Latest / Elevate Podcast: Powered by Braden / Elevate Ep 30: Leading the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana with Deana Potterf, CEO

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Elevate Ep 30: Leading the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana with Deana Potterf, CEO · Elevate Podcast: Powered by Braden

• 0:10
  Welcome to the Elevate podcast powered
• 0:13
  by Braden. This is your front row seat
• 0:15
  to the stories of local leaders, both
• 0:18
  nonprofit and for-profit who are shaping
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  our community. Every episode brings you
• 0:23
  leadership insights, lessons from
• 0:26
  challenges, and practical strategies you
• 0:28
  can use today. And yes, we'll keep it
• 0:30
  real and have some fun along the way. If
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  you're ready to elevate your leadership,
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  hit subscribe and follow us on LinkedIn
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  for updates and behind the scenes
• 0:39
  content. Now, let's dive in. Hey
• 0:42
  everybody, Jason here with another
• 0:44
  episode of the Elevate powered by Braden
• 0:46
  podcast. And I'll tell you, these shows
• 0:48
  are awesome. We get a chance to talk to
• 0:50
  nonprofits and for-profits. And today we
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  have a great nonprofit leader from a
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  place that's near and dear to my heart.
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  You may not know it to look at me, but I
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  happen to have been a Girl Scout and I
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  enjoy everything that the Girl Scouts do
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  here in town and across the United
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  States for young ladies helping them,
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  especially around STEM lure technology
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  company. I'm a technology guy. But Dino,
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  welcome to the show.
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  >> Thank you. Thanks for having me.
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  >> And your current role at the Girl Scouts
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  is
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  >> CEO.
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  >> Super awesome, by the way. And remind
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  everybody, when did you start that role?
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  >> Uh, you know, I began as interim CEO
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  back in June and then went through a
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  pretty lengthy hiring process. It was a
• 1:27
  national search. Um had 100 or excuse me
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  250 applications.
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  >> No kidding.
• 1:32
  >> Yeah. For that search. Uh took about oh
• 1:35
  four months or so. Um quite the process.
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  But here I am.
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  >> Here you are.
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  >> Permanent CEO.
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  >> That's awesome. We know that's where you
• 1:42
  are today, but that's not where you
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  started. So let's go back to the
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  beginning. Where you from originally?
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  >> Sure. You know, I grew up in Loganport,
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  Indiana, about an hour and a half north
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  of here up 421. Sure. Uh, mom was a a
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  grade school music teacher.
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  >> Okay.
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  >> Uh, dad worked in a factory. Exide other
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  than batteries.
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  >> Gotcha. All right. So, Loganport, what
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  were you doing in the days back when you
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  were in high school? What did it look
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  like for you?
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  >> Sure. You know what? I grew up uh in the
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  80s uh in high in grade school and high
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  school and had so much fun. Uh I was a
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  Girl Scout when I was a girl in grade
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  school. Yep. Had great memories making
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  friends and uh going camping. We did a
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  little urban camping at a program center
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  there in the middle of Loganport.
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  >> Interesting.
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  >> Right. Okay. And so that was fun. I
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  still remember um going camping uh in a
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  platform tent. I don't know if you know
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  what those look like. U big canvas
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  structures built on wooden platforms.
• 2:35
  Get you off the ground a little bit.
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  >> Okay.
• 2:37
  >> Still very rustic these days.
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  >> Yeah. Very very rustic. Okay. So doing
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  some camping. That's right. Girl Scouts.
• 2:42
  Yeah.
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  >> As you're finishing up high school, what
• 2:44
  are you thinking about? What's what's
• 2:47
  college? What's going to come next for
• 2:48
  you?
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  >> Sure. You know what? Um, I really found
• 2:51
  psychology very interesting and really
• 2:54
  wanted to help people and I think that
• 2:55
  helped people. You'll see that thread
• 2:56
  throughout my career. Um, but then I
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  learned as a a freshman in uh college
• 3:02
  attended Purdue University.
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  >> Okay.
• 3:04
  >> Go boilers.
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  >> A boiler up. That's right. That um I was
• 3:07
  going to need a lot of schooling to get
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  to the
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  >> where I really wanted to be as a
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  psychologist uh psychiatrist actually.
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  And so that wasn't for me. Back when I
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  was 18 19 years old had to pass.
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  >> Okay. Uh, and so, uh, went to Craner
• 3:21
  School of Management. Um, loved the
• 3:24
  marketing classes there. Uh, my best
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  friend was there. And so, I thought,
• 3:27
  "Oh, I'll give this a shot." Right. Uh,
• 3:29
  but I got weeded out by the second class
• 3:32
  of accounting. Uh,
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  >> Oh, no kidding.
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  >> I sure did. I sure did. And so, I would
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  have e either needed to retake that
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  class or find something else. Uh, and as
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  I said, I love my marketing classes and
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  it's so interesting.
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  >> So, I found my way to the school of
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  communications.
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  >> Okay. Okay. Concentration in advertising
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  there at Purdue and I graduated. I'm
• 3:50
  class of 94.
• 3:51
  >> Class of 94 from Purdue. Trying to
• 3:53
  think. Okay. So, who would what was the
• 3:55
  what was going on in the sports back
• 3:56
  then? Have any idea was basketball
• 3:59
  stuff?
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  >> So, I was in school about the same time.
• 4:01
  Matt Painter.
• 4:02
  >> Okay. Painter.
• 4:03
  >> That's right.
• 4:04
  >> That's right. Okay. Gotcha. I was trying
• 4:06
  to put together, you know, who might
• 4:07
  have been back then and Coach Katy.
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  >> Sure. Oh, Coach Katy for sure. Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  >> And then I tell you what, shortly after
• 4:13
  graduated, Drew Ree came on the scene.
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  Oh, that's right. Full.
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  >> That's right. Yep. And so, uh, really
• 4:19
  enjoyable experience there, Purdue.
• 4:20
  >> Yeah. So, all right. So, you finish up
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  your time at Purdue and you get a
• 4:24
  communications degree, right?
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  >> What what's what's going to come next?
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  Where are you going to for a job?
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  >> Sure. You know, I thought my career be
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  in radio. I love broadcast.
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  >> No kidding.
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  >> Loved writing. Loved advertising,
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  writing.
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  >> Okay.
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  >> So, I found myself a ma an internship
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  there and that was a lot of fun. I drove
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  the uh remote van around. You know, back
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  in the days you around, set up a speaker
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  and a microphone and you do remotes out
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  at different like car dealerships and
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  stuff like that.
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  >> No kidding. So, what which which uh
• 4:50
  station was this for?
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  >> Wazy,
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  >> which in what city is?
• 4:53
  >> Lafayette.
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  >> It's in Lafayette.
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  >> Still in Lafayette. Flagship station for
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  the Purdue Boiler Makers of basketball
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  and football. And I drove away, gave
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  away free t-shirts, free CDs. Right.
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  That's the way they paid me. T-shirts
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  and and CDs, some concert tickets on
• 5:06
  occasion. I had a terrific summer just
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  learning about uh radio business.
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  >> No kidding. So you do that for a summer
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  and you're still there kind of in your
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  second home which is West Lafayette
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  right where Purdue is and you're doing
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  that.
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  >> What part of the job are you thinking
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  this is great and maybe you're going to
• 5:22
  navigate to something next. What what
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  are you doing that you really like?
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  >> Sure. I love the production side of the
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  business and so things that were in
• 5:28
  studio. U back in the day we had carts
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  you for you know carting up commercials
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  that thing and so I did that. Um, I did
• 5:36
  a lot of intros and outros, you know,
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  back when EJ used to talk over the
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  music, right? It was coming in or going
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  out, that kind of thing.
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  >> Okay.
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  >> And so that was a lot of fun. But then
• 5:44
  someone said to me, you know, Dina,
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  you're not going to make any money on
• 5:47
  this side of the building on the
• 5:48
  production side. You really need to get
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  into sales
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  >> uh to make money.
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  >> Interesting. Okay.
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  >> Yeah. And so uh graduated from Purdue
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  and that summer and then decided I would
• 5:58
  try the sales side of the WAZ radio
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  station and uh boy Jason, I did not
• 6:03
  enjoy that at all. It's it's
• 6:05
  interesting. So, somebody kind of
• 6:06
  coached you to say, "You're never going
• 6:08
  to make any money doing this, although
• 6:10
  you liked what you were doing, right?
