Building community engagement and strategic partnerships

Theresa Riviera

Kristen Snow

Kristen has spent over 15 years in the nonprofit sector, in both staff and consulting roles, primarily focused on program management and partnership development. Currently a doctoral student at the University of the Pacific, studying organizational leadership & innovation, her research interests include organizational development in the nonprofit sector, and how workplace culture affects organizational impact.

Most recently, Kristen served as the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships for the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). Prior to NEDA, Kristen was the Program Director and Acting Executive Director for A Chance to Heal Foundation. She has also worked as the Teen Coordinator for a community center on a military base in England, where she led Boys and Girls Clubs programs for children of service members. True to her collaborative nature, Kristen holds a master’s degree in Human Relations, and is a certified yoga teacher. When she is not studying or working with nonprofits, Kristen can be found traveling to new places (when not quarantined), wandering in nature and reading.

Kelsey Neff

Kelsey improves workplace climate and culture with an intentional focus in two areas – systems and people. By identifying barriers to success on an individual and organizational level she works to improve policies, procedures and professional relationships amongst colleagues. She practices the tenets of servant leadership and believes that excellence happens when you focus on both a big picture vision as well as the day-to-day operations that make it a reality. Kelsey is an experienced trainer and has presented at local, state, national and international education conferences. Her 10 year career in nonprofit management has created a foundation in strategic planning, assessment and evaluation, grant writing and management, professional development and community organizing. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology.

Nick Houser

Nick has over has over 12 years of experience in communications and marketing, which has led him to his current role as Marketing and Communications Manager for the Sacramento Children’s Home and VP of Communities for the American Marketing Association’s Sacramento Valley Chapter.

Nick began his writing career as an intern for the Sacramento Press and through an internship with Bleacher Report. Afterward, he moved into a Featured Columnist role with B/R, took over the B/R internship program’s Feedback Editor role, and obtained full-time work as a copywriter. From there, he moved back into news, joining a national Hearst Television team as a Digital Managing Editor, producing online news content.

Today, he works for the Sacramento Children’s Home, leading all of the organization’s marketing and communications efforts, including on social media and through email marketing. “I love the storytelling aspect of writing and marketing the most, so by working in the nonprofit industry, I not only get to tell real and heartwarming stories, but the work I do inspires fundraising that directly supports local children. There is no better feeling than that.”

Paul Curtis

Paul Curtis has dedicated the past 30 years to creating positive and lasting changes as a community activist and leader in the nonprofit and human services areas in the Sacramento region, as well as at a statewide and national level. He has been a passionate and tireless advocate and champion on issues ranging from HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ, foster care, runaway and homeless youth, to healthcare including mental health and substance abuse challenges. Paul has over 40 years of extensive knowledge and experience with management and development in both the small business arena and in non-profits, including personnel, operations, fiscal management, grants, fund development, strategic planning, and public policy and advocacy.

He was the founder and CEO of Objective Medical Evaluations from 1993 to 2010. He then used his years of volunteer and leadership experience with non-profits in the Sacramento area to move into non-profit management roles. After early roles with the Yolo Food Bank and the Sacramento Boys and Girls Club he became Executive Director of the California Coalition for Youth, the statewide association of runaway and homeless youth agencies from 2013 to early 2017. During his time there he stabilized finances, ended the first full year with a positive net income after 4 years of deficits and overall grew revenues by 27%. He then moved on to become Executive Director of the California Coalition of Community Behavioral Health Agencies (CBHA), the statewide association of non-profit mental health and substance use disorder agencies, from 2017 to 2020. During that time, he provided strong financial leadership, including taking the organization from an annual deficit over the past few years to a positive net income, and developed the procedures and structure for a new formal Policy Committee to guide the organization’s policy goals. Within the first year he also oversaw a complete rebranding of CBHA, including a new logo and website. During that time he was also appointed to the Board of Directors for the National Council for Behavioral Health.

Paul has served on numerous non-profit Boards in the Sacramento area. He is Past President of the Board of Directors of CARES (the Center for AIDS Research, Education and Services), the largest provider of services to those dealing with HIV and AIDS in inland Northern California. He was a co-founder of Capital City AIDS Fund, a volunteer driven non-profit organization which raised funds for local HIV/AIDS service organizations, and served as Board President for its first 7 years. He helped create and chaired many of the fundraisers at CCAF including the annual Oscar Party held for many years at the Hyatt Regency, the Sacramento AIDS Walk, the NorCal AIDS Challenge (a 4 day bike ride) and others. He is also a Senior Fellow with the Mountain Valley Chapter of the American Leadership Forum, Class XII, and served on the Board, including 5 years as Treasurer.

