What I Do
Up until January 2011, I was the CEO of Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council, a great mid-size non-profit in Southern California. After being there for seven and a half years in a variety of roles (including the last three as CEO), I decided to make the big leap to doing something on my own. You can read more about that change here and a bigger bio is below, if you want more.
So, what do I do now?
- I’m the Managing Director of the NY Tech Meetup
- I’m a columnist for The Press-Enterprise
- I’m blogging about my Regret Me Not Project
- I spoke at SXSW and the Nonprofit Technology Conference
And the random facts…
I’m a lefty, but I do everything righty except write.
I can lindy hop and bake a mean key lime pie, although usually not at the same time.
I overcame my fear of public speaking brought on by a disastrous presentation about Eskimos in 6th grade, and now people say I’m pretty good at it.
I tend to come up with Macguyver-like solutions to a variety of challenges, kind of like this one:
- Video camera held to a log (serving as tall tripod) with painter’s tape and thumb tacks
- The Bigger Bio
I’m currently the Managing Director of NY Tech Meetup, the largest meetup in the world with over 18,000 members. NY Tech Meetup is a non-profit that supports the growing tech community in New York and has been integral in the birth of New York’s new Silicon Alley, with nearly every notable new company, including Foursquare and Tumblr, making their debut at a NYTM event.
Until January 2011, I was the CEO of Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council in Southern California. During my tenure, I was the youngest Girl Scout Council CEO in the country. While serving as CEO, I was an architect of change, leading the organization through unprecedented improvements in organizational culture and reshaping the strategic vision of the organization to providing high-quality programming and customer service. In July 2008, I successfully led Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council to become the first non-profit organization in the country to migrate to a Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE). In April 2010, Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council was selected by The Non-Profit Times as one of the fifty best non-profits in the country to work for, ranking number eight on the list.
I received my Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Maryland, graduating Cum Laude, and earned my Certificate of Non-Profit Management from Duke University. I started my career at Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council in 2003 as a Fund Development Associate, and then became Fund Development Manager, Director of Development, Chief Operating Officer, and finally Chief Executive Officer. I am a certified fundraising executive (CFRE). I have received numerous personal and professional awards including the Girl Scouts of the USA Frances Hesselbein Award for Excellence in Management in 2007.
In addition to my work for NY Tech Meetup, I am also a columnist for The Press Enterprise, authoring the weekly column “The Practical Business Radical.” I have been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Inc., Wall Street Journal, Beta Beat, the book Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It, The Non-Profit Times, and other publications.
I have also become a sought-after speaker on organizational culture change, innovative business practices, Results-Only Work Environments and the use of social media for business, speaking frequently at both local and national events such as SXSW Interactive and the Nonprofit Technology Conference.