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  You enjoyed it."
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  >> Yes.
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  >> But then you're not going to make any
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  money. So, you get into sales. What What
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  does sales look like, you know, in that
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  in that area? What do you Who you
• 6:20
  selling to?
• 6:20
  >> Sure. So, you know, back in the day,
• 6:22
  there were the yellow pages.
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  >> And literally, that was my that was my
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  list, right, of possible opportunities
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  to sell to sell radio advertising. Um
• 6:31
  the other the other folks that were
• 6:32
  there at the station had you know well
• 6:34
  they had lists right list of clients.
• 6:37
  >> Yeah. People they could call on people
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  they built over time. Yeah. For me it
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  was all cold calls.
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  >> So you're picking up the phone. Do you
• 6:43
  want to get on the radio? That kind of
• 6:45
  stuff. Stop putting in the yellow pages.
• 6:46
  Work with us.
• 6:47
  >> Right. Exactly. Yeah. So you'd stop by
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  and you'd visit people. Uh and I was
• 6:51
  literally selling air. Yeah.
• 6:52
  >> Right. Air.
• 6:53
  >> Yeah.
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  >> And so um I did not enjoy that very
• 6:56
  much. I think it was the cold calls. M
• 6:58
  >> uh I'm a real introvert, you know, and
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  so for me, it takes a little bit of time
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  to warm up, to build a relationship.
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  >> And so that one just wasn't really a
• 7:05
  good fit for me.
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  >> Sure.
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  >> But here's what I learned. Relationships
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  are everything.
• 7:10
  >> Oh, okay. All right. So, tell me, how
• 7:11
  did how did this kind of come? You
• 7:13
  didn't like what you were doing.
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  >> Yes.
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  >> A little bit introverted, but
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  relationships are everything. Tell me
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  how you came to that realization.
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  >> Yeah. So, I made uh friends within the
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  radio station, as you can imagine,
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  colleagues, right? and I was pretty
• 7:24
  young and they're a little bit a little
• 7:26
  bit more mature and so they'd kind of
• 7:27
  take me under their wing and so I found
• 7:29
  this job I was interested in in
• 7:31
  marketing with Purdue Federal Credit
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  Union
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  >> and uh one of them had them um on their
• 7:37
  list of clients. They were a really good
• 7:38
  client for them and so as I moved along
• 7:40
  in the interview process that came a
• 7:42
  point that that uh that mentor or
• 7:44
  colleague of mine picked up the phone
• 7:46
  and said, "Hey, you know Dean is down to
• 7:47
  the final interviews and I think that
• 7:49
  you should hire her."
• 7:50
  >> Oh, no kidding.
• 7:51
  >> Yes. Yes. And that made a difference. I
• 7:53
  found out later from the supervisor
• 7:55
  >> tip the scale sure did that
• 7:56
  relationship. What what a great lesson
• 7:59
  to learn when you're in your young 20s
• 8:01
  going to your second role. Okay. So now
• 8:04
  you're going to the credit union.
• 8:05
  >> Yeah. And what what's the role look like
• 8:06
  at the credit?
• 8:07
  >> Yeah. So I was a marketing associate
• 8:09
  there. Okay.
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  >> And what that meant was I wore a lot of
• 8:11
  hats in the marketing department. I got
• 8:13
  a lot of great experience. They really
• 8:15
  hired me as their uh database marketing
• 8:17
  person. Back in the day, they called
• 8:18
  that the marketing uh customer
• 8:20
  information files, MCIF, right? Huge
• 8:23
  database. We would dump all of the
• 8:25
  accounts that people held at the credit
• 8:27
  union. And then I would parse through
• 8:29
  them and I'd find opportunities for
• 8:30
  cross sales, whether it was second uh
• 8:33
  home equity loans, second loans on their
• 8:34
  mortgage or um auto loans if they're
• 8:37
  getting ready, their car's getting
• 8:38
  ready, they'd be paid off, right? They
• 8:39
  hit them up with a hey, it's time to get
• 8:41
  a new car. That kind of thing. Yeah.
