Please Welcome Our New Director of Community Impact
As venture philanthropists, capacity building is the core of what we do. With Lauren Johnson, our former Senior Vice President for Community Impact, stepping into the role of Executive Director, we needed a strong leader to guide the strategic direction and oversight of the capacity building we do with our Community Partners as we continue work on our “Preschool for All” goal. After a thorough search process, which included SVP staff, the Board, Investor Partners, and Community Partners, we are thrilled to announce that Rose Rezai is our new Director of Community Impact!
Rose brings more than ten years of experience with nonprofit programs serving youth and families, most recently as Deputy Director at Friends of the Children, a former SVP Portland Community Partner. Her background is extensive, including resource development and programmatic leadership, providing cross-functional strategy and alignment, and building organizational systems to improve workflow and communication. She has focused her passion toward programs that support educational attainment for children living in poverty and impacted by multiple adverse childhood experiences.
“I am honored to join SVP and its extensive network of Community and Investor partners in the movement to expand access to high-quality early-learning experiences. This focus is critical if we are to change a child’s long-term trajectory.” Rose said of her excitement about joining SVP Portland. “I understand the critical nature of SVP’s community impact and equity goals, and am motivated through both my professional experiences and my personal experiences to support this work. We each have tremendous opportunity within our spheres of leadership to enact meaningful changes through concrete strategies that empower individuals and communities.”
Rose graduated from Cornell College with a B.A. in Political Science and English before pursuing her J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law. She started her involvement in the nonprofit sector with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland Metropolitan Area where she worked closely with the CEO on development and marketing.
When Rose isn’t pursuing her passion for mission-driven organizations, you can find her spending time with her husband, Scott, and two children. They enjoy going out for hikes, bowling, seeing live performances, traveling, and having dance parties in the living room.I could not be more excited about the small but mighty team we have assembled, to work in partnership with our Investor and Community Partners as we continue our focus to ensure that all children have access to quality, culturally-relevant early learning experiences.
In Partnership,
Lauren Johnson, Executive Director