Partner Highlight: Steve Maser
In this continuing series, we are highlighting Partners and why they are involved with the SVP Portland Partnership.
Steve Maser, writing here in his own words, grew up in Baltimore. He was what was then called a “do-gooder”, winning the American Legion Community Service Award at his high school graduation, something he never discussed, given the protests against the Vietnam War during the mid-1960s. He would make people guess how he earned the letter on his high school jacket (hint: think Queen’s Gambit). To his amazement, he managed to gain admission to a well-known technical school up river from a well-known liberal arts school in Cambridge, MA, where he honed his geekiness and continued his do-gooding, including researching utopian and intentional communities throughout New England. He was surprised but pleased to find a directory of them at the news kiosk in the middle of Harvard Square. Of course that’s where it would be.
Five years in Rochester, NY earned him a PhD in political science and convinced him to trek West, stopping to teach in Milwaukee for four years. He joined the faculty at Willamette University’s Graduate School of Management to teach MBAs about public policy, law, negotiation, and conflict resolution, and to publish research and teaching materials on those topics in journals few people read and won awards few people know exist. He learned a lot about organizations and systems from his colleagues. He took sabbaticals in New Haven, Tokyo, and St. Louis. A “process kinda guy,” he also served as an academic administrator. After living on five acres in the woods outside of Dallas, Oregon with his wife and daughter for more than twenty years, he moved to Portland. Donna, his spouse and co-SVP Partner, left a career at Willamette as International Faculty and Student Advisor to run a chef-at-home business, volunteer with hospice, and teach reading to first and second graders through Experience Corps, among other activities (think food). Their daughter lives in Portland and works for the City on sustainability. Still a “do-gooder,” Steve served on nonprofit boards, played a tiny role in bringing the Timbers to Portland, and, post retirement, became a Court Appointed Special Advocate for Children in Multnomah County.
Q: How did you hear about SVP and why did you become involved?
A: I learned about SVP before I retired. I liked the idea of trying to apply business principles to help nonprofits increase their capacity to serve more people. Basically, I taught in an MBA program that maintains management is management is management, whether business, government or the nonprofit sector. I learned while working at SVP that management is not necessarily management in different sectors. For example, my first project for SVP was to volunteer with an Investor Partner, talking with Community Partners to learn their professional development needs. We proposed a series of workshops on strategy, marketing, etc., the output of which would be a business plan for each Community Partner to double in size. That went nowhere. Most Community Partners didn’t want to double in size. What business or government agency wouldn’t want to grow? When I joined SVP’s staff as manager of the Encore Fellows Program, I gained more insights into the world of nonprofits and questioned what I’d been teaching for more than three decades.
Q: What motivated you to return as a Partner?
A: I continued to support the mission and methods of SVP. I enjoyed interacting with and supporting SVP staff and other Partners. And, as with the Encore Fellows Program, it allowed me to apply my professional expertise and remain intellectually engaged in retirement.
Q: Your first engagement was as Lead Partner for our investment with Portland Children’s Museum. Can you tell us about that experience?
A: I first learned about Portland Children’s Museum (PCM), its preschool, and its teacher education program when PCM applied to host Encore Fellows. Impressed with the organization and its management, I jumped at the chance to be on the SVP team that would partner with it. PCM wanted help redesigning its business model, restructuring to better integrate its three lines of business (the well known museum and the less well known Opal Preschool and Regio Emilia professional development programs). It also hoped to engage with the community through a DEI lens by moving its preschool into multiple locations. As team lead, I drew on my administrative expertise from academia, my years of counseling and supervising MBA students doing class projects with nonprofits, and my conflict management skills, all with the intent of helping implement a grand vision for PCM’s next ten years. I developed a close working relationship with the Executive Director, who appreciated having an outside counselor for understanding and testing ideas. While PCM’s Board ultimately decided that the only viable decision in the aftermath of 2020 was to close, the Partners engaged in this work learned about early childhood education, organizational change, and organizational dynamics.
Q: Where did you next choose to exercise your expertise?
A: I have moved on to lead the team with one of SVP’s newest Community Partners, the Alliance for Equity in Montessori Education (AEME). As described in a recent SVP blog post, AEME seeks to make low/no cost, high-quality Montessori preschool education available to under-resourced neighborhoods by partnering with neighborhood public elementary schools. AEME is like a start up with a proof of concept: Alder Montessori, which has been operating successfully for five years in the Reynolds School District. AEME has ambitions to scale their concept by operating more preschools and providing technical advice to public elementary schools seeking to launch Montessori preschools. Obviously, the nature of this investment entails risks but SVP Partners and staff are stepping up to assist with projects ranging from building business models to advising on financial management.
Q: That’s not the end of your do-gooding, is it?
A: As a student of organizations, I’ve participated in SVP’s governance discussions. Working with the Community Impact Strategy Committee and other Partners on special projects, I’ve designed and managed scenario planning and exercises intended to feed into SVP’s strategic planning. And I’ve participated in SVP’s training programs, such as on equity or executive coaching. Of course, my work as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) continues, as well.
Q: What would you say you have gotten back from your SVP experiences?
A: SVP presents me with opportunities to learn, to grow, and to get to know other similarly motivated professionals. In that sense, SVP serves my interests in philanthropy, provides me with a sense of community, and gives me opportunities to do meaningful work.