Paul is available for consulting services with non-profits in the Sacramento region and across the state in the areas of strategic planning, policy and advocacy, financial planning and fund development.

Jacques S. Whitfield, JD

Mr. Whitfield is a seasoned Human Resources Executive with over 20 years of experience in human resources management and diversity, equity and inclusion. Whitfield recently completed a six year tenure as the Chief Human Resources Officer and Chief Compliance Officer for the Yuba Community College District. Whitfield was responsible for the management and oversight of the human resources operations for the district and is credited with revitalizing and streamlining the Human Resource Operations for the Yuba Community College District. Whitfield is a subject matter expert in performance management, employee engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion and state and federal EEO compliance matters. Whitfield is also a subject matter expert in leadership development. He is highly accomplished in successfully working with others to develop professional skills and improve employee effectiveness through training and development. Whitfield is a frequent speaker, trainer and presenter.

Employment History

• Senior Consultant, Recruitment Solutions, CPS HR Consulting
• Chief Human Resources Officer, Yuba Community College District
• Adjunct Professor, School of Education, California State University, Sacramento
• Managing Partner, The Sterling Group, Ltd
• Director of Administrative Services and Strategic Planning, Target Excellence
• District General Counsel/Associate Superintendent, Grant Joint Union High School District

Professional Experience

• Seasoned HR Executive and subject matter expert in the areas of labor and employment, labor relations, collective bargaining, state and federal EEO compliance
• Expertise in quarterbacking personnel investigations arising from harassment and discrimination complaints to eliminate potentially hostile work environments and liability for employers.
• Created and presented effective workshops to train employees on everything from effective performance management, EEO and nondiscrimination best practices, diversity and cultural competency in the workplace, effective communication of difficult information, conflict resolution strategies and exemplary customer service.
• Taught graduate level classes in educational leadership for K-12 and Community college administrators.

Education

• J.D. University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, NC
• B.A. Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
• Professional Organizations and Affiliations
• Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM)
• Association of Chief Human Resource Officers
• Association of California Community College Administrators

Bob Reich

Bob Reich is currently Executive Consultant with Brainstorm Bob Consulting. He brings a diverse background to his work and teaching, including all aspects of nonprofit organizational management, strategic planning, 501© (3) applications, events, marketing, fund raising/grants and community outreach. He has worked for small to large non-profit, academic, community, and municipal organizations, consulted with diverse nonprofit organizations and taught multiple university and professional courses and seminars on a variety of nonprofit management topics.

Sonia Armas

Sonia supports Lester Consulting Group’s staff to advance the standards and practice of effective management and philanthropy among the clients they serve. She joined LCG with over 15 years of experience in client management and support. Throughout her career, Sonia has worked with organizations across a wide range of industries –from network storage technology and manufactured homes, to key account sales. No matter which hat she’s wearing, her goal has been simple –to empower clients and organizations to drive measurable results while improving operational processes.

Sonia earned a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication Studies from California State University, Chico. She also holds a certification in Project Management from the University of California, Sacramento.

Lorcan Barnes

Lorcan brings more than 24 years as a successful nonprofit President & CEO to his role as President of Lester Consulting Group. He has extensive experience in fundraising, board development, volunteer motivation, strategic planning, organizational leadership, fiscal responsibility, human resources, and facilities management.

Prior to purchasing LCG in July 2020, Lorcan served as President & CEO of Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento for 16 years. Throughout his career in education, Lorcan worked tirelessly to provide outstanding values-based education while keeping tuition affordable. He raised more than $50 million to provide educational access to low-income students, improve facilities, grow endowments, and provide competitive employee compensation.

He holds a B.A. in Sociology from Loyola Marymount University and an M.B.A. from Woodbury University in Los Angeles.

Kia A. Harris Tattegrain

Kia A. Harris Tattegrain activates nonprofit founders/leaders into their purpose of serving others and partners with them to orchestrate the mission of their organization.

