SECF.ORG - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Senior Vice President
Job Titles:
- Member of LEAD Atlanta 2006
She was also the co-founding director of the Younger Women's Task Force: Atlanta Chapter, a class member of LEAD Atlanta 2006, and finds inspiration in mentoring young girls as a volunteer coach with Girls on the Run.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Executive Director, Mike & Gillian Goodrich Foundation ( Birmingham, AL )
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Executive Director, the Fullerton Foundation ( Gaffney, SC )
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Executive Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- President and CEO, Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina ( North Charleston, SC )
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Strategic Communications at Philanthropy Southeast
David Miller is the Vice President of Strategic Communications at Philanthropy Southeast. He is focused on driving member engagement with the organization's events and programming while also promoting its work cultivating philanthropic organizations and leaders throughout the Southeast. David also manages Philanthropy Southeast's print and online publications.
David came to Philanthropy Southeast in 2015 with extensive experience as a writer and editor. He oversaw print and online publications as Communications Director for the Illinois council of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and also served as Media Outreach Manager at the headquarters of the Laborers' International Union of America in Washington. During his time in Washington, David also promoted events and publications for National Journal Group.
David began his career as a political journalist, writing and editing for Congressional Quarterly and CBS News. His interest in politics also led him to work as a researcher for President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.
A native of Detroit, David graduated from Michigan State University in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He lives just outside Atlanta with his partner, Abi, and their dog, Wiggles.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- President, St. Croix Foundation for Community Development ( St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands )
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Chief Operating Officer at Philanthropy Southeast
Dena Chadwick is the Chief Operating Officer at Philanthropy Southeast. Dena manages financial operations and related reporting, which is accurate and consistent with generally accepted accounting practices, established internal controls, and financial policies. In addition, Dena supports the President and CEO all on board related meetings and committees and oversees the operations of Philanthropy Southeast.
Previously, Dena worked as an independent contractor for a variety of small businesses providing accounting support and business plan documentation. She began her career as a staff accountant and assistant controller with the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation in 1991. She earned a Bachelors of Business Administration in Accounting from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.
Dena served as a board member for The Museum School's from December 2010 to January 2013 and served as its Treasurer from December 2010 to June 2012.
Dena is a native of Atlanta and resides in the neighborhood she grew up with her two children.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Executive Committee
- Governance Chair
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Trustee, the Mary Black Foundation ( Spartanburg, SC )
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Member Engagement
Jaci is incredibly bright and passionate about her work on behalf of children, families and communities - and she also understands the level of support and resources required to inspire others working in philanthropy.
Jaci guides Philanthropy Southeast in its membership initiatives as we look to the future of Southeastern philanthropy. She is also the lead support for Philanthropy Southeast's Hull Fellows Program.
Prior to her role at Philanthropy Southeast, Jaci served as the Program Manager of Employee and Foundation Community Outreach of PNM Resources Inc., where she managed the distribution of over $500,000 in grants through PNM's nonprofit foundation focused on increasing the energy efficiency of nonprofit organizations and promoting environmental stewardship. She also managed a portfolio of signature community engagement programs and implemented the first company-wide Day of Service.
Earlier in her career, she was the Director of Programs and Communications with the Atlanta Women's Foundation, where she started as an intern and was consistently promoted throughout the organization, serving as Senior Program Officer and Program Officer during her eight year tenure with the only public foundation in Georgia solely dedicated to women and girls.
A selection of Albuquerque Business First as a 2013 "40 Under 40" honoree, Jaci serves her community in a variety of ways, including as the past chair of the Corporate Volunteer Council of Central New Mexico, an advisory board member at the Center for Nonprofit Excellence at the United Way of Central New Mexico, and as a founding and current advisory board member at NewMexicoWomen.org, a fund of the New Mexico Community Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Executive Committee
- President and CEO, Community Foundation for Mississippi ( Jackson
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the Executive Committee
- President
- President and CEO of Philanthropy Southeast
- Strategist
Janine Lee is a veteran strategist and grantmaker in philanthropy, with more than 25 years of rich and diverse leadership with nonprofits and foundations.
Janine is the President and CEO of Philanthropy Southeast, the premier philanthropic network for courageous leaders, ideas and resources focused on the American South and U.S. Caribbean territories. Philanthropy Southeast works in partnership with members in 11 Southeastern states and the U.S. Virgin Islands, connecting them to experts, innovations and best practices in philanthropy while promoting peer-to-peer learning and leadership development. By coming together, Philanthropy Southeast and its members spark transformative work that achieves lasting impact, advances equity, and builds a brighter future for the South, its communities and all its people.
During her career in philanthropy, Janine has served in leadership roles at The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, where she worked as vice president of education programs, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where she was vice president of community building and philanthropy.
Janine serves on the Board of Directors of Independent Sector and on the United Philanthropy Forum's Racial Equity Committee, as well as its Racial Equity Capacity Assessment Subcommittee. Her previous board service includes the United Philanthropy Forum (formerly the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers), the National Center for Family Philanthropy and the Mayor's Advisory Board on Homelessness in Atlanta. She also serves on the Steering Committee of the Georgia Grantmakers Alliance (GGA), the Advisory Committee for the Foundation Center in Atlanta, and the Steering Committee guiding the Bechtel Foundation's research into resiliency. She is a co-founder and former chair of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO). She has presented at various conferences, including those held by Independent Sector and the Council on Foundations. In 2015, she was named one of America's Top 20 Women in Philanthropy and Civic Engagement by Michael Chatman, one of America's leading advocates for philanthropy on social media. In 2017, she was named an Arthur Vining Davis Foundations Aspen Fellow. She has been featured multiple times in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, including its July 2019 cover story, Leaders of Color Speak Out, and as co-author of a November 2019 op-ed, A Call to Grant Makers: National Progress is Impossible Without Southern Progress. She has been interviewed for articles in Inside Philanthropy and other publications.
