I am very honored to take on the role of President & CEO of United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania because I believe so deeply in the mission of our organization. I have been privileged to be a part of the organization’s senior management team and because of this experience, I understand the challenges and can provide the leadership necessary to build upon current successes. I am eager, driven and excited to continue my life’s work in the non-profit human services sector and motivated to implement more innovative programs that address the human service challenges in our region.

With a full heart and open mind, I look forward to entering this role with integrity, compassion and a strong commitment to United Way’s mission. Here’s why:

 #1. The work is personal to me
I grew up in a family that sometimes struggled to meet our basic needs, and I recognize the role that educational opportunities have played in helping me succeed. United Way is committed to improving the lives of local residents by focusing on the issues that matter most to living good lives: education, financial stability and health. When you think about what you need and want for yourself and your family to be happy and successful, I bet these three things are at least part of your list. We all deserve these opportunities, and our community will be stronger when we work together to ensure the needs of all families are being met.

#2. United Way brings magic to addressing community human service challenges
United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania is uniquely positioned to help people live better lives. We take a broad view of human need within the communities we serve, and we bring together corporate, community and public partners to address our most urgent needs and to prevent problems before they arise, while monitoring and evaluating our success (and yes, sometimes failures). This level of community perspective enables us to elevate complex problems and engage thousands of donors, volunteers and community human service agency partners to collaboratively address problems. Without this larger orchestration of people, resources and problem solving that United Way inspires, it would be far more challenging to improve lives.

#3. I want to continue our success in partnership with a talented, diverse and growing team
I look forward to building the impact of United Way in our region wide footprint of Allegheny, Butler, Westmoreland, Fayette and Southern Armstrong Counties in partnership with our stellar board of directors, talented staff and you. I am committed to engaging more donors and volunteers, particularly diverse and next generation leaders, forming more critical partnerships to address human service challenges and to sharing effective programs and practices throughout all of the communities we serve.

We will continue to implement innovative strategies, expand how we use technology to improve our effectiveness, leverage the talent of smart business and community partners and raise and invest funds in programs that best help people live full, happy and healthy lives.