Founder and Executive Director of the humanitarian nonprofit organization, Dare Humanity, that creates and delivers programs for self-sufficiency, community-driven development, wellness, education, and entrepreneurship in Haiti and California. She earned a Master of Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco, and is a nonprofit educator and consultant specializing in communications, initial funding (individual donations), and strategy, planning and development for startups and established organizations. Through her business, Eclectivate™ LLC, she is able to serve nonprofits throughout the nation through nonprofit consulting efforts and education while creating bridges between the nonprofit sector and corporate sector. She enjoys traveling, teaching, learning, and giving back to the community through philanthropic efforts.

Marisa DeSalles

Marisa DeSalles is a Sacramento native who started a consultancy mentoring and training small nonprofits during the pandemic after 12 years of experience in the sector. She has been studying emerging trends in the fundraising landscape, including Community Centric Fundraising, and ways to apply societal shifts and technological advances to fundraising efforts. Her presentations are thought-provoking, fast-paced and engaging, with contagious enthusiasm seasoned with hard data and a good bit of dry humor.

Holly Wong

Holly Wong is passionate about equipping nonprofits to host successful events and projects without burning out staff and volunteers. Holly has more than 14 years’ experience managing details and logistics. She keeps track of timelines, budgets, and to-do lists so her clients can focus on relationships and programs. And she has assisted multiple organizations in the unexpected transition to virtual events and programming during the COVID pandemic.

Holly has managed auctions, crab feeds, conferences, luncheons, cycling events, trainings, and many more, widely varied events. She spent a decade working at various nonprofit organizations – learning to lead in event management, communications, and project management. When she moved from Houston, Texas, to Davis, California, in 2015, her employer asked her to continue on as a consultant, and Holly Wong Consulting was born.

Holly is detail-oriented and passionate about family, spelling and grammar, and serving the community. She loves traveling and exploring Northern California with her husband and two young daughters. She volunteers with Yolo County CASA and on the Board of Directors at the Junior League of Sacramento, and is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Nonprofit Consultants Network of Sacramento.

Dr. Dene’ Starks

Ms. Starks is an educator, author, and international speaker who specializes in working with other professionals to find innovative and sustainable ways to transform lives through teaching and learning. Because of her passion for education, Ms. Starks founded a nonprofit called Diversif-I Education Group which promotes diversity through education by offering student and staff development programs, mentoring programs, and a host of other educational services to the underserved community. To tackle the increase in suspensions among black and brown youth, Ms. Starks successfully partnered with local schools to implement behavioral coaching programs, developed site specific student development programs, and mentoring programs. Ms. Starks has a proven track record of building strong corporate and community relationships as well as creating and implementing innovative programs and services. Ms. Starks serves as facilitator of governance workshops, leadership development programs, and strategic planning for organizations within the United States and abroad. Her professional experience includes developing community and economic development programs with a focus on student and staff development, workforce development, and compliance monitoring. In 2019, Ms. Starks was nominated for the Community Impact Award from the Sacramento Tapestry for her passion and extensive work transforming lives in the community.

Nancy Bacon

Nancy is a teacher and instructional designer who has served in the nonprofit roles of executive director, founding program director, board member, and volunteer since 1996. She led the teams creating Washington Nonprofits’ finance and board learning tools and regularly teaches on nonprofits topics in communities across Washington. She currently leads Nancy Bacon Consulting, a practice focused on learning and leadership in the nonprofit sector and is co-host of the Nonprofit Radio Show.

Celeste Sekigahama

Celeste is a Director at The Yoga Seed Collective, a nonprofit virtual trauma-informed training org, and has recently started her own company, Full Circle Strategies, which is focused on trauma-informed and personalized self care. She is passionate about providing tools for resilience that are accessible in the Sacramento community. Her background includes a degree in Feminist Studies, 500+ hours of yoga teacher training, and extensive teaching in environments such as jails and psychiatric hospitals. Her self-care seminar focuses on the stressful lifestyle of the non-profit professional and the importance of the caretaker taking care of themselves. It includes a reeducation on what self care is, some light movement and breath work, why stress is harmful, and tips and tricks to manage stress.

Andrew Crotto

Andrew Crotto is a passionate and vibrant fundraising professional with eyes towards the future of fundraising. With the current climate posed to significantly impact fundraising, Andrew aims to us his unique blend of creative vision and joy for philanthropy to address the challenges that many organizations will be facing.

