Brian A. Gallagher
President and CEO, United Way of America
Brian Gallagher became President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of America in 2002 and immediately took on the challenge of leading the transformation of the organization to focus on community impact. A career veteran of the United Way system, Gallagher believes that the true measure of success for United Way and other philanthropic organizations is bottom-line results: the lives that are changed and the communities that are shaped. This represents a dynamic shift from the United Way recognized for decades as the nation’s premier fund raiser and distributor. Today, Gallagher has raised the bar on the accountability, governance and transparency standards adopted as a requirement of membership for each of the 1,300 local United Ways across the country.
He began his career with United Way in 1981 as a management trainee, later working in various positions in United Ways around the country including Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Reading, Pennsylvania; Providence, Rhode Island; and Atlanta, Georgia. He most recently served as president of United Way of Central Ohio (UWCO) in Columbus, where he had first-hand experience with community impact, creating a very successful Family Housing Collaborative, which works simultaneously to obtain low cost housing while providing day care and job training so that the cycle of homelessness is broken.
Gallagher was born in Chicago and grew up in Hobart, Indiana. He received his bachelor’s degree in social work from Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, in 1981 and earned a master’s degree in business administration from Emory University in Atlanta in 1992. In May 2003 Gallagher received an honorary Doctor of Humanities from his alma mater, Ball State University.
Usha Chaudhary
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Usha Chaudhary joined United Way of America in April of 2005 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing all accounting and financials management functions of UWA and its subsidiaries as well as membership compliance and financial accountability functions of the 1,326 member United Way organizations. Given her extensive experience in financial management, strategic planning, risk management, and operational re-engineering, she has already made numerous controls and operational improvements in UWA since joining the organization.
Prior to joining UWA, Usha was with Freddie Mac for nearly 20 years and held a variety of positions in the areas of finance, operations, risk management, technology development, and strategy development and execution. Most recently as Vice President in the Investments and Capital Markets Division, she managed all control and operations functions for Freddie Mac's $700 billion investment portfolio, dealing with fixed income (mortgage and non-mortgage), debt (short-term, MTNs, Dollar and FX-denominated Reference Notes), and derivative (swaps, swaptions, futures, caps, floors, etc.) securities. She managed a staff of 200 and a budget of $120 million.
Usha is a Board member of Carpenter's Shelter, a homeless shelter in Alexandria, Virginia and was previously a Board member of Women's Mortgage Industry Network, a group focused on developing and promoting leadership and development opportunities for women in the mortgage industry.
Usha is a Certified Public Accountant and has also completed the Stanford Executive Program from Stanford University. She is a graduate from St. Stephen's College in New Delhi, India with a BA in English Literature.
Deborah W. Foster
Executive Vice President, Strategic Alliances and Inclusiveness
Deborah W. Foster is Executive Vice President for Strategic Alliances and Inclusion in the Office of the President at United Way of America (UWA). In this role Debbie is responsible for leading relationships with key stakeholders and critical partners, including United Way’s National Professional Council (NPC), organized labor and national non-profit organizations. Debbie’s work extends globally where she has served as a trainer with United Way International for United Way affiliates in West and South Africa. The Diversity team at UWA is under her direction to advance the United Way system’s commitment to inclusiveness.
Debbie has held various positions within UWA, including Executive Vice President, Field Leadership and leading teams responsible, training, conferences, career development, executive search, public policy, national community initiatives, a $25 million membership campaign and the $100 million Emergency Food and Shelter Program funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). She has also served on the National Corporate Leadership and Fundraising teams.
While serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Way of Pennsylvania for six years, she initiated several first-ever programs at the state level, including major giving, Success by 6, an early childhood initiative and market research on donor attitudes towards United Way. Debbie also served as Group Vice President for the United Way of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville where her work on an AIDS project and a program to increase minority representation on nonprofit boards has been nationally recognized.
Her United Way career began with the United Way of the National Capital Area in Washington, DC in 1977. In 2002, she returned for a special assignment as interim Chief Operating Officer where she helped the organization through media and operational challenges.
Debbie earned a dual degree (BS) in Early Childhood Education and Human Development from Syracuse University and a M.S.W. for Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.
Joseph V. Haggerty
Chief Operating Officer
Joseph V. Haggerty is Chief Operating Officer for United Way of America. Mr. Haggerty works closely with the President and CEO to accomplish the goals, objectives and strategic plans of the organization. He is charged with motivating and leading a high performance leadership team to develop and implement plans for the operational infrastructure to accommodate the rapid growth objectives of the organization. He also provides direct leadership in the development of new community impact strategies, resource development and public policy initiatives.