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  >> That's a really interesting uh cross
• 8:45
  sales from from marketing. And then I
• 8:47
  help them with things that kind of date
• 8:49
  me a little bit. Like I help them with
• 8:50
  their first website. Okay. Put that up
• 8:52
  for them. Uh we actually linked to the
• 8:54
  Bob and Tom show at that. Right. Isn't
• 8:57
  that to think about that now?
• 8:59
  >> I was like here are the local leagues
• 9:00
  places you might also be interested in.
• 9:02
  >> Yeah. Uh
• 9:03
  >> so for a business career credit you need
• 9:04
  to do that. I just you know the things
• 9:06
  we've learned along.
• 9:07
  >> Well that's awesome. That is so cool.
• 9:09
  But what what a cool experience. And it
• 9:11
  sounds like it kind of matches the
• 9:13
  things that you liked. Yeah. Right. He
• 9:15
  liked some of the analytic stuff.
• 9:17
  Somebody's finishing up a loan. Maybe
• 9:18
  I'll hit them with something new,
• 9:20
  whatever the case is to go build that.
• 9:21
  But you weren't necessarily the one out
• 9:24
  in front trying to build the
• 9:26
  relationship. These were existing
• 9:27
  relationships. Right. Okay.
• 9:29
  >> Exactly. It was data. It was analysis
• 9:30
  was writing, you know, writing those
• 9:32
  pitches, those letters out to to people.
• 9:34
  And so that was really interesting to
• 9:35
  me.
• 9:35
  >> So this is right up your alley.
• 9:36
  >> Absolutely.
• 9:37
  >> Gotcha. All right. So So at this point,
• 9:39
  Loganport to West Lafayette. Are you
• 9:42
  thinking West Lafayette's going to be
• 9:43
  home? because eventually you end up down
• 9:45
  here at Indie.
• 9:46
  >> Yeah, true.
• 9:46
  >> Right. So, how do you end up coming down
• 9:48
  this way?
• 9:48
  >> Yeah, I did think Lafayette was going to
• 9:50
  be my home. Um eventually I met my wife
• 9:53
  in college. Um and so we were ready to
• 9:55
  settle down, you know.
• 9:56
  >> No kidding.
• 9:57
  >> And um so I went through the whole uh
• 10:00
  WAZY PEQ and then about four years into
• 10:04
  PEPQ, I really wanted to uh broaden my
• 10:06
  experience, wanted to get some
• 10:08
  supervisor experience, and there just
• 10:09
  wasn't a place to be able to move at
• 10:11
  that point.
• 10:11
  >> Okay. And so I started looking and
• 10:13
  actually answered um back in the day
• 10:15
  when they used to put ads in the
• 10:17
  newspaper for jobs. It's a blind ad. So
• 10:19
  I didn't know who it was that I was
• 10:21
  applying for.
• 10:22
  >> Oh, really?
• 10:23
  >> Turns out to be the Girl Scouts.
• 10:24
  >> So wait, sorry. So I want to make sure
• 10:26
  because there could be some younger
• 10:27
  individuals listening to this show. A
• 10:30
  newspaper is one of those things. It's a
• 10:31
  piece of paper has a bunch of ink on it,
• 10:33
  leaves your hands dirty, but used to
• 10:35
  have information and they bring it to
• 10:36
  your house. It's amazing. Delivered to
• 10:38
  your house sometimes daily. And those
• 10:41
  ads were in there. So you saw an ad
• 10:44
  >> with a job that had a description of
• 10:47
  what your job was, but no name,
• 10:49
  >> no employee. So they so they put a blind
• 10:51
  ad out there. I guess I didn't I don't
• 10:53
  remember blind. Okay. So you replied to
• 10:56
  this.
• 10:56
  >> Yep. It was director of marketing and
• 10:58
  development. So fun development
• 11:00
  >> and um yeah, applied to it uh interview.
• 11:03
  They loved my um that you know marketing
• 11:06
  customer information file stuff, the
• 11:08
  database and the direct mail. They loved
• 11:09
  that. They loved the direct mail side of
• 11:11
  that from the funds development uh part
• 11:13
  of the equation, right? Sure. And
• 11:15
  marketing obviously I had that
• 11:16
  experience and so uh they hired me and
• 11:19
  you know the kind of funny thing about
• 11:20
  that is um I was supposed to start in
• 11:23
  the middle of January and again I'm an
• 11:26
  introvert and so I really wanted just a
• 11:28
  chance to get in and get settled in
• 11:29
  before I release it with a lot of new
• 11:31
  people.
