Pam Wilcox joins staff

Pam Wilcox joins the team as Interim Executive Director on June 4.

Pam is founder and president of SAVé—Staff and Volunteer Excellence—a specialized management consulting group that focuses on nonprofit leadership and organizational performance.

Her passion for helping boards and CEOs remove the obstacles that limit success and achieve exceptional mission performance is reflected in her writing, speaking and consulting. She is author of Exposing the Elephants: Creating Exceptional Nonprofits (John H. Wiley & Sons, 2006).

Career
An accomplished executive with over 20 years experience in nonprofit leadership, board operations, strategic planning and staff management, Pam works at the forefront of change, creating innovative ways to optimize volunteer and staff talents and implementing new methods for strengthening board and staff leadership.

As executive director for Alpha Phi International, Pam helped the board restructure governance, eliminated $1M in annual losses, and re-built the international office. As vice president of education and marketing for the Appraisal Institute, she completed the merger of two large nonprofits and created a unique committee/staff approach to educational development that fueled the growth of a $5M program portfolio.

Pam’s career also includes for-profit experience. As president of MindLeap, a subsidiary of Education Management Corporation, she directed planning for a $10M start-up school for design. As vice president for Chemical Bank, she facilitated the merger of credit card service areas and directed the Chicago customer service operations.

Education
A cum laude graduate of Carthage College, Pam holds an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. She's a member of the American Society of Association Executives, the Association Forum of Chicagoland, BoardSource, and the Alliance for Nonprofit Management. She and her husband, Robert, are active in Chicago as members of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, and as patrons of the Goodman Theater, Field Museum, and Chicago Symphony.

-- ICA-USA

Greetings from Cheryl Zaleski

My name is Cheryl Zaleski, and I’m your new Constituency Services Associate at ICA-USA. My role will entail serving as the main contact person for questions or concerns regarding ToP, as well as making website modifications, serving as Listserv moderator, collecting course surveys, managing the database, and directing ToP marketing efforts. In addition to my role as Constituency Services Associate, I will also be serving as Assistant to the Chief Executive, as well as providing support to the Board of Directors and its Committees. Many of you have been working with Laura Dellaca here at ICA prior to my being hired, and Laura will still be the contact person for placing product and course orders, receiving payment, and all other financial transactions.

I have spent the past fifteen years working my way up from Administrative Assistant to Program Manager at an organization called The Human Relations Foundation of Chicago, whose goal was the eradication of racism, bigotry and prejudice in metropolitan Chicago. We attempted to do that through a variety of methods, most of which involved bringing people together to talk about issues affecting the various communities of Chicago. In its 15 years of operation, the Foundation researched and published more than 30 reports, held between one and two projects per month, and collaborated with organizations from the business, government, education, health care, religious and non-profit sectors. My work experience during those fifteen years included administrative assistance to the President and Board of Directors, special events planning, grant writing, budgeting, media relations, fundraising, research, and public relations. I have also volunteered for a variety of organizations and programs; I have served as a member of the Prisons and Jails Monitoring Committee for the John Howard Association, a tutoring volunteer for the Boys and Girls Club of America, a literacy volunteer with Triton College, a member of the Connecting Cultures Advisory Committee of The Field Museum, and a member of the Youth Task Force at Hull House.

The Foundation’s largest program, which had more than 11,000 participants in 10 years, was The Chicago Dinners; the Dinners brought up to 500 people together twice a year at approximately 50 private dinner parties for a deliberate discussion on the intersections of race and class in Chicago. The Vice President and I were responsible for training more than 1,000 hosts of these dinner parties in cross-cultural dialogue facilitation. As manager of the program, I was also responsible for media relations, database management, volunteer recruitment and management, marketing of materials, development of facilitation classes, design and collection of event surveys, in-kind donations, budget management, and to a very large extent, public relations.

Between 1990 and 2000, the Foundation was a supporting organization of The Chicago Community Trust; in November of 2000, we became a program of Jane Addams Hull House Association, the Chicago area’s oldest and largest social service agency. In addition to continuing our work in race relations, we also became involved in policy and advocacy work, looking at how public policy was affecting our clients and the communities in which they lived and worked.

It was during that time that I decided to go back to school to obtain my Master of Arts in Community Development degree from North Park University. I absolutely fell in love with the concept of community development, especially asset-based community development and the theory of co-production (specifically in the form of time banks and time dollars). My thesis was on “The Use of Co-Production in Prison Programs Designed for Females.” I graduated with a perfect 4.0 grade point average (while working full time) in the fall of 2005. It was around that time that The Human Relations Foundation lost funding and I was laid off. I also have a Culinary Arts degree (in addition to a Bachelor of Arts in German), so I took a year away from the non-profit sector to cook at a café inside a health club. While I enjoyed the experience, my heart was in non-profit work, and I began looking for opportunities to use the broad work experience I had gained with my newfound passion for community development. I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to work for the Institute of Cultural Affairs, and I look forward to talking with and meeting many of you in the upcoming months and years.

I am in the process of registering to take a GFM course, my first introduction to ToP; I had planned on attending the course last week in Nashville, but that class was cancelled, and I am now rescheduling my visit. You can contact me either by phone at (773) 769-6363 ext. 228, or by e-mail at czaleski@ica-usa.org. If your e-mail requires a response, please put ACTION in the subject line; if you are sharing information, please put FYI in the subject line.

-- ICA-USA

from Ellen Howie

Very Impressive!

I'm going along this journey with ICA-USA, where I've 'been on the long march of care' since 1969!! As always, I've never been disappointed with those who are going along with me, just grateful for all the colleagues who also care!

