Call 205-327-3800 for all general inquiries. Direct numbers for all staff are listed below and in the alphabetical list at right.
For e-mail, except for Grant Specialists, use each person's first initial and last name with the "at" sign and foundationbirmingham.org. Click here for general e-mail inquiries or if you are a member of the media.
 Kate Nielsen, President
327-3801
Kate Nielsen joined the staff as the first Development Officer in 1995 and was named President in 2000.
She is active in the community foundation field, completing a term on the National Community Foundation Leadership Team and currently serving on the board of the Community Foundations Service Corporation, working with the Merrill Lynch Community Charitable Fund program.
In the Birmingham community, she serves on the boards of Alabama Giving, the Eyesight Foundation, Alys Stephens Center and the Regions Charity Classic Foundation. She also is a member of the UAB President's Council and the Junior League of Birmingham's Community Advisory Board. In the past, she has been a member of the board of the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, Birmingham International Festival and served as founding board chair for the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham.
She is a graduate of Leadership Birmingham and Leadership Alabama, and is currently a member of Downtown Rotary. A graduate of Wheaton College in Massachusetts, she was honored as Fundraising Executive of the Year in 2002 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
 Rhonda Carter, President's & Board's Assistant, Office Manager
327-3802
Rhonda C. Carter serves as Assistant to President Kate Nielsen and as Office Manager for the Community Foundation, a position she assumed in 2008.
She previously worked at South Trust Securities and most recently with Girl Scouts of Cahaba Council. She was Executive Director of West Central Alabama Heritage Society for two years and continues to volunteer with Girl Scouts, with Athletic Arts Center as the Irish Dance coordinator and with her church as youth mentor.
 Erin Kendrick Stephenson, Director of Gift Planning
327-3805
Erin K. Stephenson joined the staff in 2005 and became Director of Gift Planning in 2007. She also serves as Executive director of the Charitable Real Estate Foundation.
A Birmingham native, she worked for several community organizations in Birmingham and Statesboro, Georgia. Before graduation from Birmingham-Southern College, she was active in local, national and international service learning projects and worked for The Women's Fund, all of which helped shape her passion for the nonprofit community.
She serves on the board of directors of the Alabama Planned Giving Council and the junior boards of the Freshwater Land Trust and the YWCA Central Alabama . She is a member of the Rotaract Club of Birmingham and a 2009 participant in the Alabama Leadership Initiative, sponsored by Leadership Alabama.
 Kathryn Corey, Director of Donor Relations
327-3828
Kathryn Wilson Corey joined the Community Foundation as Director of Donor Relations in 2007. A graduate of the University of the South, she previously worked as Outreach Coordinator for Cathedral Church of the Advent.
She serves on the board of St. Martin's in the Pines and Success by Six. She also has served as a member of Birmingham Youth Leadership Forum board and as a volunteer with the Sewanee Club.
 Emily Jones Rushing, Director of Communications
327-3806
Emily Jones Rushing became the first Communications Officer in 2000 and was named Director of Communications in 2006. She has been active in the community foundation field, serving two terms on the steering committee for CommA, an organization of communications professionals.
An graduate of Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C., she received its Distinguished Service Award in 1985 and now serves on the Alumnae Board. She received her M.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Named Outstanding Adult Volunteer for the Birmingham YMCA in 2002, she is a member of its Youth Center committee and the Metro YMCA Education/Communications & Marketing Committee. She is a member of the Birmingham Concert Chorale, Friends of Red Mountain Park and Catalyst for Birmingham, and serves as sustainer advisor for the Communications Council of the Junior League of Birmingham..
 Wendy Rodde, Chief Financial Officer
327-3815
Wendy Rodde joined the staff in 2004, bringing with her a broad-based experience in accounting and finance, including as director of accounting for the McWane Science Center. A graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College with a B.A. in history, she also received a B.S. in accounting from Birmingham-Southern College. She earned her C.P.A. designation in 1989 and is a member of the Alabama Society of C.P.A.s.
A native of Birmingham, she is a member of the Junior League of Birmingham and formerly served on the board of Birmingham Festival Theatre and the Alumnae Board of Randolph-Macon.
 Brenda K. Howell, Director of Operations and Compliance
327-3807
Brenda Howell received her B.A. from Auburn University and her master's in public administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, receiving recognition as Student Administrator of the Year and membership in Phi Alpha Alpha, the public administration national honorary society. She served on the MPA Accreditation Advisory Board at UAB and is a past treasurer, vice-president, president and current member of the Greater Birmingham Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration.
Brenda joined the Community Foundation staff in 1995 and became Director of Operations and Compliance in 2007. She previously worked for other nonprofits, including Headstart in Columbus, Ga., Eastside Mental Health Center and Birmingham Historical Society. She serves on the Design Review Committee of her neighborhood and is a member of Catalyst, Sloss Furnaces Foundation, Vulcan Park Foundation and Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation.
