PITTSBURGH (PRWEB)
November 01, 2019
Coro Pittsburgh, the organization that works to advance ethical leaders and build leadership capacity in order to create a more connected and inclusive community, announced today the appointment of Selena Schmidt as Executive Director. Selena succeeds Sabrina Saunders Mosby, who served as the organization’s President since the spring of 2017.
Coro’s Board of Directors is welcoming Selena back to the organization as she had previously served as Leadership Development Director for Coro Pittsburgh.
Selena Schmidt is a social, civic and private sector entrepreneur and is known for high impact start-up scaling, spearheading initiatives and leading organizations focused on intersectionality, equity, and sustainable growth. Selena’s work has built cross-sector partnerships that have engaged community voices nationally and internationally in her roles as CEO of Optimized Ventures, Common Impact and Power of 32.
Most recently, Selena served as a senior leader in launching PA Health & Wellness, a $400M managed care company dedicated to improving access to services for those under and uninsured, serving 65,000 people across Pennsylvania.
Selena is co-founder in the CMU spin-out The Art of Democracy, which enables the authentic experiences and ideas of a diverse public to inform policy decisions. In that role, she co-authored A Handbook for Deliberative Democracy, and was a Pittsburgh Black Media Federation’s Robert L. Vann Multi-Media Award CoNominee for “Th!nk: Poverty.”
“We are fortunate to have Selena Schmidt in this leadership position, says Coro Pittsburgh Board President, Kevin Hutchison. “Selena is highly skilled, deeply committed to our region and familiar with the Coro mission and operations. This makes her a perfect leader as Coro embarks on a strategic building mode.”
20 years ago when Coro began serving Pittsburgh, the key challenge was training and retaining talent. Today, our regional challenges lie elsewhere. The region has cultural and economic gaps in areas like technology, healthcare, gender, race, and politics. Leveraging Coro’s strength for building a pipeline of talent is vital to drive our region’s future sustainability and growth.
“I’m honored, and I’m grateful to the board for the opportunity to lead this exceptional, essential organization of creative, dedicated and talented individuals,” said Schmidt. “Coro works to create an inclusive community where people of all backgrounds and circumstances participate in making our region more livable for everyone. I am deeply committed to Coro’s vision and commitment to building agile, community-connected leadership in all sectors. I am excited to work with the staff as we move into a new and exciting chapter in the organization’s continued success.”
Committed to equity, inclusion, and public service, Selena has served as Harvard Innovation Lab Social Innovation Coach for women founders and on numerous boards including: Strong Women Strong Girls, Coro National Strategic Advisory Committee, Social Venture Partners, NAWBO National PAC Board, and Global Pittsburgh. Selena is especially proud to have been on the team that elected the first African American woman to Allegheny County office. Since returning to Pittsburgh, she co-founded New Leaders Council Pittsburgh and is founding board Vice President of the Latino Community Center.
About Coro Pittsburgh
Coro Pittsburgh was founded in 1999 to develop leaders who have a passion to revitalize communities. We are one of five independent Coro centers in the United States. The first center was founded in 1942 in San Francisco. Others opened in Los Angeles, St. Louis, New York and Pittsburgh, respectively. Coro centers form partnerships with philanthropic foundations, high schools, college campuses, governments, businesses, and civic networking associations in order to recruit all kinds of leaders who are passionate about revitalizing communities and ready to take on new leadership roles.
Coro brings these leaders together into cohorts who learn to accomplish shared goals in a collaborative way and to sustain the leadership community after the Coro program.
Nearly 2000 individuals have participated in a Coro Pittsburgh leadership program, including 35% affiliated with nonprofits, 25% from business, 15% from government, 15 % in education, and 10% in philanthropy. Since 2006 Coro Pittsburgh has been the operating partner of Public Allies Pittsburgh, an AmeriCorps program that annually trains 800 nonprofit leaders nationwide through a 10-month full time nonprofit apprenticeship. Through our partnership with Public Allies Pittsburgh, Coro Pittsburgh annually provides $350,000 of Federal investment into nonprofits in Western Pennsylvania.
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