Kathleen P. Enright

Kathleen P. Enright "is the founding executive director of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO). Understanding that grantmakers are successful only to the extent that their grantees achieve meaningful results, GEO promotes strategies and practices that contribute to grantee success. While with GEO, Kathleen (with the GEO board of directors) has developed a compelling vision and cohesive strategy for the organization, led GEO through a merger, supervised the development of a host of products and services and forged high-profile publishing and other partnerships.

"Kathleen speaks and writes regularly on issues of nonprofit and grantmaker effectiveness at national and regional gatherings of executives and trustees. Publications include Investing in Leadership: Inspiration and Ideas from Philanthropy's Latest Frontier and Funding Effectiveness: Lessons in Building Nonprofit Capacity.

"Previously, Kathleen served as the group director, marketing and communications for BoardSource, where she was responsible for developing and implementing an organization-wide marketing and communications strategy, building and maintaining a consistent and recognizable brand, supervising the promotion of all products and services, and building public awareness of the importance of strong nonprofit boards. Kathleen joined BoardSource as editorial manager, where she supervised the production of new publications and resources. She later became assistant director of communications, where she served as a primary media spokesperson, providing information and public comment to journalists on an array of nonprofit issues.

"Prior to joining BoardSource, Kathleen was a project manager for the National Association of Development Organizations Research Foundation where she directed a Ford Foundation funded project to encourage collaboration between nonprofits and local governments.

"Kathleen serves on the board of Fieldstone Alliance and the advisory board of The Center for Effective Philanthropy. She previously served on Independent Sector's Building Value Together Committee and the selection committee of the Washington Post Nonprofit Excellence Award. She holds a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master's degree in public administration from The George Washington University."