On January 2, Jeanne Englehart joined Inforum as Executive in Residence, Inforum—West Michigan. Jeanne is one of the most respected business and civic leaders in west Michigan, having served for seven years (2004-2011) as the President and CEO of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and six years as Community Services Director for U.S. Representative Vernon Ehlers.
Prior to that she was a successful entrepreneur and business owner at the helm of an award-winning, fast-growing company which she successfully grew and sold to a larger entity. Her experience as a community leader and successful business owner led to her most recent engagement as Vice President with The Charter Group, a mergers and acquisitions firm. She is also a member of the board of directors of Founders Bank and Trust, and is a Governor Snyder appointee to the Michigan Early Childhood Investment Corporation. Last but certainly not least, Jeanne has been a long-standing member of Inforum’s West Michigan Honorary Committee. The community honors that she and the various organizations under her leadership have received are literally too many to mention.
In her focused, four-month engagement with Inforum, Jeanne will be responsible for serving as a local brand ambassador for both Inforum and Inforum Center for Leadership in West Michigan, increasing awareness and positioning our organization with key business, community and civic leaders and centers of influence in the region. In order to expand and deepen our overall relationships, she will not only be calling on people and organizations herself, she will be “quarterbacking" or positioning members of our staff and volunteer team, including me, Jacque Wiggins, Rachele Downs and others, to ensure all members of the team are known and connected and that we have many touch points.
A critically important part of her role will be mentoring and assisting with on-boarding our new Vice President, Corporate Engagement, opening doors and helping this new hire establish relationships. As you have heard in previous e-mails we are on track to have that position filled in January.
Jeanne will also be responsible for business development, including identifying new prospects, deepening our relationships with existing sponsors and advancing prospects-in-progress to secure new funders.
Jeanne will be located at our West Michigan office (616.588.9400) and her new e-mail (once operational after the first of year) will be [email protected]. Please join me in giving her a warm Inforum welcome.
Terry A. Barclay, President and CEO, Inforum
Click here to read more about Jeanne and her response to being named the 2013 ATHENA Award Winner!
