Karen Zengel has been the Executive Director at St. Vincent de Paul, Council of Northern Kentucky since September 2017. Karen is responsible for the entire operation of the Council with an emphasis placed on board and volunteer relations, financial and facility management, human resource management and community relations.

Karen is a native of West Virginia and moved to the Northern Kentucky 18 years ago to start working at the Nielsen Company. Rising to the position of Vice President of Innovation Practice, Karen’s expertise is in client relations and team building. Karen has been very active with the United Way serving as Chairperson of their Action Council and leading Nielsen’s corporate giving program.

Karen holds an undergraduate degree from Bethany College and an MBA from Xavier University.

On This Episode:

• Learn how to be an effective leader in the non-profit space.
• Get invaluable advice for communicating your vision to a team made up primarily by volunteers.
• Hear the importance of having a real passion and love for what you do.
• Discover the ins and outs of communication in regards to fundraising.
• Unpack the power of empathy in communication.

Key Takeaways:

1. You have to learn how to contextualize communication for different positions like volunteers.
2. Have frequent and close contact with your leadership team that are on the front lines.
3. Be there to listen so that you can respond appropriately.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “You need to believe in the message.”
• “Be persistent in your message.”
• “Don’t be afraid to repeat your message if it’s important to you.”

Karen Zengel:

• svdpnky.org
• svdpusa.org