Taking Governance to the Next Level
Play Like a Girl has connection and collaboration on the brain.
Board members met for their annual retreat in July and set strategic priorities for the new fiscal year. They also spent time building a strong team to accomplish the work ahead.
Core values at the foundation
"The Play Like a Girl Board of Directors set out to develop a clear understanding of their individual and collective strengths as well as their blind spots, and more deeply connect with one another," said Nashville Chapter President of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO) Sara Skillen.
At the retreat, Sara addressed the board on the importance of shared values and beliefs to board effectiveness.
“True team building requires working together to create a safe space tied to [the organization's] core values and beliefs,” she said. "So that trust and confidence can be facilitated and board members are empowered to take action to support those values.”
At the Board Retreat this summer, Sara also spoke to accountability and respect among successful teams.
Sara pointed out that earning the respect of others is important, but showing respect is the foundation of meaningful relationships. She said that this, too, is critical to leadership.
Board progress continues
The board first met in July and has since continued its strategic work within a three-committee board structure which is essential to the board's work.
Committees are formed around strategic priorities such as fundraising, expanding to new communities, or taking on additional programming.
Meetings are content driven, and this board employs the consent agenda as a singular action item at each meeting so that it can spend most of its time on strategic work using data from multiple sources and stakeholders.
“Supporting Play Like a Girl’s Board of Directors in creating their own best environment for connecting with one another (even virtually!) was truly gratifying," Sara said. Everyone was thoughtful, engaged, and committed throughout the afternoon, and I’m confident the groundwork is in place for everyone to take action despite these difficult times.”
Announcing New Board Members
Play Like a Girl is pleased to announce the addition of six new members to the Board of Directors, effective July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2023: Jessica Bliss, journalist for The Tennessean; Judith Engelsen-Daub, Vice President of Client Success Organization at GEODIS; Mon-Kisha Porter, Customer Receivables Manager at Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation; Ashlie Summer, Vice President of Operations at FLEETCOR Technologies; and, Vibhav Veldore, Sales and Marketing Director — Agriculture & Off the Road Tires (LATAM) at Bridgestone Americas Inc. Also joining the Board as an ex-officio member is Michaela Kirk, Business Development Engineer at Turner Construction. Kirk will chair the newly-established Play Like a Girl Young Professionals Board. For more information about our team, visit iplaylikeagirl.org/team.
The Board provides leadership for carrying out the Organization’s mission to advance the health and empowerment of girls and women everywhere through sport. Dr. Chevis Shannon, Director of the Surgical Center for Kids at Monroe Carroll Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University, serves as chair of the 2020 Board of Directors.
More will be shared on these new Directors over the next several days. Please follow their stories on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @iplaylikeagirl.
Play Like a Girl Announces New Board Members
Yesterday, we announced the appointment of nine new members to the Play Like a Girl Board of Directors effective July 1, 2019. These members will join the full slate of 13 professionals including officers and renewing board members for 2020.
"We are pleased to welcome nine new directors to Play Like a Girl's board and especially value the constructive discussions we have had with each of them about the vision and enthusiasm they bring to the organization," said Celeste Bell, Play Like a Girl's Chairwoman and Senior Vice President of Talent Acquisition at Publicis Media. "They join our team at an exciting time as we continue to drive our five-year strategic plan forward and build deeper relationships with industry in Nashville to fulfill our goal of helping young women develop the leadership skills they need for careers in the STEM workforce."
The Board regularly evaluates its composition to ensure it includes the appropriate skills, experience and perspective necessary to drive impact and growth for the organization, and with these director additions, Play Like a Girl has many exciting new opportunities. "We believe the refreshed, new local board and the management team led by our founder and CEO Dr. Kimberly Clay are committed to achieving outstanding results and maximizing opportunities for girls across Nashville and Middle Tennessee as we expand," said Bell who will serve for the duration of her board term as Chairwoman, alongside Board Secretary Dan Werly, Partner and Sports Attorney at Sievert Werly, LLC, Board Treasurer Sara Toussaint, VP of Sports Marketing at Wells Fargo. These board officers lead the recent search as members of the nominating and governance committee, chaired by renewing Director Jodie Gleason, VP Controller of Broadcast Music Inc.