Janine holds a bachelor's degree in rehabilitation services education, a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling, a master's degree in business administration, and is a co-author of "Funding Effectiveness: Lessons in Building Nonprofit Capacity." (Jossey-Bass, 2005).
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Secretary - Treasurer
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Trustee, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation ( Winston - Salem, NC )
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Charitable Trust ( Winston - Salem, NC )
Job Titles:
- Manager of Creative Design & Multimedia Projects for Philanthropy Southeast
As the Manager of Creative Design & Multimedia Projects for Philanthropy Southeast, Kevin serves as the organization's lead creative resource for all digital, print and web projects including graphics, newsletters (print and online), videos, social media posts, presentations and promotional collateral. He is an integral part of the team responsible for establishing and maintaining the organization's brand and creative vision, designing powerful opportunities to connect, engage and inspire grantmakers while helping to cultivate the voice of philanthropy in the South.
As a passionate, organized, creative professional, he brings with him a background across a variety of industries from entertainment to corporate. He has remarkable experience with graphic design, web design, motion graphics, video production, logo creation and brand identity. His work has been featured in national multimedia marketing campaigns at his previous role with a national home improvement consumer goods distributor, where he served as their creative multimedia design manager.
Kevin is a 2011 graduate of Savannah College of Art & Design where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Motion Media/Graphic Design, and a 2006 graduate of Chattahoochee Technical College where he earned an Associate Degree of Fine Arts in Entertainment Film/TV Production Technology.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Senior Advisor, Home Region
Job Titles:
- Chairman - Elect
- Chairman of the Executive Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Senior Program Officer, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation ( Chicago, IL )
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Executive Committee
Job Titles:
- Senior Programs Associate
S.E. is the Senior Programs Associate at Philanthropy Southeast. In this role, she supports core programming efforts and various partnership initiatives. She is also engaged in the resource development and sponsorship efforts of the organization.
Before joining the Philanthropy Southeast team, S.E. gained both practical and academic experience related to nonprofits and philanthropy. She spent four years as a consultant for an international women's fraternity. In this role, she supported groups on over 30 college campuses across the US and Canada. Most recently she worked at the Institute for Nonprofits at NC State. While at the Institute, S.E. supported research, academic, and community engagement programs to strengthen the capacity of nonprofit and social sector organizations in North Carolina and beyond.
S.E. graduated with a B.A. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in May 2014 and completed her Masters in Public Administration (M.P.A.) from North Carolina State University in 2018. She grew up in the Atlanta area and is glad to be back working with a fantastic organization like Philanthropy Southeast!
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Member of the Executive Committee
Job Titles:
- Director of Research & Data
- Philanthropy Southeast in 2017 As Research & Data Manager
- President of the Special Libraries Association - Georgia Chapter
Stephen Sherman joined Philanthropy Southeast in 2017 as Research & Data Manager and was named Director of Research & Data in 2020. Previously, he worked with the Foundation Center's Atlanta office, including serving as Atlanta Lead. In this role, he was responsible for managing the library's collection of materials on fundraising and nonprofit management, providing in-depth resource consultations for patrons, and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the office.
He has been active in the Atlanta community teaching programs on grantseeking and proposal writing and has presented for numerous conferences, nonprofit groups, and library workshops. Stephen also served as the Atlanta office's liaison to the local grantmaking community and has been closely involved in past research initiatives with Philanthropy Southeast and the Georgia Grantmakers Alliance.
Stephen is currently president of the Special Libraries Association-Georgia Chapter and enjoys volunteering with a number of other local professional groups and nonprofits. He holds a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Virginia and a master's degree in library science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Stephen lives just outside Decatur with his wife, Becky, and daughter, Elena.
Job Titles:
- Community Member
- Vice President of Programs and Partnerships
Tiffany Friesen joined Philanthropy Southeast in March 2019 as vice president of programs and partnerships. Prior to that she was with the United Way of Greater Atlanta as senior director for partnership engagement, where she created new programming to strengthen and deepen relationships with funded and non-funded agencies to increase collaboration and impact for the well-being of children and families in Atlanta.
Her prior experience also includes work with Be The Match, part of the National Marrow Donor Program, where she led an initiative to grow the diversity of bone marrow donors in the Southeast region.
Since arriving in Atlanta in 1991, Tiffany has worked across sectors, including in the political arena as campaign manager for Lisa Borders for Mayor and on the support team for the Atlanta Committee for Progress. In addition, her experience in the nonprofit sector has ranged from working at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce during the Centennial Olympics period to Coxe Curry & Associates.
Tiffany is an active community member, having served on the boards of Hands On Atlanta, KIPP Ways Academy, Families First, Victim Witness Assistance Program and the D'AIR Project. She was involved with the startup of the Neighborhood Charter School in Grant Park and taught English as a second language to Vietnamese immigrants through the Carter Project when she first moved to Atlanta in 1992.
She holds a bachelor's degree in vocal performance from Goshen College and is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta Class of 2012. She and her husband, Atiba, live in Grant Park and have three children and four grandchildren.
Job Titles:
- Senior Programs Associate
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Senior Director, Foundation Community Investments