New Beginnings
I’m always grateful for new beginnings, as they give me the opportunity to reflect and look forward to what’s ahead.
My family and I have just moved across the country to Bellevue, Washington, so I can start my new position as president of Ballmer Group Philanthropy. After my first two weeks here, I’d like to share a few initial thoughts on what makes me most excited about our work.
- The need for systems change: During my time at Enterprise Community Partners, we recognized that housing was an essential part of helping families move up economically. But to truly enable families to thrive, we realized that we couldn’t stop there. We needed to partner with other systems like health and education, ensuring that government and nonprofit services integrated seamlessly so that our families experienced a well-connected network of support. I look forward to building on this trajectory at Ballmer Group, supporting systems change work across multiple sectors to better ensure that all children have access to a stable early childhood and can continue moving on a pathway to enter the workforce with a living wage.
- The power of communities: In the coming weeks, I will visit several of our grantees in our regional focus areas of Washington state, Los Angeles County, and southeast Michigan, and I will also see community-based partnerships in action. I believe in the power of communities to solve some of our nation’s most intractable issues, especially when buoyed by real-time data to inform their work, and I look forward to digging in to see firsthand the work being done to get results for kids.
- The role of philanthropy: When I first met with co-founders Connie and Steve Ballmer, I was struck by our alignment around what we believe can make a difference for kids at scale. I find it heartening and empowering to work alongside leaders who are so thoughtful and deeply invested in the impact of their philanthropic choices. To me, the Ballmers are living proof of how philanthropy can be so much more than simply writing checks for charity.
Above all, I’m in awe of the caliber of talent on the Ballmer Group team and inspired by their focus on giving children and families living in poverty in the United States a shot at moving up. I can’t wait to dive in and help move this mission forward. (And I have to say, the stunning lakes and mountains surrounding our new home are pretty inspiring as well.)
Director of Development at Center for Urban Families| Fundraising
5 年Beautiful!
Former Biden-Harris Presidential Appointee, Director of Policy + Innovation at the Los Angeles Housing Authority
5 年Congratulations on your new amazing position. It was such a pleasure working with you and your amazing staff Enterprise over the past few years. Hoping our paths can cross again and that I get the opportunity to work with you again! Wishing you the very best at the Ballmer Group!
Registered Dietitian at Comprehensive Gastrointestinal Health LLC
5 年Beautiful Terri! Best wishes with your new Ballmer Group venture!
Co-Founder and COO at Womaness | Live Fully. Age Well.
5 年Congratulations! What an amazing opportunity! I think if you often when I think of Eli and Nicholas playing together! best of luck.?
C-suite Professional in Risk and Finance / Expert in IT/Systems, Negotiation, Quantitative Modeling and Analysis
5 年Wow!? Outstanding!? I can't think of a person I'd rather have running the Ballmer Group and helping get significant resources to where they are needed.? Congratulations!? Having spent my entire career around housing finance, the reason I got into banking to begin with, I would just suggest that examination around the restrictions imposed on housing would yield significant potential advances in affordability.? San Francisco has become the least diverse large city in the country in terms of race, which I'm confident is *not* their goal, due primarily to imposition of restrictions and requirements for housing that make LMI development extremely difficult.? Seattle is on the same road, as you've probably seen at a personal level, along with Portland.? At some level, environmental, preservationist, and quality of living restrictions become purely a rich person's problem, a luxury most people around the world, and many people right here at home, cannot afford.? Reasonable and prudent management of these issues, as opposed to extremist views at either end, will yield a livable compromise that can encourage the real diversity of community, and communities, that is needed to sustain our American egalitarian compact.? I'd wish you good luck, but you don't need it.? I know you'll continue to do well by doing good.?