Andrew helps non-profits take their existing fundraising strategies and craft them into comprehensive donor engagement plans. This can mean anything from revamping traditional direct mail and email solicitations, to implementing new and industry-leading fundraising technology. It can also mean helping groups to analyze and best use their donor data to target and engage their best donors, or helping a group participate in a day of giving for the first time.

As a true believer is the power nonprofit organizations have to affect change, Andrew works to ensure that all non-profits regardless of reach, reputation, or resources have access to the best talent, ideas, and practices.

Ryan Fuller

Ryan is an Assistant Professor of Management at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS). Prior to working at CSUS, he was an Assistant Professor in the Applied Communication Department at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock where he taught courses in Conflict Management, Crisis Management, Negotiation, Public Speaking, and Leadership. His research interests focus on conflict management and crisis management, and he has published on these topics in peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.

Betsaida LeBron

ImprovEQ founder and facilitator Betsaida LeBron built her practice on a 14-year career that has combined psychology, diversity education, management and improv performance. She has served as a Director for multiple statewide nonprofit programs including the California Youth Crisis Line and a workforce training program with Mental Health America.

Betsaida is also a veteran improviser with over a decade of experience in performing, directing, and teaching improv. She has taught workshops across the nation and held corporate improv training workshops for such clients as Pacific Gas & Electric, Mead & Hunt, Blue Shield, Sam’s Club, Sysco Foods, and the California Coalition for Youth.

FSA Auctions

Freddie Silveria

Natasha Palumbo

Ms. Palumbo, also known as Professor Palumbo, has been an educator since 2000. She has more than 20 years of business administration experience and has been an entrepreneur since 2002. She is a creative leader with in-depth knowledge and expertise applying strategic business management, development of small business initiatives, and progressive leadership. She is a 4 times published author. All of her books are available nationwide. Ms. Palumbo has taken her trauma and turned it into triumph. She went from welfare to wealth. Today, she fearlessly and courageously shares her story of abuse, healing, freedom and the ability to not only overcome but to excel to all those she encounters. She has an innate ability to hold the attention of those she trains and teaches. She has been serving the homeless community since 2003, and she has a passion and love for those who society has labeled unimportant. Ms. Palumbo is also the mother of two beautiful children, which, above all, is her proudest accomplishment. Ms. Palumbo hosts an array of workshops and empowerment events.

Michael F. Allyn

Experience & Skills: Mike is an independent contractor focusing on prospect development and grant writing. Mike combines 20 years of executive management experience with 14 years of fundraising to help clients develop strategies for increased grant funding. Mike has worked with organizations of all sizes, with a proven record of success. He has authored over 400 grants, resulting in more than $8 million in funding from both public and private sources. Mike is skilled at program analysis, budget development, outcomes establishment, and database research.

Clients: Mike has written successful grants for organizations with missions in education, disability, youth, visual and performing arts, workforce development, cultural heritage, seniors and health. Sacramento area clients include: Elica Health Centers, Society for the Blind; St. John’s Program for Real Change, Meristem, United Cerebral Palsy of Sacramento and Northern California; Touch of Understanding; and California Homebuilders Foundation. Bay Area clients include Lighthouse for the Blind and Jewish Community Foundation of San Francisco.

Services: Mike’s aim is to help organizations re-align their existing fundraising strategies, identify new sources of grant funding, and improve success with current funders. He specializes in helping non-profits express their mission, position their organizations for funding success, and demonstrate their value, impact and sustainability to prospective funders. Likely projects include: funder searches, organizational positioning to maximize grant funding, prospective grant assessment, and grant writing to private foundations, as well as corporate and government sources. Mike can also assist newer organizations to determine their readiness to pursue grants.

Fees: Mike is conscious of the limited resources of non-profit organizations to seek grant funding and works to help clients balance grant seeking expenses with potential funding success. His services are provided on an hourly or project basis. Mike welcomes interested organizations to contact him for an introductory telephone consultation at no charge.

Sally H. Coates Consulting

Sally Coates

Sally has over 30 years of both professional and volunteer nonprofit experience.  Her three Executive Director positions have been with the Court Appointed Special Advocate Program in San Francisco, Episcopal Charities of the Diocese of California and the San Francisco Bay Area affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Sally currently serves on the boards of the Episcopal Senior Communities Foundation and Friends of Child Advocates of Placer County.  Highlights of her volunteer experience include President of the Junior League of San Francisco (1995-96), as Chair of the Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind (2002-04) and as Chair of Episcopal Community Services of America (2006-2009).

Professionally she is on the faculty of the Impact Foundry teaching courses in non-profit organizational development and finance. She also is an operating partner in a family-owned company, Crystal Bay Solutions that consults on and develops integrated software solutions for a wide range of non-profit workflow management challenges.

She has used her professional and volunteer experiences to start her own non-profit consulting company mentoring and coaching non-profit executives and boards as well as consulting on strategic planning, organizational development and team alignment and productivity improvement.

Sally and her husband Cullen live in Lincoln, CA and have two grown children, Elizabeth Coates James, and Alexander Cullen Coates.

Shayne Corriea-Fernandez

Shayne Corriea-Fernandez is an Insurance Agent of NM and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI (long-term care insurance), a subsidiary of NM. Registered Representative of Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (securities), a subsidiary of NM, broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, and member FINRA and SIPC.

Jill Felty

Jill Felty is an experienced digital strategist and creative director who helps guide small businesses and nonprofits to success through strong, clear messaging and smart strategy to reach your ideal audience.

Her experience with donors in nonprofit broadcasting and media has fueled her passion to help organizations build a better brand by using an engaging social media platform that inspires supporters to connect with organizations on a deeper level. Whether it’s using Facebook ads and direct mail to raise funds for a capital campaign or simply engaging through email marketing to steward donors, Jill is passionate about utilizing digital tools to grow organizations reach and engagement online.

Jill has enough excitement and passion to go around and believes the best experiences are the ones that are shared in community with one another, and she hopes to instill that same feeling in each and every one of her clients.

Murphy Austin Adams Schoenfeld LLP

Scott E. Galbreath

Scott E. Galbreath leads the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Team at Murphy Austin but also practices in the tax exempt organization area.  He has more than 30 years of experience in the tax-exempt organization area, including establishing nonprofit corporations and obtaining recognition of exempt status; advising on unrelated business income tax, private foundation status, commercial co-ventures, and private inurement.

EXPRESSIONS

Miriam Houghton

Miriam Houghton is President of EXPRESSIONS (Grant Writing, Consulting, and Training), based in Sacramento, California. Miriam has written and edited more than 1,400 proposals and supporting document packages and reviewed over 900 more. Her work over the last 34 years has resulted in revenue for her clients and employers now totaling $110 million. She works all over California and in other states with non-profit organizations, public agencies, and businesses.

In 2014, California’s Capital Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals selected Miriam as their Outstanding Fundraising Professional for 2015.

Miriam has worked in a wide variety of program areas, including healthcare (physical and mental health); education; criminal justice; programs for the disabled and the aging; programs of all types for the economically disadvantaged; domestic violence; the arts; humanities; environmental issues; and microenterprise programs.

She has provided training workshops for the Impact Foundry in Sacramento for the past 27 years, and she regularly makes training presentations at national conventions and for her clients. Miriam has been an active member of the National Association of Fundraising Professionals member for 27 years. She has served as a member of the Board of the AFP’s Sacramento Chapter and she Co-Chaired the Professional Development/Program Committee.

Miriam is a popular presenter. Her grant writing work and her extensive experience with focused and well-received grant writing workshops provide the ideal experience for this training today. As a Grants Consultant, she works with clients to ensure they meet funders’ specific, mandatory requirements for proposal submissions. With these workshops she will walk you through how to get started and how to be more competitive, while still retaining your sanity!
What prior workshop participants had to say about Miriam:

“Miriam was incredibly resourceful and supportive. It was evident that she enjoys teaching these workshops, which made it all the more enjoyable for those attending.”

“Everything the speaker had to say was gold nugget. I recommended her to my coworkers. She knows her biz and I am grateful to have had this opportunity.”

“Miriam’s experience, understanding and insight make her an outstanding presenter. I love coming to her classes.”

Tyra Jarvis

Tyra Jarvis is the founder and president of Kefi Coaching LLC. She is a life reinvention mentor and works with leaders from all sectors facing career and life transitions longing to experience passion, drive purpose and discover their place in the world. Whatever their challenge, Tyra helps her clients get inspired and empowered, unstuck and moving forward so they can live life with more freedom, fulfillment, and fun every day. She specializes in reinvention and transformation, by listening for possibility and being a stand for you living an extraordinary life. Join this amazing, powerful community to jumpstart your extraordinary life.