My over-arching reflection from our April TT was the way in which participants demonstrated their passion and entered into the process. It is always nurturing of my journey to come together with the fabulous people who gather under the banner of ICA here and around the globe.
Thanks for all your commitment to all of us, and for your hard work, Ellen Howie

-- ICA-USA

TransitionGuides to Conduct Executive Director Search

Victor Chears of TranisitionGuides is heading the national search for a permanent ICA-USA Executive Director.

-- ICA-USA

Think Tank Pilot

Here's a few recollections from the event. Cheryl has more complete team reports.

25 ICA colleagues met in Chicago April 27-28 to discuss 3 arenas: the ICA-USA's networks, potential research programs, and global connectedness. The program is part of the 2007 Year of Discernment, culminating in the Living Legacy event this October.

At our think tank meeting, we shared experiences, perspectives, and read papers on the three discussion topics. Duncan Holmes, President of ICA Associates, Canada, designed and facilitated the event's procedures.

The network group tackled nodes and virtual communities. Team member Brady Melton led a spontaneous workshop on how to brand ICA. We laughed and squirmed at comparing consumer brands to participatory and spirit methods. Terry Bergdall commented that perhaps the word "brand" is a synonym for the more familiar concept of "story".

Ellen Howie, part of the planning team, led us on a field trip to the Lincoln Park Conservatory and elicited poems using Other World images.

We opened with the song "Winds of Change" and a brief talk on the 2006 organizational assessment that resulted in a major reoganization. A few insights that got heads nodding:

Our past identity always out trumped the present story. The old WHY was a domineering bully to new initiatives.
The WHAT of the basic business model for operations, markets, and resources was outdated.
The HOW of decision-making and involvement was ineffective. Our comprehensive coordination had eroded into
somewhat unconnected projects.

One model was shared that looked at the potential foundation of a revitalized ICA-USA as training through networks. The model showed great management could create a demonstration organization. Collaborative research was key to keeping programs and systems vibrant.

ICA International's Executive Director Lambert Okrah shared that the success of the meeting gave him great confidence that ICA-USA is in good hands.

Throughout the event, some Board members, staff and participants agreed that we value our history of diverse and varied perspectives. Diversity of thought is a gift within our community of networks. Many of us believe that the ICA-USA is an organization with values worth sharing.

Cheryl Zaleski, ICA's newest staff member just two days on the job, said she couldn't wait to begin recruiting constituents to the October Living Legacy.
"What's important to me is that we put our hearts as well as our heads into the event."

-- ICA-USA

Themes from the Pilot Think Tank

Think tank reflections

The following are a few of the common themes Duncan Holmes recalls hearing over the 25 hours of the think tank. There were no decisions made during the think tank but some of these themes come quite close to stating a consensus, from his perspective. Some of these are also his own thoughts.

ICA-USA as we have known it ihas changed
o The bridges to the past mode of operating have been destroyed.
o Use resources to support the energy that is present and active in the far flung networks
o Support the process through various means

What is the new business strategy and mode of operating that ICA-USA is in?
o Mission has not changed
o Approach is different
o Once the approach is clarified – put all the resources into that focus/approach and stop doing anything that does not fit that approach.
o License groups to carry out the work that is embodied in the intellectual property
o Build the partnerships to carry out that work
o Put in place the agreements that are win-win
o Create the signs of seriousness about operating in a new way.

New Approach/ operating mode/ business strategy
No Direct Service Delivery
o Not competing with those who are delivering program using ICA methods/ intellectual property
o Everything done in collaboration or partnerships
o Keeps staff focused on networks and collaboration

Collaboration
o Everything done in collaboration

New structural form
o Non competitive
o Help set agenda
o Shifts focus from program delivery
o Decreases staffing
o Encourages collaborations
o What is your business? Collaboration; supporting others who are on the front lines doing the work; pulling together the research that adds credibility to the work being done – includes publishing

Research
o Archives provides longitudinal study information for questions that are being asked today e.g. collaboration
o Gather those interested in research – ask what research for what reason – today’s question not yesterday’s
o Put together the criteria for evaluating research projects
o All research grant applications are done collaboratively these days – several different groups/organizations – Often includes an educational institution as a partner
o Funding is more frequently given to collaborations rather than a single agent

Be easy on each other
o Tone down
o Talk carefully and collegially with Board, colleagues, etc.
o Think through the outcomes together
o Watch for those who do not engage in the conversation

Don’t try to push a story - let it emerge.
o Pushing hard makes people back off

-- ICA-USA

USA Operations Consolidated to Chicago/ Phoenix Office Closes

ICA-USA administration has been reorganized to the Chicago office. The consolidation will enhance coordination of programs and services and help lower costs.

The Board regrets that this required the closing of the Phoenix Office on March 30, 2007. We're sorry to loose the talents of dedicated staff members Jane Warren, Jan McConahay, Joan Knutson, Bonnie Lucas, and Maria Munoz. Marilyn and John Oyler and Jim Weigel, other valued staff, have already transitioned to independent ToP course registrars, master facilitators and consultants.

Although no longer full time staff, they will always be valuable friends. Many staff affected by this and the earlier layoff continue to be involved in the ICA as independent program contractors.

Over the last twelve months ICA-USA has experienced a tremendous amount of change. Change was necessary, but it was difficult. The staff has functioned with grace and commitment, for which we are deeply appreciative. Their professionalism and expertise have benefited the many people and organizations that ICA-USA serves.

As part of the Living Legacy, we are gathering stories and thoughts about the Phoenix Office and its legacy, along with reflections from colleagues around the world to acknowledge and celebrate former staffs' unique contributions.

As we seek to discern the future of ICA USA, the Board is mindful of the amazing and powerful accomplishments all staff have made possible.

We are thankful for their service.

-- ICA-USA