detector went off

Received a strange "urgent" email. At first I thought it real but the further along the dialogue went, the louder my BS indicator rang. When I was asked to buy 5 online gift cards for $100 each and send over the information, I knew I was on the verge of being had. But how did they spoof the president of RASC? How did they get my personal email address? How did they make that association? How did they know about the organisation's structure. Made me wonder if his address book or inbox had been hacked. I reported it to the executive director. They both replied later. They sloughed it off as a simple spoof attempt. I hope other members did not succumb.