Instructors
Kathy Izard, Lead Instructor
Kathy Izard is an inspiring leader and change-maker on a local and national level. She will be the Lead Instructor for Wake Forest’s Nonprofit Essentials course beginning Fall 2020. Kathy was an award-winning advertising professional for twenty years in Charlotte before launching the pilot program Homeless to Homes for the interfaith Urban Ministry Center in 2007. She led the city-wide effort to build Moore Place, Charlotte’s first permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless men and women. After Moore Place opened in 2012, Kathy worked on numerous civic projects including leading the development campaign for HopeWay, Charlotte’s first nonprofit residential mental health treatment center which opened in 2016. Along with founding three programs and working with nonprofits as both a volunteer and staff member, Kathy has served on numerous nonprofit boards helping to raise funds from individuals, foundations and corporations in Charlotte and across North Carolina. Kathy is the recipient of the Bank of America Neighborhood Hero Award, the NC Housing Volunteer of the Year Award and recognized as a William J. Clinton Distinguished Guest Lecturer. She is the author of two books, The Hundred Story Home which received the 2017 Christopher Award and A Good Night for Mr. Coleman, a children’s book written to encourage kids to dream big and Do Good. Her work has been featured on NPR as well as the Today Show inspiring people to be change makers in their communities.
Holly Welch Stubbing, Lead Instructor

Holly Welch Stubbing is an outstanding leader and change-maker, who is actively engaged and well-known to the Charlotte-area nonprofit community. Holly is also a nationally-recognized advocate for the nonprofit sector and serves or has served on key public policy committees representing nonprofits and philanthropy on the Hill.
Holly Welch Stubbing serves as Executive Vice President & In-House Counsel at Foundation For The Carolinas and leads the Foundation’s advancement and legal affairs functions and oversees the Foundation’s investment portfolio. She is also currently serving as Acting CEO of E4E Relief™, a national leader in employee disaster and hardship relief programs for global corporations.
Holly currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina and serves on the Seymour Legacy Trust Board of Trustees and the Advisory Council of the Bledsoe-Cathcart Group, private wealth advisors at Merrill Lynch. She serves as past Board Chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Foundation and on the boards of the Alliance for Charitable Reform and Trinity Episcopal School. She is a German Marshall Fund Marshall Memorial Fellow and is a recipient of the Charlotte Business Journal’s Women in Business Award and 40 under 40 recognition. Holly was Charlotte AFP’s Fundraiser of the Year Award in 2013 and was honored by KPMG and CREW as an Athena Woman of Service.
Holly holds a Global Executive MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, a J.D. from the University of Dayton School of Law and B.A. in Speech Communications and International Studies from Wake Forest University. Holly is a member of the North Carolina and Tennessee Bar Associations. Holly is married and has two children.
Session 1: Introduction to Nonprofit Essentials
Kathy Izard, Lead Instructor
Holly Welch Stubbing, Lead Instructor
Session 2: Strategic Thinking
Holly Welch Stubbing, Lead Instructor
Courtney Ramey, Guest Speaker is the Charlotte Office Executive Director for Jabian Consulting. She is responsible for the office strategy, client delivery, business development, and community involvement activities. She also serves on Jabian’s Executive Leadership Team. Jabian is a management consulting firm with offices in Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas and Chicago. Jabian enables its clients to exceed their corporate objectives through the efficient and innovative application of strategy, technology and process.
Courtney is active in the Charlotte community and currently serves on the Board of the CMS Foundation, E2D and Jabian Cares. Prior to joining Jabian Consulting, Courtney was an IBM Tivoli Service Management Sales Leader responsible for software sales across the US. Prior to her sales leadership, Courtney was a Certified IT Management Consultant with IBM Global Services.
Courtney lives in Charlotte, NC, with her husband, John, and two children, Anna Grace (10 years old) and Miles (8 years old). Courtney holds a BS in Mathematical Sciences and Computer Science from the University of North Carolina.
Session 3: Governance & Compliance
Kerri Mast, Instructor joined Brown Brothers Harriman in 2010 and is responsible for wealth planning services in the Charlotte office. Prior to joining BBH, she worked at Foundation or The Carolinas, where she advised donors and their professional advisors on issues relating to charitable giving and nonprofit governance.