• 11:32
  >> And so I talked them into letting me
• 11:34
  start on a holiday on Martin Luther King
• 11:36
  Jr. Day. Um they gave me a key before I
• 11:38
  even started to the building, right?
• 11:40
  Because it was a holiday. They were
• 11:41
  closed.
• 11:41
  >> Otherwise, they're closed, right?
• 11:42
  >> Yes. And so gave me a key and I went in
• 11:44
  uh to get settled into my new office. Um
• 11:47
  and then a couple people they kind of
• 11:48
  poke their head in, right? They came in
• 11:50
  just to kind of see probably the new
• 11:51
  kid.
• 11:51
  >> Yeah. Right.
• 11:52
  >> Who was starting with them and um then
• 11:55
  took it from there.
• 11:56
  >> No kidding. Right. So So your first day
• 11:58
  is on a holiday. Yeah.
• 11:59
  >> Get your office set up, get everything
• 12:01
  ready to go without having to have so
• 12:03
  many interactions.
• 12:04
  >> Yes. So that first role you're the
• 12:06
  you're a director. So is this the first
• 12:08
  time you're managing people? Do you have
• 12:09
  a team at that point?
• 12:10
  >> Yeah, that's a great question. Um I did
• 12:12
  not have a team yet. Okay.
• 12:14
  >> And so um started it was a a director of
• 12:16
  one, right? It was myself. Y
• 12:18
  >> uh it was a small team of about 10 to 15
• 12:20
  people on the staff.
• 12:22
  >> At that point it was Girl Scout to
• 12:23
  Sycamore Council based out of Lafayette.
• 12:25
  Okay.
• 12:26
  >> Served nine counties um surrounding
• 12:28
  counties and then about 4,000 Girl
• 12:30
  Scouts at that point. About a thousand
• 12:32
  volunteers.
• 12:32
  >> Okay. Yeah.
• 12:33
  >> Holy cow. nine counties. How many Girl
• 12:36
  Scouts?
• 12:36
  >> About 4,000 Girl Scouts.
• 12:37
  >> 4,000 Girl Scouts in nine counties.
• 12:39
  Okay. Gotcha. All right. So, how long
• 12:41
  are you in that role? And then how does
• 12:42
  it evolve to where you get now to the
• 12:45
  new down here in Indianapolis?
• 12:46
  >> Sure. So, you know, the first year or so
• 12:50
  was kind of tumultuous for me because I
• 12:51
  had uh three different CEOs at that
• 12:54
  point. The CEO who hired me was fired by
• 12:56
  the board of directors about two weeks
• 12:58
  into my job. Um, I was met one day at
• 13:01
  the reception desk, myself and the rest
• 13:02
  of the staff by the board chair who
• 13:04
  said, "We let your CEO go last night."
• 13:07
  And she introduced the acting CEO at the
• 13:09
  time. Her name was Betty Ruth. She's
• 13:11
  about 70 years old, very committed,
• 13:13
  dedicated to Girl Scouts. And so worked
• 13:15
  with Betty for a little while and then
• 13:17
  Girl Scouts USA has a program where they
• 13:18
  send in interim CEOs, okay, across the
• 13:21
  country. They people that just like to
• 13:22
  do that. And I think it's kind of cool
• 13:24
  myself.
• 13:24
  >> Yeah, it's right. And so they just
• 13:26
  travel the country and they help Girl
• 13:27
  Scout councils who have a vacancy in
• 13:29
  their CEO spot.
• 13:30
  >> Okay.
• 13:31
  >> And so we received one of those people.
• 13:33
  Her name was Marian Duchain. She was
• 13:34
  terrific. Um I learned a lot from
• 13:36
  Marian. And then finally they hired the
• 13:39
  person who became just a dear friend and
• 13:41
  mentor for me named Karen Wolfford.
• 13:42
  Okay.
• 13:43
  >> Who had been a CEO in Richmond, Indiana.
