COAE Administrator Announces Retirement

Retirement announcement, with and a smile at the end. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Greetings Members, It is with mixed feelings that I announce my decision to retire as your Administrator effective December 31, 2014. Working with you all has brought me much joy. Helping the Council to grow has been a privilege. I am departing just two months shy of ten years; how can the time gone by so quickly?! That’s what happens when you love what you do. I’m leaving now for a few reasons. First and foremost, my family needs more of me now. Also, there are two periods in the Council’s year when things are slow: November/December and July/August. And finally, while I’m very proud of what we have accomplished together, I believe it’s time for new staff leadership to take the Council to the next level. This will be my second retirement. The first was on the eve of the new millennium. I happily squandered time at home with my then-new (first and only) husband. By the time I woke up from my lethargy, the economy had eaten a chunk of my nest egg so I started doing some project work. As one assignment came to a close, Colin Garwood at LDA told me the Council was going to hire a part-time administrator. He thought it would be a good fit for me. I thought so too, and happily, so did the Search Committee. I started on March 9, 2005. I had been a member of the Council when it first started, two years before my first retirement. My entire career was in nonprofits: Girl Scouts (field director), Catholic Youth Organization (program coordinator, program director, Executive Director), Mary M. Gooley Hemophilia Center (President and CEO). I think it’s a calling to work happily in the nonprofit sector. It’s not for everyone, but it certainly has been for me. I have enjoyed the tasks associated with being your Administrator, but even more than that I have enjoyed the people with whom I’ve worked. Council members are among the brightest minds and biggest hearts in our community. What an extraordinary group! The Executive Committee will plan a search process; stay tuned for those developments, and be thinking about someone you may know who could be a candidate. Yes, you will hear less from me. But I’ll still be around here and there. Actually, under the new Associate Member program, I can join as a past member! But I’ll let the dust settle first. Until then, thanks for your support and encouragement. I look forward to hearing great things about you each, and about the Council. Thanks, Joyce  --  Joyce M. Strazzabosco Administrator Council of Agency Executives P. O. Box 10547 Rochester NY 14610-0547 joyce@agencyexecutives.com 585.301.8383 www.agencyexecutives.com   Remember...

Leadership director is long on experience

The Buffalo News reported on the new executive director, Molly Fitzpatrick, of Leadership Niagara, named by its board of directors. In her new job, Fitzpatrick directs the community leadership nonprofit, which has graduated more than 700 men and women— in county business, labor, education, arts, religious, government and cultural groups— since its inception a quarter-century ago.

Fitzpatrick is backed by two decades of working with leadership and youth education nonprofit organizations in Western New York, beginning as a senior staff member to the American Management Association’s entrepreneurship program and Junior Achievement. She’s the former executive director of Kids Voting New York, which encompassed all of Erie and Niagara counties. During her tenure at Kids Voting, she led the largest community volunteer effort in Western New York and achieved the highest student voter turnout in the nation.

“Molly brings a wealth of experience in executive leadership and community development,” said Leadership Chairwoman Christine S. O’Hara of Niagara University. “We look forward to her leadership and the energy she’ll bring to this dynamic organization in Niagara County.”

Fitzpatrick served on numerous boards of directors in the community including King Urban Life Center and Mount St. Joseph Academy. She’s also been the interim executive director of the Buffalo Alliance for Education and director of marketing and development for Houghton College.
Fitzpatrick volunteered for a few years in AmeriCorps, focusing on literacy and development.

For more than a decade, she partnered with an economic education center in Ryazan, Russia, and connected community leaders in both countries during Russia’s transition to a market economy.

She calls Leadership, “a first-rate program with enormous potential for developing our region,” and adds she’s honored “to work with the movers and shakers of Niagara County.”

Part of Leadership Niagara’s aim is to bring together current and emerging leaders in an annual forum that expands their knowledge of Niagara County. Read more here.