Steve Raymond

Steve Raymond is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional with more than 9 years of experience assisting investors in the pursuit of financial well-being. Steve earned a master’s degree in business administration, with an emphasis on investments, from the University of Miami, and now specializes in providing professional guidance for retirement and estate planning. Steve is dedicated to delivering an exceptional experience.

Through open dialogue and a clear understanding of financial goals, he builds lasting client relationships by helping clients develop and maintain a sound financial plan to pursue long-term goals. SAFE FINANCIAL SERVICES Steve also assists nonprofit organizations with their endowments, foundations and investment portfolios, paying particular attention to making sure that fiduciary best practices are being followed. He is a faculty member of the Impact Foundry, teaching Executive Directors, Development Officers and Board Members about advanced strategies in planned giving.

Jessica Rhodes

Jessica’s role as the Director of Strategy at 3fold is, well, three-fold. With an MBA in nonprofit management and marketing, Jess helps our clients in identifying and creating business strategies to help them meet their goals; she is a master strategist, absorbing dreams and capabilities and transforming them to implementable plans. She is an expert in managing and monitoring inbound and outbound communications to help our clients reach their target audiences.

Public Interest Management Group (PIMG)

Scott Schaffer

The Third Sector Company

Jeffrey Wilcox

Jeffrey Wilcox is an experienced grant-maker, nonprofit executive and fundraiser turned entrepreneur.  As President and CEO of The Third Sector Company, he leads one of the largest teams of professionals in the United States dedicated to the study, teaching, and practice of succession planning, interim executive leadership and chief executive performance advancement for the nonprofit sector. Third Sector Company has bases of operations in Long Beach, Orange County, and Sacramento, California; Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Since its founding in 2002, Third Sector Company has provided services to over 600 nonprofits in the United States and Canada and has provided interim leadership to organizations, congregations and associations whose combined assets total more than $1 billion. He is the former Senior Vice President of United Way of Greater Los Angeles, and Valley of the Sun United Way in Phoenix, Arizona, and executive director of CHOC Children’s Hospital Foundation in Orange County, CA.

Wilcox is the former nonprofit columnist for the Long Beach Business Journal; founder of “The Board Chairs Academy;” and author of “The Nonprofit Leader of the New Decade.” He co-developed and is the former lead trainer for the Wells Fargo New Executive Directors Institute of Greater Los Angeles and the Developing Development Program/Sustaining a Culture of Philanthropy in partnership with Executive Service Corps of Southern California. He is on the board of AFP Advancement Northwest in Seattle and is the immediate past chairman of the Executive Advisory Board of the School of Business, Government and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. He is also the former chapter President of AFP Orange County (CA), a trainer for the CFRE review course, and is a former national chairman of the Executive Transitions and Succession Planning Affinity Group for the Alliance for Nonprofit Management.

YDN Strengths Development Network

Helen Yee

Positivity-Achiever-Relator-Activator-Arranger

Ms. Helen Yee, a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach with YDN Strengths Development Network with over 25 years of nonprofit board and organizational experience brings expertise on team building, event coordination, training, facilitation and fund and board development to her tenure of service. Ms. Yee’s focus is to bring the strengths-based approach to the workplace, including boards to optimize team engagement and promote lasting changes in their workplace culture. She is also in a select group certified to lead the CliftonStrengths Discovery Course.

Ms. Yee brings Strengths to life through her extensive professional experience . She has been actively involved in several major fundraising campaigns and her biggest leadership achievement occurred when she chaired “Libraries for Our Future” which was responsible for the passage of a library ballot measure resulting in millions of dollars of funding for Sacramento City Libraries. Currently she serves on several boards including Sutter Medical Center Foundation, California Museum, and Impact Foundry. Ms. Yee has also been a speaker at major conferences including District Dental Society’s Mid-Winter Convention and the What If Conference for California non-profits. Currently she facilitates workshops regularly for Impact Foundry and the California Capital Business Center on various Strengths topics.

Prior to work with nonprofits, Ms. Yee was a serial entrepreneur opening stores in a major Sacramento mall and a pharmaceutical sales representative, receiving a top national award for professional sales success.

Ms. Yee’s broad array of experience and commitment to bringing out the best in people has fueled her Strengths development and provides many real experiences her clients can relate to and use to enhance their personal and professional journey.