 Karen Rolen, Vice President Community Investment
327-3811
Karen Rolen has spent her professional career in the nonprofit sector, working with organizations that include The Conservatory of Fine and Performing Arts at Birmingham-Southern College, The Children’s Hospital of Alabama, The Epilepsy Foundation of North and Central Alabama, the Birmingham International Festival and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 1997, she became the first director of the Nonprofit Resource Center of Alabama, developing an array of services to strengthen Alabama’s nonprofit sector. Following three years of nonprofit management consulting with Rolen and Thompson and Associates, she joined the Community Foundation staff in 2006.
Currently she serves on the board of the Birmingham Education Foundation, chairing its Program Committee, and on the board of the Alabama School Readiness Alliance. She serves as a volunteer on the community-based Birmingham City Schools Superintendent Ad Hoc Search Committee and Transition Team.
Karen holds a B.A. and M.A. in American Studies from the University of Alabama and a Master's in Public and Private Management from Birmingham-Southern College, where she also serves as adjunct faculty, teaching classes on nonprofit organizations with Dr. Ed LaMonte. She is a graduate of Leadership Birmingham, Leadership Vestavia Hills and currently participating in Leadership Alabama.
 Webb Lyons, Community Investment Manager
327-3817
Webb Lyons joined the staff in 2008 as Community Investment Manager, working with special initiatives and projects impacting the Greater Birmingham region. He serves on the Boards of Directors of Metropolitan Birmingham Services for the Homeless, Aletheia House, and the Alabama Alliance to End Homelessness. He is also the current Program Co-Chair for Youth Leadership Forum
A graduate of Birmingham-Southern College, he previously worked in Washington, D.C., as a Harry Truman Fellow at the Center for Law and Social Policy and then as the Assistant to the President at the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the nation’s largest homeless advocacy organization.
 James McCrary, Senior Program Officer
327-3812
James McCrary joined the staff as Senior Program Officer in 2008, but he was already well-known in the nonprofit community through his work at the Nonprofit Resource Center of Alabama. He previously was executive director of the Alabama Kidney Foundation, and has served on the boards of Hand-In-Paw and the local chapter of the American Society of Training and Development.
He has a B.S. degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and an M.B.A. from UAB. He currently serves on the board of Promise Homes, an organization based in Decatur that provides provides quality family-style housing for adults with developmental disabilities
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 JohnQueta Bailey, Grants Administrator
327-3813
JohnQueta Bailey joined the Community Foundation as Grants Administrator in 2007. A native of Birmingham and a graduate of Miles College, she previously worked at two other nonprofit organizations, Boy Scouts of America and ClasTran Transportation.
She is a member of the Powderly Elementary School PTA, where her son attends pre-school, and of Mason Chapel United Methodist Church.
 Kim Rogers, Grants Specialist
Kim Rogers became a Grants Specialist in 2003. Her community experience includes service on a number of boards, including Oasis, Service Guild of Birmingham, YWCA, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Mountain Brook PTA Council and the Junior League of Birmingham. In 2006, she served as president of the Birmingham Women's Softcourt Tennis League.
A native of Birmingham, she grew up in Atlanta and graduated from Vanderbilt University.
 Duke Terrell, Grants Specialist
Duke Terrell has more than 30 years of experience in for-profit and nonprofit management, including as executive director of The Executive Service Corp. and on the staff of the Nonprofit Resource Center following the organization's merger in 1998. Today, he provides consulting services personnel searches and organizational assessments for nonprofits.
A graduate of Washington and Lee and a volunteer for many nonprofit organizations in the community, he became a Grants Specialist in 2004.
Patti Whitt, Grants Specialist
Patti Whitt retired as Senior Program Officer of the Community Foundation in 2007, but returned as a Grants Specialist in 2008. She previously worked as Grants Officer for The Women’s Fund, a component fund of the Community Foundation, where she helped establish "Cut It Out," a program designed to educate hairdressers to recognize the signs of domestic violence.
Before moving to Birmingham in 1997, she was Executive Director of the Central New York Arts Council and served as a peer review panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts. She currently serves on the Members Board of the Birmingham Museum of Art.
Koko McCall, Scholarship Manager
327-3809
Koko McCall was named Scholarship Manager in 2007, and brings to this work a wealth of marketing and organizational experience as well as a commitment to community needs through previous work on the board of Girl Scouts Cahaba Council and other local organizations.
A graduate of Georgia Tech with an MBA from UAB, she is a Girl Scout leader and volunteers with Youth Serve/First Look, First Light and the Children's Fresh Air Farm. She previously worked in marketing for Birmingham Transit Authority and Birmingham Cable and as owner of Apartment Finders and editor of Birmingham Commercial Property Directory.
The Women's Fund of Greater Birmingham
205-327-3820
The Women’s Fund is dedicated to improving the status and quality of life for women and girls in the greater Birmingham area through purposeful philanthropy and the establishment of a permanent endowment. For more information on this component fund of The Community Foundation, including its board members, grantmaking policies and special events, go to www.thewomensfundbham.org.
In Memoriam Aeternam: Peggy Spain McDonald |