Prior to joining United Way of America, Haggerty was President of United Way of Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA). Under his leadership UWGLA substantially improved its fund-raising campaign, streamlined its structure, and provided additional funding to the health and human care agencies serving the most critical needs of our communities. Along these lines, the United Way regularly published reports on the issues facing the entire Southern California Community. A report titled “A Tale of Two Cities” has been widely quoted by those studying the poor and “working poor” in California.
Mr. Haggerty is a United Way career professional. Immediately preceding his tenure in Los Angeles, he was President of the Phoenix-based Valley of the Sun United Way. Prior to this position, Mr. Haggerty served as President of the United Ways in St. Joseph, Michigan; Corpus Christi, Texas; and St. Paul, Minnesota. During his 25 years as a United Way CEO, the organizations he headed raised more than three-quarters of a billion dollars.
A New England native, Mr. Haggerty received his Bachelor’s Degree from Boston College and his Master’s Degree in Community Organization and Planning from the University of Connecticut.
Brian J. G. Lachance, Esquire
Chief of Staff
Since 1997, Brian has served as United Way of America’s (UWA’s) Chief of Staff. Among his responsibilities, Brian serves as staff liaison to United Way International managing the organizations’ joint work in creating a more coordinated global enterprise. Brian also works in matters of policy and administration that include management and coordination of all executive activities, President’s Initiatives, communication, oversight of all Board-related activities, including professional support of the Board Chair.
His 20 years of service to United Way has included leadership positions at two local United Ways—Providence, Rhode Island, where he worked in fund-raising and donor relations; and, Tacoma, Washington, where he led the campaign and marketing departments before serving as interim president and chief executive officer.
Brian joined United Way of America in 1993 as Director of Resource Development, working in the areas of: Fund-raising consultation, on-site analysis, Direct Marketing Collaboration, development of UWA's Ethnic Marketing program, Corporate Retirees Direct Marketing Program and the first Campaign Chair’s Roundtable for Metro IC communities. Brian has also provided leadership in research and development of new approaches and strategies for donor interaction, managed the Community Campaign division for the Resource Development group, served as Senior Vice President for Internal Communications. Before coming to the national office, Brian served as a trainer for UWA's National Academy for Voluntarism, was a member UWA's Managers’ Advisory Council, served as Co-chairman of the Marketing Roundtable, and was a member of the National Professional Advisory Council for Resource Development.
Brian resides in Washington, D.C., received his Juris Doctorate degree from Georgetown University Law Center and is a member of the Maryland Bar Association.
Mary Kay Leonard
Group Vice President, Investor Relations
Mary Kay Leonard joined United Way of America as Group Vice President, Investor Relations in the Spring of 2005. She is responsible for building the system’s capacity to increase revenue. She is focused on retaining and growing existing donor relationships, developing new relationships with emerging markets, and diversifying United Way’s revenue streams.
Mary Kay entered the United Way system in late 2000 as the Sr. Vice President for Marketing for United Way of Massachusetts Bay (UWMB) and moved into the Chief Operating Officer position in late 2001. As COO, Mary Kay was responsible for all activities of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and United Way of New England. She staffed the board committee which developed the community impact strategy for the organization and led the implementation of the plan.
Mary Kay spent most of the 10 years before she joined UWMB at Work/Family Directions, a privately held company that designed and delivered work/life and employee assistance programs for Fortune 500 companies. Mary Kay also has almost 10 years of experience in Massachusetts state government, serving as the Chief Counsel to the Secretary of Human Services and the Commissioner of the Office for Children. Mary Kay has served on numerous government and non-profit boards throughout her career.
Brook Manville
Executive Vice President, Center for Community Leadership
Brook Manville is Executive Vice President of the United Way of America and Director of its Center for Community Leadership. In this role, he is helping to lead system-wide transformation of the United Way around a new strategy of achieving community impact.
Prior to joining the United Way of America, Brook was Chief Learning Officer and Customer Evangelist of Saba, a Silicon Valley company that is the leading provider of “e-learning (internet-delivered educational) infrastructure” and human capital management solutions. At Saba, Brook was responsible for Saba’s thought leadership, customer communities, advisory groups, organizational development and several external strategic initiatives. Before that, Brook was a partner at McKinsey & Co, specializing in organizational development and knowledge-related strategy. At McKinsey, Brook consulted to several Fortune 500 companies in these areas, and also helped lead McKinsey's original knowledge management program. He was also McKinsey's first Director of Knowledge Management, as well as their CIO between 1991 and 1994.
