awards totaling more than $37 million directly from New Jersey state agencies since 2022 — including NJEDA, NJDCA, NJDEP, the NJ Historic Commission, and the Office of the Attorney General — reflecting sustained working relationships across Trenton's funding agencies.