[bctt tweet="The addition of these directors complements our board of directors' skills and experiences, and we are confident they will provide valuable perspectives as we continue to execute our strategic plan, drive change and enhance the investments of our donors in the girls we serve. We look forward to their contributions and are excited they chose Play Like a Girl," said Clay." username="iplaylikeagirl"]
Newly-elected directors include Celeste Bishop-Stein, president and CEO of Bishop, Stein & Associates PR; Lindsey Ellis, Account Manager of Crosslin, PLLC; Missey Garcia-Smith, Vice President of Convention Services at Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation; Danielle Gaw, Director of Corporate Partnerships of the Nashville Sounds; Ellie Grove, Account Manager of Community Brands; Katie Grubbs, Account Executive of the Tennessee Titans; Campbell Mobley, Curator of Exhibitions of Cheekwood Estate & Gardens; Dr. Chevis Shannon, Research Associate Professor of Vanderbilt University Medical Center; and Ashley Wallace, Corporate HR Manager of Dollar General.
Play Like a Girl is a Nashville-based 501(c)3 charitable organization on a mission to harness the natural properties of sport to develop girls' potential to become impactful leaders in the STEM workforce.
We accomplish this by keeping girls active in sports through their middle school years, translating their athletic skills to leadership in the workplace. With the help of the Board of Directors, we are building a robust pipeline of diverse, motivated and well-prepared women leaders for the next generation of game-changing innovation.
Teamwork Makes The Dream Work
Today we appointed six new members to the Play Like a Girl National Board of Directors, which is stacked with leaders who will help guide the organization’s efforts to keep girls from dropping out of sport and physical activity and grow our Play Like a Girl Clubs program to a broader, national audience in middle schools and community centers over the next five years.
Members of the Board of Directors are from national organizations and in markets across our evolving footprint and bring expertise in a variety of areas — recruiting, project and risk management, for instance, as well as sports marketing and law. They’re tasked with governing the organization’s work and helping to direct the nonprofit towards its goals as outlined in the Play Like a Girl 2022 Strategic Plan and will provide oversight of business and financial opportunities that will help the organization meet its goals and deliver on our mission.
“These women and men are leaders in their respective fields, and all of them are dedicated to serving the unique needs of girls from diverse communities across the U.S.,” said Play Like a Girl President and CEO Dr. Kimberly Clay. “We’re firmly committed to helping girls experience the joy of sport and physical activity at a time when they are forming lifelong habits, and making a difference in communities across our expanding footprint, and the Board of Directors is critical to those efforts. Teamwork makes the dream work.”
According to a study by Ernst Young and espnW, 94% of women executives in the C-suite first found success in sports. For former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, it was tennis and basketball among others. For Nashville’s own Trisha Yearwood, it was softball. But according to Gatorade’s recent “Girls in Sports” study, girls drop out of sports at nearly twice the rate of boys by age 14 and, by age 17, more than half of girls will quit playing sports altogether.
The majority of young women Gatorade spoke to told them that they decided to drop out of a sport because they didn’t see a future for themselves in it and wanted to prioritize their time on school or other extracurriculars instead. Many girls did not see a way to balance both school and sports -- particularly if they didn’t think they’d end up playing professionally -- when, in fact, sports are known to help improve girls’ confidence, perseverance and other important skills necessary to succeed academically and professionally.
Play Like a Girl is on a mission to ensure that every girl reaches her full potential by providing girls ages 9-13 access to sport and physical activity. Through our signature program Play Like a Girl Clubs, girls in 6-8th grades are exposed to a sampling of sport and physical activity in a fun and friendly environment with the support of volunteer coaches, teammates and role models.
Club girls also deepen their love of sports and gain exposure to important STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) concepts in sports while learning about exciting sports careers from female professionals at leading businesses and professional sports teams. These experiential learning opportunities are designed to bring out the best in our girls, allowing them to see the world of possibilities awaiting them beyond the field of play.
The Play Like a Girl Board of Directors is made up of 14 members, including five new members who serve areas across the organization’s expanded footprint. Help us welcome these new members to our team; they are:
- Celeste Bell, Senior Director, Recruiting and Special Projects, MLB Advanced Media
- Adrienne Jordan, Director, Project and Risk Management, Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee
- Leigh Lovett, Associate Brand Manager, Mars Petcare US
- Sara Toussaint, Vice President, Sponsorship Marketing, Wells Fargo
- Daniel Werly, Managing Partner, Sievert Werly LLC