Before her work at Foundation For The Carolinas, Ms. Mast practiced law at Moore & Van Allen PLLC, where she advised families of substantial wealth on estate and tax planning matters. She serves on several boards and committees, including Discovery Place Board of Trustees, the Nature Conservancy (North Carolina Chapter) Board of Trustees, the Foundation For The Carolinas Planned Giving Advisory Cabinet, the Queens University Planned Giving Advisory Council (chair), the Hawthorne Lane UMC Endowment Committee (chair) and Women’s Impact Fund Environment Grants Committee. Ms. Mast received a B.A. in psychology from Wake Forest University and a J.D. from Emory University School of Law.
Liz Clasen-Kelly, Guest Speaker. Liz Clasen-Kelly serves as the CEO of the newly merged Men’s Shelter of Charlotte and Urban Ministry Center. She previously served as the Executive Director of the Men’s Shelter of Charlotte, where she led the shelter’s effort to renovate its main shelter. Previously, as the Associate Director of Urban Ministry Center, she oversaw the community’s street outreach efforts and served as project manager for Housing First Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the community effort to end chronic homelessness.
She is a graduate of Davidson College and received her Master of Public Policy from Duke University. She is a proud member of a blended family, with four kids ranging from 5 to 22.
Session 4: Budget & Finance
Matthew Socha, Instructor is Audit Senior Manager in the Charlotte practice of Cherry Bekaert, Matthew has a profound passion for serving educational and not-for-profit organizations. As a member of Cherry Bekaert’s Education and Not-for-Profit Industry Groups, Matthew provides audit, assurance and advisory services to private and public colleges and universities, community and technical colleges, independent K-12 schools, educational foundation and charitable organizations.
Clients depend on Matthew for timely, practical guidance on many technical accounting and compliance issues such as implementation of new standards, compliance with federal and state laws and grant programs, fair value matters, endowment accounting, and more. Matthew also specializes in accounting and tax issues for private clubs.
- Hospitality Finance & Technology Professionals – Charlotte Blue Ridge Chapter
- Charlotte Chamber’s Young Professionals
- SACUBO Benchmark Project
Mack McDonald, Guest Speaker joined Renaissance West Community Initiative (RWCI) on February 1, 2016 as COO. He became the organization’s CEO December 16, 2016. RWCI works with dozens of partners to revitalize a community that was once a failed housing project. RWCI and its partners assist struggling families in breaking cycles of intergenerational poverty through a holistic approach that includes housing, education, health, wellness and opportunity.
Prior to joining RWCI, he was a Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) Associate Dean of Business and Industry Learning, as well as site manager of the CPCC Ballantyne Center. Mack has served as Business Excellence Manager and Business Relations Manager at Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont. He was Senior Vice President of Business Operations and CIO at United Way of the Central Carolinas. McDonald has also served as the Director of the Information Management Center at Johnson C. Smith University and spent 13 years as an Engineer and Project Specialist for the IBM Corporation. McDonald would tell you that his passion is in the community and with helping people. Currently he serves on boards of directors for the Charlotte Merchants Foundation (current Board Chair) and Girl Scouts Hornets’ Nest Council. He is an officer with the Pi Phi (Charlotte – Mecklenburg) Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. Mack is a member of American Leadership Forum (Charlotte Chapter) Class IX and Leadership Charlotte Class 24. He has served on boards of directors for Leadership Charlotte, ArtsTeach, the Carolina Raptor Center, and many others. He has been PTA president, a youth basketball, football and softball coach, and youth mentor.
Mack is a past winner of the Jefferson Award for community service, and the winner of the Citizen of the Year Award for Pi Phi Chapter (2017) and the Sixth District (NC & SC, 2018) of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
Session 5: Fund Development
Kristin Hills Bradberry, Instructor has worked in philanthropy for over 30 years. After working at the University of Richmond, she served her alma mater, Davidson College, as Vice President for College Relations, overseeing the $250 million Let Learning Be Cherished comprehensive campaign. She was the campaign director for the Arts and Science Council $83 million endowment campaign to support new and renovated cultural facilities in Charlotte, now known as Levine Center for the Arts.
Since 2010, Kristin has worked as an advisor for non-profits on fundraising strategy and for philanthropists on meaningful and strategic giving. Campaign counsel clients include the $25 million HopeWay Campaign, the $150 million Johnson C. Smith University campaign, and $5.7 million Men’s Shelter Charlotte renovation campaign. In 2018, Kristin formed a partnership with Pat Martin and Patricia Zoder to form Greenway Group, a consulting practice that guides nonprofits organizations, family foundations and social impact corporate clients. Kristin has served on many nonprofit boards and is immediate Past Chair of Blumenthal Performing Arts. She also serves on the boards of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church Endowment, and the Nalle Clinic Foundation. While a Board member of Davidson College, she chaired the Search Committee for the 18th President. She has been honored by AFP of Charlotte as National Fundraiser of the Year in 2010 and by the Charlotte Hornets with their 2014 Community Hero Award.
Connie Barcelo, Guest Speaker. Connie Barcelo received her BFA at UNC Greensboro in 2011. Following internships at Elsewhere Artist Collaborative and The Mint Museum, she relocated to Boston and served at the Cambridge Community Center in youth work, marketing, and fund development. While at the Center she designed and received funding for a Minecraft youth program, sharing this work at the Cambridge Agenda for Children Out of School Time Symposium in How to Use Minecraft to Teach Everything: Video Games in Curricula.
Connie joined Charlotte Bilingual Preschool as Development Director in 2018, where she has supported budget growth from $1M to $2M and expanded the Development department to include four staff members. She and her husband live in NoDa and are expecting their first child in July 2020.
Session 6: Board & Staff Management
Dr. Holly H. Brower, Instructor. Holly teaches Organizational Behavior, Leadership, Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector, and Leading Change. She has taught undergraduate, MBA and executive students, including international programs in Germany, Austria and Nicaragua. She is also the chair of the Judicial Council in the WFU College. After receiving her B. S. in Business from Wake Forest University she spent 10 years managing organizations in the nonprofit sector in Illinois, Colorado and Iowa. Experiences in these organizations included strategic planning, hiring, supervision, motivation, and development of employees (both paid and volunteer), board development, community assessment and development and fundraising. She also earned Business from Iowa State an M.S. in University and after earning her PhD in 2000 from Purdue University, she taught at Butler University in Indianapolis before joining Wake Forest.
Holly is an active member of the Academy of Management and the Southern Management
Association. She is a former Associate Editor of “Academy of Management Learning and Education” Journal. Her research interests lie in the areas of corporate governance, leadership, trust and ethical decision making. Her research has appeared in publication outlets such as
“Journal of Management” and “Journal of Leadership and Organization Studies”. In addition, some of her research was spotlighted in the “Harvard Business Review.” She has also served on the boards of Girls Scouts, Centers for Exceptional Children, and Samaritan Ministries as well as holding several leadership roles in her church.
William F. (Bill) Blue, Jr., Guest Speaker is the co-founder and Board Chair of the HopeWay Foundation. Bill assumed this role in 2014 after retiring as Vice Chairman of Investment Banking and Capital Markets for Wells Fargo Securities.
Throughout his thirty year banking career, Bill represented foreign and domestic corporations in financing and advisory assignments. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Bill served as the group head of the Wachovia Consumer and Retail Investment Banking group. Before joining Wachovia, Bill was a Managing Director in the Mergers and Acquisitions group of NationsBanc Montgomery Securities. Bill has extensive experience in leading non-profit organizations having served as Board Chair of Habitat for Humanity of Charlotte and Charlotte Country Day School. Bill also has served as Senior Warden of Christ Church. He is a former board member of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, the University of Virginia Alumni Association, and YMCA Camp Thunderbird. He currently serves on four corporate boards: the Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad Company, Biscuitville, Inc., The Dixie Group and Springs Creative Products Group.
Bill earned a B.A. in English and History and an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia.
Session 7: Marketing
Jennifer Appleby, Instructor. Jennifer Appleby is a business leader and community advocate whose passion and creativity have fueled the transformation of her agency and the community in which she lives. Appleby was named president and chief creative officer of marketing communications agency Wray Ward in 2001 and today is the agency owner. Her vision guided Wray Ward through a strategic repositioning and reorganization that shifted the agency’s focus to its home category expertise and significantly expanded its services. Wray Ward creates award-winning digital and traditional work for brands including Sunbrella®, LEVOLOR, Moen® and VELUX® America.
