Smart Business Magazine, January 2016

38 Smart Business Columbus January 2016 2016 Pill r Award for Community Service Mary Lynn Foster has been the president and CEO of the Childrens Hunger Alliance since September 2013 but shes already had an impact on the organization that works to ensure children are fed regular and nutritious meals and develop lifelong healthy eating habits in all of Ohios 88 counties After getting to know the organization and its stakeholders one of her first acts was to start on a strategic plan to help the 40 plus year old CHA prepare for the future Foster learned that the 60 statewide team members often felt disconnected so she instituted regular team huddles not only for staff in the Columbus office but also a virtual huddle by conference call for team members in other parts of the state Shes held leadership retreats summer cookouts and instituted a new office floor plan Additionally the nonprofits five regions focused on board development in fiscal year 2014 in order to expand the regional boards and establish full board participation A few of the many programming highlights include an average of more than 416000 children participating in school breakfast programs in 2014 an increase of over 4000 and publishing the first Ohio Summer Nutrition and Ohio School Breakfast scoreboards which highlighted top scoring school districts and counties and increases in participation CHA also recently launched Hunger Hub a virtual resource that serves a source for data and news for all things hunger related in Columbus and throughout Franklin County It creates a collective voice around hunger relief as area nonprofits align their resources MARY LYNN FOSTER president and CEO Childrens Hunger Alliance www childrenshungeralliance org NONPROFIT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD The Columbus Partnership was founded in 2002 and what began as eight CEOs in the early years has evolved into a current membership base of 52 that includes 15 Fortune 1000 CEOs as well as the leaders of the nations largest university and worlds largest research and development organization As the president and CEO Alex R Fischer helps guide the civic organization as it strategically considers how to position the Central Ohio community for the future In order to accomplish this the Partnership convenes leaders from its member organizations and other community sectors to thoughtfully discuss the economic issues facing Columbus and the needs that will positively impact the entire region It seeks to be a thought leader catalyst for civic improvement help develop future leadership for the community champion regional solutions to regional problems partner with the public sector support collaboration in the nonprofit sector and focus on economic development The organization also helps lead the Columbus 2020 economic development effort a collaboration of regional economic development organizations The Partnership is actively engaged in civic projects related to downtown development education leadership development philanthropy and arts and culture Fischer is on numerous for profit boards and community organizations such as the Nationwide Childrens Hospital The Ohio State University and Advanced Drainage Systems He previously worked for Battelle and UT Battelle at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and also served as the deputy governor and chief of staff to Tennessee Gov Don Sundquist ALEX R FISCHER president and CEO Columbus Partnership www columbuspartnership com NONPROFIT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD