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Laurence A. Pagnoni - Resume

EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP

Supporting client services by developing strong organizational infrastructures comprises the last 20+ years of my executive leadership. By focusing upon distinctive competencies, outcome evaluation, strategic planning, and board development, the agencies with which I have worked have been able to make lasting contributions. I have served as executive director of three community agencies and as President of my own consulting firm. These agencies have had budgets of $500,000 to $6 million and staffs from 12 to 75 people.

With senior managers, I lead the establishment of creative collaborations with select affiliates, often between unlikely partners, resulting in successes that continue today. I am experienced at public speaking and have been evaluated by professionals as an audience-engaging speaker, using dynamic written and verbal communication to convey intricate ideas and plans. Excited by missions requiring real innovation, I am at my prime when the mission creates positive, people-centered behavior change.

My expertise is requested by members of the staffs and boards for whom I once worked, and by senior managers who were in my employ. My job responsibilities have shown increasing degrees of trust and compensation. I have recruited and hired five Chief Executives, five Development Officers, two Controllers and 40 Program or Division Directors.

President, Laurence A. Pagnoni & Associates    1994-present

The services of Laurence A. Pagnoni & Associates cover two distinct areas: Management Consulting and Development Services.

Management Consulting:
In the past decade we have worked with hundreds of non-profit and for-profit agencies with annual budgets ranging from $500,000 to $26 million. By using organizational development models, we have worked to aid our clients in crisis intervention and planned change. We work to help their agencies become more adaptable to market and environmental changes. The OD theory that most informs our work is the approach primarily developed by Peter Senge at MIT and by Peter Drucker.

The management consulting products at which we are most skilled include:

• Board of Directors Evaluation using a 12-point assessment instrument that culminates in a very engaging report and a weekend board retreat.
• Exec. Dir. consultations for goal setting, strategic thinking & long-range planning.
• Feasibility studies for new program ideas or expansions.
• Developing and writing business plans.
• Training Seminars for mission, vision and team growth.

Development Services:
Our development services focus on major donor solicitation and grant prospecting and writing. Both services are available to clients who engage 14- to 36-month retainer contracts. Since we are members of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), we follow their ethical guidelines and work by measurable performance goals. Currently we have 15 clients for whom we provide this service. In the context of major donor solicitation, we have conducted telephone fundraising events and direct mail solicitations.

We try to tone and strengthen our clients' fundraising muscles as opposed to having them be dependent upon our services. Our overarching goal is to help our clients diversify their revenue base. All of our services involve research, data collection and thorough investigation. My own thinking is macro-oriented, toward the big picture. In order that details do not get lost, I support my talent with the talent of a pool of different associate consultants, many of whom are micro-focused.

In 1998, I served as the New York State Director for Finding Funds For AIDS Projects, 3rd Edition. The popular directory is used by development officers to identify thousands of funding possibilities among foundations, community grant makers, and government.

Since 1994, we have provide consulting services to Camp Viva, a sleep-over summer camp for economically poor families and individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Westchester County. Plans for the camp had been initiated the year prior but had failed. Camp Viva strove to be an innovative summer camp. I recommended that they add a year-round follow-up program, an innovation that has proven to be very successful. In 1994, we raised $90,000 and identified an additional $50,000 for future funding, assisted in training 5 staff members, and co-authored a comprehensive implementation plan. In 1996, I negotiated the transfer of the camp to Family Service of Westchester, Inc., a 50-year-old family mental health agency. By summer 1998, Camp Viva hosts 125 campers and has been accustomed to expanding each year. Its current budget is $150,000. Camp Viva has enjoyed extensive press coverage and I have been retained each year as their lead fundraising consultant. In 1998, my contract was expanded to also include Family Service of Westchester's mental health and child adoption programs.

With five other consultants, I prepared the year IV Federal grant applications for the NYC Mayor's Office for AIDS Policy; I have facilitated executive support seminars for the National Skills Building Conference; conducted seminars in service-learning for NYS Americorps; established the process for mission assessment and strategic planning for Iona Prep School, New Rochelle, NY; and have been engaged in confidential consultation with two executives, monitoring their goals and charting their progress toward desired behavior changes. I have worked with the NYC Quakers developing Friends House, a 50-studio apartment residence for homeless people located at 25th and Lexington Avenue. This project was a $6.5 million purchase and renovation for which I raised over $300,000 in 6 months. I also assisted nine NYC harm-reduction programs in diversification of their revenue.

Over the years I have documented human rights violations in a number of countries, all of which suffer from civil unrest, violations of religious freedom, and challenging population growth. As a field delegate, we toured to test compliance with U.S. Foreign Assistance Act; we also interviewed political and religious leaders and made presentations in the U.S. upon return. Trips include: Nicaragua, 1985-86, with Witness For Peace, touring twenty clergy; Cuba, 1986 documentation of religious liberty; Mexico City, 1986, Global Awareness Through Experience, relief efforts evaluated; Israel and Occupied territories, 1988, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; Haiti, 1989, Catholic Diocese of Richmond, VA, to aid people of Hench, Haiti.

AIDS Service Center, Executive Director, Pasadena, CA.    1994

I was recruited to ASC after their nationwide search. ASC had a staff of fifty, a $4 million budget, and a dedication to serving the needs of over 2,000 people living with AIDS in S. Calif.'s San Gabriel Valley, many of whom were homeless. Case management, pediatric homecare, nurse case management, policy and treatment advocacy, AIDS in the workplace outreach, and harm reduction initiatives in communities of color comprised the core services.

• Restructured the development office to create a more diverse pool of revenue sources.
• Identified $183,000 of deficit previously undocumented within the financial system.
• Through major donor fundraising, eliminated the deficit within the first 6 months of my tenure.
• Conducted a statewide search for and hired a new senior-level Director of Development.
• Searched for and hired the Wellspring Group, fund development consultants, as grant writers. Within 6 months, we increased our private grant requests by 60% above the previous 12 months.
• Co-facilitated a board of directors planning retreat weekend within the first month of my arrival to establish the boards goals and work plan for the year.
• Analyzed and later vetoed a plan that the agency had been pursuing for a new physical plant.
• Addressed physical plant crisis: the lease on its existing site had to be broken in order to move. With the aid of Realtors, many sites were identified and one was selected, but the owner refused the offer.
• Met with each of the 43 staff members to learn what they were doing and how they were doing it.
• Was appointed to Ryan White Planning Council as rep for the Los Angeles County Supervisor.
• Implemented ASC's first comprehensive budget with narrative and graphs showing past years' budgets. The budget was a management tool we developed, led by our 4-person team, after consultation with program staff. It received the Finance Committee's and full board's approval. The budget called for a 1.5 million dollar service expansion over the previous fiscal year's budget.
• Implemented a major donor campaign with the new development director and the board.
• Researched and recruited 5 new board members in conjunction with the Nomination Committee.

Harlem United: Community AIDS Center (Formerly Upper Room AIDS Ministry) / Executive Director, New York, NY   1990-1994

Wanting to apply my previous experience in homeless services to HIV/AIDS, I was recruited here as the first executive director. (In 1994 the name changed to Harlem United: Community AIDS Center.) We provided physical and spiritual support to homeless people living with AIDS in Harlem.

In 1990 the agency had no staff or budget; but over the next four years, it established itself as a premier AIDS service provider operating the only Adult Day Health Care Center for PLWA's in Upper Manhattan. The Day Center was supported by over 100 scattered site apartments and a Pastoral Care Program that was comprised of bereavement counseling, home and hospital visits, living wills, and weekend retreats. The combination of the three services helped clients make positive changes, substance abuse recovery being primary.

By 1994 we had a realized $2.3 million annual budget and a staff of 27 people. Board and staff development, community relations, fundraising, program planning, and implementation and monitoring of our 5-year strategic plan comprised my core tasks. I resigned in 1994 when, as planned, indigenous leadership was in place to assume my duties.

• Nominated, recruited and retained ten directors in consultation with recruitment consultants.
• Facilitated Board communications: monthly meetings, ad hoc committees and planning days.
• Initiated the public relations campaigns for extensive print and broadcast media.
• Established and maintained reporting requirements and compliance with city, state, and Federal laws.
• Assured fiscal reporting requirements per all related regulations.
• Established and maintained overall administrative costs at 14%.
• Designed data collection reports for program evaluation system with Philliber Research Associates.
• Implemented 5-person management team, an innovative model focused on training and support.
• Designed and edited 3 Policy manuals: office, fiscal, program.
• Hired and collaborated with CLR Associates for staff development.
• Introduced a 15-station local area network (LAN) computer system.
• Facilitated design of the organizations first brochure and annual report.
• Facilitated in-kind gifts of equipment totaling $350,000.

Sabbatical    5/89-1/90

Exploring employment offers and a move to a new city, I worked with an executive coach for the advancement of management skills. I also maintained Board of Directors membership in the Richmond Peace Center, the Christian Relief Foundation, and the VA Coalition for the Homeless. During this time I lived at a monastery for an experience in contemplative prayer as directed by Avril Maklouf, Ph.D.

Freedom House / Executive Director, Richmond, VA    1985-1989

Recruited to Freedom House, I succeeded the founding ED. I was sought out for the position because of my reputation for effective community work stemming from my previous position as Director of Community Outreach at Salesianum School. Founded in 1979, Freedom House offers a soup kitchen and drop-in center for 120 homeless men, women, and children a day. In consort by the Catholic Bishop, we were given a building that we redesigned as a 14-bed transitional residence, a change requiring $340,000 of renovation; following a public speaking campaign that I launched throughout the city, we were also given an unused department store which we converted into a shelter. Our main support came from 250 local faith congregations and a 20-person staff, some of whom were live-in professional volunteers. In my first month at Freedom House, we committed to a business partnership with our sister agency, the Daily Planet, Inc., the city's leading mental health provider to homeless people. As the executive director in one of the two lead agencies in a coalition of twenty, I was one of two negotiators chosen to work with the City of Richmond to obtain a municipal building that was renovated to serve as a central service point for the homeless. I was responsible for Board and staff development, overall fundraising, and fiscal management of a $450,000 annual budget and all community relations.

• Relocated agency to a modern renovated social service center.
• Developed a 14-bed transitional residence, Sean's Place, requiring $340,000 renovation.
• Developed a 50-bed pre-detox shelter, The Community Shelter, requiring a $90,000 renovation.
• Purchased a volunteer staff residence, requiring a $90,000 renovation.
• Co-founded SRO Housing, Inc., the city's first non-profit to develop single room occupancy housing.
• Co-founded the VA Coalition for the Homeless, a statewide legislative lobbying and policy making body representing over 130 homeless and housing service providers.

Salesianum School / Administrator Wilmington, DE    1982-1985

A private college preparatory school with a 70-person faculty, Salesianum serves 800 students and is well known for the high percentage of its graduates who enter and graduate from highly rated institutions of higher learning.

As Director of the Community Outreach Program, an innovative program that combined academic studies with volunteer community service, I placed 200 students a semester in 110 different agencies for 40 hours of volunteer service. Journals and book reports were used to aid students in reflecting upon their experiences. Duties included participation in the school's 5-person ministry team; coordination of retreat weekends for all 800 students; conducting one day retreats for 200 Junior students. As instructor of theology, I taught courses in ecumenism, justice, world mission and sexuality.

Major accomplishments included revising the social ministry course syllabus and student handbook, increasing the agency placement list from 40 to 110, serving on the committee for Middle States evaluation, and establishing a section in the library dedicated to social justice texts. I was awarded a faculty grant in 1983 for summer research.

Awards, Professional Affiliations & Other Experiences

I taught a seminar at Villanova University (Philadelphia) 1986; I worked as a teacher and administrator with the Upward Bound Program (Philadelphia), summers 1981 and 1982; while in College, I taught a sixth-grade class in religious education one day a week for three years at Annunciation Elementary School (Havertown, PA) 1979-1982; I volunteered with the Brandywine Peace Community (Philadelphia) p/t 1981-1985 doing community organizing.

I have been awarded the Child Service Award, 1995, by Family Service of Westchester, White Plains, NY; the Seminar Success Award, 1994, National Catholic AIDS Network, Chicago, IL; Housing Development Award, 1992, SRO Housing, Inc., Richmond, VA; Life Achievement Award, 1990, Italian American Society of Virginia; Human Rights of the Year Award, 1989, City of Richmond, VA; Faith and Life Award, 1982, St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA; Salutatorian, Class of 1978, St. Joseph's Preparatory, Philadelphia, PA.

I hold membership in professional groups including the NY Regional Association of Grant-makers (NYRAG), Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Association of NY Executives, The National Center for Nonprofit Boards, and the Human Rights Campaign Fund.

Education and Training

• MPA / MS, Management, 1999, New York University, Wagner School of Public Service
• MA, Socio-political Theology, 1986, LaSalle University, Philadelphia, PA
• BA, Systematic Theology, 1982, St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA (Dean's List)
• Secondary Education, 1978, St. Joseph's Preparatory School, Philadelphia, PA
• Peter Drucker Institute, advanced training for systems and organizational planning, 1992
• Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, Washington, DC, Certificate in Spirituality, 1991-93

Personal

Computer literate. Physically fit (6' 1" 180lbs.) nonsmoker active in running, weight-lifting and Thai Chi Chuan. Single. Born August 18, 1960. A list of publications and/or specific references are available.