An arts advocate, Appleby has held strategic leadership positions in many transformative community projects. She is the immediate past board chair of Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and served on the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation. She served as board chair of the Arts & Science Council, chaired its Annual Fund Drive and has served on the Public Art Commission. She also was on the marketing committee for the creation of the Levine Center for the Arts, home to the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, The Mint Museum of Art, Knight Theater and Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. Appleby was selected as the inaugural Business Innovator in Residence at the nationally renowned contemporary art center, McColl Center for Art + Innovation. Building on that experience, Appleby serves on the executive committee of Charlotte Center City Partners and will serve as co-chair for Charlotte Center City’s 2040 Vision Plan. She also serves on the executive committee and board of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance and on the Central Piedmont Community College Foundation Board.
A dedicated supporter of critical human services organizations, Appleby has served in task force and leadership roles for organization including Goodwill of the Southern Piedmont and United Way of Central Carolinas and led her agency in helping to create the first-ever statewide campaign to combat domestic violence in North Carolina, eNOugh. She has been recognized professionally throughout her career, including being a recipient of the Charlotte BusinessWoman of the Year Award from Queens University’s McColl School of Business, Charlotte Business Journal’s Women in Business Achievement and the Arts & Architecture Alumni Award from her alma mater, Penn State University. She was also named to Business North Carolina’s 2018 Power 100 and Charlotte Business Journal’s 2019 Most Admired CEO .
Molly Shaw, Guest Speaker. Molly Shaw serves as President and CEO of Communities In Schools of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, a student support organization that empowers more than 6,000 CMS students to stay in school and achieve in life. Molly is a native of Durham, NC, and a Davidson College graduate. In 2008, she earned a Master’s of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Prior to joining CIS, Molly led The Charlotte Teachers Institute (CTI), an initiative designed to strengthen teaching in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. She also spent several years at Davidson College serving in various roles, including Director of Parent Programs, Capital Gifts Officer and Annual Fund Assistant Director. In addition to serving on the UNCC Atkins Library Board of Advisors, she is a current Board Member of Trinity Episcopal School, ROC Charlotte and serves on the Mecklenburg County Early Childhood Education Executive Committee. She has previously served as a board member of Charlotte Emergency Housing, the Women’s Impact Fund, and chaired the Davidson College Friends of the Arts’ Advisory Board. Molly has delivered talks locally and nationally on topics including economic mobility, national educational trends and local solutions, cradle to career success and leadership. Molly is married to David Webb and in her free time she enjoys cooking, traveling, reading and spending time with their two children, Max and Kate.
Session 8: Business Intelligence & Impact
Andrea J. Stevenson, Instructor is the founder of Stevenson Wallace LLC and a consultant, facilitator and speaker based in North Carolina and working nationally. Her work focuses on building stronger, more effective nonprofits through strategic planning, organizational culture, stakeholder research and board development. She brings 28 years of nonprofit sector experience to her work, with past leadership positions including chief executive roles at both Community School of the Arts and the Lee Institute in Charlotte, and senior leadership posts at major performing arts centers in Texas and Philadelphia.
A sought-after expert on nonprofit boards, she has created and launched three governance training curricula, taught corporate teams nationwide how to be positive ambassadors for their companies through nonprofit board service, and provided conflict
resolution and individual coaching for executive directors and board chairs. A frequent speaker and panelist, Andi has delivered a TedX talk on the hazards of perfectionism, offered keynotes at women’s leadership conferences, moderated panels
on next-generation arts leadership, and led practitioner roundtables in graduate public administration programs.
Andi earned her MBA from Queens University of Charlotte’s McColl School of Business and her B.A. in English and political science from Texas A&M University. She is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum (Class 15, Charlotte Region) and a competitive ballroom dancer (Latin, open) with her instructor, Ranko Bogosavac.
Jason Terrell, Guest Speaker began his journey as an 8th-grade teacher in Charlotte Mecklenburg School. In the classroom, Jason served as a mentor, athletic coach, and tutor and was deeply invested in his students’ pursuit of academic and personal success. Jason is the co-founder and Executive Director of Profound Gentlemen, a national agency dedicated to increasing the 2% of male educators of color who teach across the nation.
Through his work, Jason has been recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 as one of the world’s brightest social innovators who seek to bring about change and equal opportunity for boys and male educators of color. He currently lives in Charlotte, NC with his wife and likes to go to rap concerts when he’s not working on Profound Gentlemen.
Session 9: Capstone – Leadership Panel
Kathy Izard, Lead Instructor
Holly Welch Stubbing, Lead Instructor