Mary Beth Bruggeman, President of The Mission Continues and Marine Veteran

Health & Human Services

On this episode of Mission Business, host Jennifer Alleva spoke with Mary Beth Bruggeman, President of The Mission Continues and Marine veteran. The Mission Continues is a national nonprofit that empowers veterans to continue their service at home in their communities.
In our conversation we discuss Mary Beth’s experiences as a Marine veteran, The Mission Continues, as well as how she is working to maximize women veterans’ success as leaders through a program that combines skills development for women veterans with mentorship and skills transfer to women in under-resourced communities.

To learn more about Mary Beth and The Mission Continues, visit www.missioncontinues.org.

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Jerri Williams, Retired FBI Agent and Award-winning Author, Podcaster, and Storyteller

Fraud

On this episode of Mission Business, host Jennifer Alleva speaks with Jerri Williams, retired FBI agent and award-winning author, podcaster, and storyteller. Jerri is using her prior professional experiences with scams and schemers to write crime fiction about greed and often jokes that she is reliving her glory days by producing and hosting FBI Retired Case File Review, a true crime podcast with over 5 million downloads and more than 240 episodes where she interviews retired FBI agents about their high-profile cases and careers.

The conversation details Jerri’s experiences through her career with the FBI, interesting cases involving greed and fraud, and what nonprofits can do to avoid being victims of these crimes. For more information on Jerri Williams, visit jerriwilliams.com.

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Kimberly O’Donnell, VP of Fundraising & Professional Services, Network for Good

Fundraising

On this episode of Mission Business, host Jennifer Alleva speaks with Kimberly O’Donnell, Vice President, Fundraising and Professional Services at Network for Good. The conversation covers how the pandemic has dramatically affected how nonprofits fundraise, advancements in fundraising technology such as AI and livestreaming, and what’s next for Network for Good and the future of fundraising.

Network for Good helps small nonprofits cultivate donor relationships and advance their missions with simple, smart fundraising software, personal coaching and online resources. A mission-driven, Certified B Corporation, Network for Good has supported 400,000+ nonprofit leaders since 2001 and has pioneered the online fundraising space, disbursing $4+ billion in donations to date. 

For more information on Network for Good’s simple, smart, fundraising options, visit networkforgood.com.

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Sulaiman Rahman, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of DiverseForce

DEI

On this episode of Mission Business, host Jennifer Alleva speaks with Sulaiman Rahman, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of DiverseForce, an organization that provides recruiting, and consulting services, including how to develop and retain talent, to companies seeking to develop a diverse workforce.

Additionally, Sulaiman and DiverseForce have partnered with the University of Pennsylvania to create DiverseForce on Boards, a board governance and leadership development program for mid-to-senior level professionals of color. The program is growing from its roots in Philadelphia to having a national reach with over 300+ nonprofit matching partners nationally for the program’s graduates to potentially serve as Board members.

You’ll hear how Sulaiman’s experience as a young boy growing up in two very different neighborhoods in Philadelphia, his experience at University of Pennsylvania, and his involvement with the boards as a young man of various organizations like Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp (or PIDC), Community College of Philadelphia (or CCP), and others led him to create a program that has provided a new framework for board leadership.

For more information on DiverseForce, visit diverseforce.com.

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Dina Paul-Parks, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Healthy Humor

Health & Human Services

On this episode of Mission Business, host Jennifer Alleva speaks with Dina Paul-Parks, Co-Founder and CEO of Healthy Humor, a New York-based non-profit devoted to bringing the principles of medical clowning to a variety of settings where children and others in pain or distress need the distraction, laughter and comfort that only a healthcare clown can bring.

Healthy Humor partners with a number of the premier pediatric institutions in the country, as well as builds relationships with geriatric facilities, after-school centers, and other community venues. Under Dina’s leadership the organization’s Red Nose Docs program has expanded programming from three hospitals at its founding in September 2016 to 15 hospital partners today across 10 states, serving more than 600,000 children and families annually.
In everything that Healthy Humor does, they look to bring joy, wonder and comfort to those in our world who are hurting and need it the most. For more information on Healthy Humor visit healthyhumorinc.org!

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Kathryn Lott, Executive Director, Southern Smoke

Food & Beverage

On this episode of Mission Business, host Jennifer Alleva interviews Kathryn Lott, Executive Director of Southern Smoke, a Houston-based non-profit started by James Beard Award Winning Chef Chris Shepherd in 2015.  Southern Smoke has been pivoting way before we all started overusing the word pivot – first raising money for Multiple Sclerosis, then as a crisis relief organization after Hurricane Harvey devastated Texas, and now providing millions of dollars to out-of-work hospitality workers around the country due to COVID closures. Throughout the episode we hear from Kathryn about her journey with Southern Smoke, the challenges of scaling up quickly to meet a need, and how her nonprofit arts background informs her work with Southern Smoke. For more information on Southern Smoke, visit southernsmoke.org.

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Christine Cox, Artistic and Executive Director, BalletX

Arts & Culture

In this episode of Mission Business Podcast, host Jennifer Alleva interviews Christine Cox, Artistic and Executive Director of BalletX, Philadelphia’s premier contemporary ballet, whose dancers were named “among America’s best” by The New York Times. Their discussion covers the struggles endured by BalletX as well as the entire performing arts community in the age of COVID, how BalletX has “pirouetted” in this time, and what lies ahead for similar organizations. This episode also features a special Ask the Controller Segment, where YPTC’s own Jerilyn Dressler talks to BalletX’s YPTC Associate Lily Li, about the most efficient ways of working with arts organizations.
Learn more about Christine Cox and BalletX at https://www.balletx.org/

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