During her tenure as CEO, Jenni spearheaded tremendous organizational expansion and refinement. Honing its focus to reach girls living or going to school in under-resourced communities with social emotional learning-based after-school programs and social capital-building mentorship programs, Jenni led the nonprofit through a key mission and brand refresh. She secured Step Up’s largest gift to date with a 3-year grant from the Coach Foundation, enabling expansion to Dallas. This growth to a fourth city marked the organization’s first new market in 10 years. Jenni also revitalized Step Up’s national board of directors.
“Jenni has been a visionary leader helping us scale Step Up and evolve the curriculum so more girls are able to reach their full potential,” Chair of Step Up’s National Board of Directors Barri Rafferty (chief executive officer and president, Ketchum) said. “By opening new markets, professionalizing the board, promoting the organization, and enhancing fundraising, she has helped establish the long-term legitimacy of this organization.”
Step Up tripled in budget size under Jenni’s leadership. Since 2014 when the organization began to track its teen program data, Step Up saw growth in a number of service areas including, the number of teens enrolled (146% growth), number of high school partners (141% growth) and the number of professional women serving as mentors (66% growth).
As Jenni led Step Up to its 20th anniversary in 2018, her footprint on the organization was visible in many areas including the first-time addition of key staff roles like the director of teen programs, full-time facilitators, a chief operating officer, and a vice president of development. It was during this 2018 school year that Step Up teens experienced their highest level of impact and satisfaction with programming, reporting significant growth rates in 12 of 13 measures of the confident, college-bound, career-focused young woman.
“As I reflect on my time at Step Up, the lasting impact on me is the sense of collaboration and community amongst our teens and alumnae, as well as our board members, mentors, volunteers and partners,” Jenni said. “We’ve all worked together to create lasting change in our communities, companies and ourselves.”
Jenni has plans for a summer vacation to immerse herself in the Spanish language and to relax in the sunshine of Mexico and Central America. While she has not yet announced her next professional step, she assures us her focus remains on social justice and equal opportunity for all.
Step Up has secured the services of executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles to help identify our next CEO. We also invite our national network to help us identify strong candidates based on the CEO position abstract here. Candidate referrals may be sent to StepUpCEO@heidrick.com.
As Jenni concludes her final weeks as leader of our Step Up staff, she plans to visit each of our markets to attend special programs as the school year concludes. Please join us to celebrate Jenni in each of our Step Up cities on the following dates:
May 31 – Los Angeles
11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. - Inspiration Awards (tickets required)
2:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. – Inspiration Awards no-host reception at The Blvd Lounge (RSVP)
June 4 – Dallas
6:00-7:00 p.m. – Step Up Showcase (RSVP)
June 5 – Chicago
3:00-4:30 p.m. – Step Up Showcase (RSVP)
June 8 – New York
11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. – Step Up Showcase + Senior Sendoff (RSVP)
Questions about these programs may be sent to national@suwn.org. Questions about the CEO search may be sent to StepUpCEO@heidrick.com. Thank you for supporting Step Up!
ABOUT STEP UP
Step Up believes all girls should have the opportunity to fulfill their potential. Through after-school and weekend mentorship programs, the nonprofit works with girls from under-resourced communities on becoming confident, college-bound, career-focused, and ready to join the next generation of professional women. Connect at suwn.org.
