Meet Our New Board Chair, Carolyn Meade       

Profile: Member and hiring partner, Moore & Van Allen PLLC; small business owner and general counsel, Genetipetz, LLC (Check out our genetically, phonetically fun and mixed-up stuffed animals: www.genetipetz.com.)

Joined the Women's Impact Fund in January 2005. Served on Grants and Community Impact Committees; Membership Retention Task Force; Strategic Planning Task Force.

Q. What is the biggest challenge for Women's Impact Fund?

Ensuring that members remain engaged and excited - and continue to be members. So much competes for our attention. It's important for our women to feel that they have as much to contribute in their seventh year of membership as they did in their second; and it's important that the organization provide opportunities for them to do so.

Q. What is the biggest opportunity for Women's Impact Fund?

Together, this group can truly accomplish anything. The knowledge, direction, and passion that our members offer to the community are significant. In a time when it's sometimes hard to know where to turn for leadership without a political agenda, we are ready to be among the voices defining Charlotte's future.

Q. If you could take a class on anything from anyone, what would it be?

I'd love to participate in a full-day workshop with choreographers from the television show So You Think You Can Dance, including modern, hip hop, Latin, even Bollywood. When I was 16, I turned down an opportunity to study dance at the N.C. School of the Arts, but I've never lost the desire to move like that.

Q. If you could have one super power, what would it be?

Time turning. (Think Hermione in the third Harry Potter.) There is never enough time to be the friend, the professional, and the Mom I'd like to be, or to experience all that I'd like to experience.How wonderful to be able to extend my day - and still somehow get eight hours of sleep!

Click here to read more about Carolyn, including something she thinks might surprise you.   

Making Plans     

Last year, as WIF marked its 10th anniversary, the time seemed right to re-examine who we are and what we aspire to be. A Strategic Planning Committee, led by Carolyn Meade, began the process of gathering information from community leaders, other collective giving groups, grantees and grant finalists and, most importantly, our members. Now, after much discussion and analysis, the committee has developed eight Strategic Goals designed to create a Women's Impact Fund with even more impact.           

One message already has come through loud and clear. "Together, We Do!"