Nancy joined the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque as its first president/CEO in 2003. Since then, she has pushed the boundaries of the traditional community foundation model, embracing its ability to unite ideas and resources to help people and communities create a better tomorrow.
Just two years into her tenure with the Foundation, Nancy launched ENVIS10N 2010, a community visioning process that generated more than 2,300 ideas from community members. After a careful selection process, many of those ideas have become reality, including a community health center, a new performing arts center, and revitalization of a former warehouse district.
This success drove Nancy to establish Every Child/Every Promise and the Dubuque Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, two Foundation initiatives that bring together partners and resources to create better outcomes for youth. With a focus on collecting and sharing data, these efforts are boosting reading scores, reducing absence, and improving early childhood education.
Under Nancy’s leadership, the Foundation has established and grown six affiliate foundations in rural counties of Allamakee, Clayton, Delaware, Jackson and Jones as well as the Dyersville area. These counties have embraced the community foundation model as a platform to support more than 162 endowment funds totaling nearly $14 million and to bring neighbors together to think about the future of their communities.
Nancy serves as chair on the board of the Funders Network for Smart Growth and is a past president of the Iowa Council on Foundations. She has also served on the Council on Foundations Public Policy Committee and is involved in the D5 coalition, a national initiative focused on growing diversity, equity and inclusion in philanthropy.
Nancy earned a master’s degree in public administration from Southern Illinois University (SIU) and received the SIU Distinguished Alumni Award in 2006.