Brook's earlier professional career was a mix of technology, communications, and education. Trained as a historian, Brook was originally on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University (Chicago), an award-winning teacher and author of several academic publications in the field of history. He later worked as a free- lance journalist and subsequently as a business/technology analyst at CBS, Inc. He also helped launch the first online medical information service for physicians in the mid 1980s, in a start-up company called Colleague. Brook holds a Ph.D. in history from Yale (1979) and undergraduate degrees in classics from Oxford (1975) and Yale (1972).
Cynthia Round
Executive Vice President of Brand Strategy and Marketing
As Executive Vice President of Brand Strategy and Marketing at the national organization of United Way, Cynthia is responsible for marketing, advertising, public relations, the NFL partnership, national website and field communications to 1350 local United Ways. She assumed her current position in October 2002 after more than 20 years of building and marketing corporate brands.
Cynthia began her career at the Procter & Gamble Company in brand management, where she held a variety of marketing positions over seven years, including a two-year international assignment in Rome, Italy. When she returned to the United States, Cynthia joined Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, where she became Senior Partner and Executive Group Director. During her 15 years with O&M New York, Cynthia helped create, build and renovate domestic and global brands in categories ranging from packaged goods and high tech to fashion and entertainment. She led account teams for such clients as General Foods, AT&T, Unilever, Maidenform, Pepperidge Farms, Kimberly Clark, and U.S. Satellite Broadcasting.
As an independent brand consultant - specializing in public sector and non-profit organizations – Cynthia advised such diverse organizations as Soho Repertory Theatre, Delaware State Council for the Arts, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as United Way of America.
Cynthia grew up in Oklahoma and holds a BA degree from Oklahoma State University, which honored her with its Distinguished Alumni award in 1995. She serves on the board of directors for Soho Rep Theatre and the Advertising Educational Foundation, is a member of the advisory committee of The Advertising Council and the Wildlife Conservation Society and volunteers for God’s Love We Deliver. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and 11-year old daughter.
Alexander M. Sanchez
Senior Vice President, Community Impact
As Senior Vice President of Community Impact Leadership at United Way of America, Alex has the overall responsibility for directing the work of Community Impact, including developing the knowledge, products and services to accelerate the ability of local United Ways to achieve community level results. Alex is also responsible for establishing and implementing the strategies to bring to scale United Way of America’s national impact agenda, including national coverage of the 2-1-1 human services information line, the Success by 6/Born Learning early childhood education initiative, and the Assets for Family Success economic self-sufficiency program for working families.
Before coming to United Way of America Alex served as the President and CEO of United Neighborhood Centers of America, Inc., (UNCA) the national, non-profit association of settlement houses and community centers. UNCA maintained a dedicated membership of 200 organizations from all across the country representing approximately 800 facilities with combined annual budgets well in excess of one billion dollars. Prior to working with UNCA, Alex served as the Executive Director of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) and its non-profit sister organization, the Hispanic National Bar Foundation (HNBF) in Washington, DC. Alex was selected to serve with the HNBA and HNBF from his position as Executive Director of Esperanza, Inc., Ohio’s Hispanic scholarship and education non-profit organization. Before dedicating his career to non-profit leadership Alex practiced commercial law as an attorney with the law firm of Thompson, Hine, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Alex earned a Bachelors degree from Boston College, a law degree from The University of Michigan, and a Masters Degree in Administration from the University of Pennsylvania.
Michael Schreiber
Executive Vice President, Enterprise Services
Mr. Schreiber is the Executive Vice President for Enterprise Services. Enterprise Services houses United Way of America’s P&L based subsidiaries as well as the organization’s technology infrastructure and initiatives.
Prior to joining United Way of America in 2001, Michael worked for Deloitte Consulting. During his 6 years at Deloitte, Michael worked with a wide range of commercial and governmental clients. These clients included: The National Government of Namibia, The Commonwealth of Kentucky, and The Philadelphia Eagles. In addition, Michael created and ran Deloitte Consulting’s National Non Profit Organization Practice.
Most of Michael’s career prior to Deloitte was spent in Africa, where he worked for the US Embassy in The Gambia and a Swiss NGO providing privatization assistance in Zimbabwe.
Mr. Schreiber sits on the boards of N-TEN and the ePhilanthropy Foundation. He has a BA in Economics from Stanford University, a Certificate in African Studies from Stanford and an MBA from Duke University.