• 13:45
  >> Yeah.
• 13:45
  >> So she moved to Lafayette, became the
• 13:47
  CEO there in 2000. So I started in 1999.
• 13:50
  2000 Kieran started. And um I I owe
• 13:54
  everything in my girl's Got Career to
• 13:55
  Karen.
• 13:56
  >> No kidding.
• 13:57
  >> Yeah, for sure. Because here's the
• 13:58
  thing. Um she said, so I was director of
• 14:00
  marketing and fundraising, fund
• 14:02
  development time. And she said, you
• 14:04
  know, Dina, um I'd like to see see you
• 14:06
  stick around for a while. And um to do
• 14:08
  that, you need more experience in the
• 14:10
  other side of the business, the
• 14:11
  operation side, the mission side, okay,
• 14:13
  >> of the business. And so um she she must
• 14:16
  have seen something in me. And so I
• 14:18
  retained the marketing side. She found a
• 14:20
  parttime person for the fundraising side
• 14:22
  and then she asked me to oversee um a
• 14:25
  team of four people in the membership
• 14:26
  team, team of four for the program team
• 14:29
  and then um the site manager, the person
• 14:30
  who lived on site at Sycamore Valley,
• 14:32
  Camp Sycamore Valley and I Jason and I
• 14:34
  had no experience in any of that stuff,
• 14:36
  right? Like I had just been for a couple
• 14:37
  of years kind of sitting on the
• 14:38
  sidelines watching all of this happen.
• 14:40
  >> Sure.
• 14:40
  >> Um but my goodness for her to to place
• 14:43
  that kind of trust in me and she said
• 14:45
  right she said you know I'll be
• 14:46
  alongside you our offices were right
• 14:48
  next to each other. you have any
• 14:49
  questions, right? But just go and see
• 14:51
  what you can do.
• 14:52
  >> What a great way to learn. It really
• 14:54
  was. So,
• 14:54
  >> by the way, a couple things I want to
• 14:55
  pull out of there. I I think it's
• 14:56
  interesting that the Girl Scouts has
• 14:59
  traveling kind of CEOs that they can
• 15:01
  place. Always be prepared. Are you
• 15:04
  kidding me? Who thinks of that kind of
• 15:05
  stuff, right? That there's enough people
• 15:07
  that are committed to the cause that
• 15:09
  understand what's going on. They bring a
• 15:11
  lot of knowledge. They can fill a void
• 15:13
  or a gap for a period of time, right?
• 15:15
  Transition.
• 15:17
  >> That is so cool. I didn't know that by
• 15:18
  the way. But then also when from a
• 15:21
  leadership perspective for the for your
• 15:24
  new leader to come in and see that give
• 15:26
  you that trust a as a as a young
• 15:30
  individual. How how are you feeling
• 15:32
  about that? Right? Because now you're
• 15:34
  now managing people for the first time.
• 15:36
  >> You've got someone there to help you.
• 15:38
  But I'm curious because
• 15:40
  there's an opportunity to do that in all
• 15:42
  of our careers to be able to help others
• 15:44
  that are coming along in their path. And
• 15:46
  I'm curious, how did you react to it?
• 15:48
  How did how did you do? Did you really
• 15:49
  like it? Did she lean in to help? That
• 15:52
  she let you kind of fail a little. What
• 15:53
  was that experience like?
• 15:54
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Such a great question. Uh,
• 15:57
  well, first I was flattered. I was very
• 15:59
  flattered that she saw something in me
• 16:00
  and that she wanted to provide that
• 16:02
  opportunity for me. So, I didn't want to
• 16:03
  let her down.
• 16:04
  >> Sure.
• 16:04
  >> You know, and so I operated a lot from
• 16:06
  there. I love to learn new things. Just
• 16:09
  love it. And so, always open to a new
• 16:11
  opportunity.
• 16:12
  >> And so, I approached it really from that
• 16:13
  way. Uh I was supervising the director
• 16:16
  of membership, director of program and
• 16:17
  then the site manager who I mentioned um
• 16:20
  all older than me, right? Like at that
• 16:22
  point I was maybe 30 years old me.
• 16:25
  >> And so um I was open to learning from
• 16:27
  them. You know, I don't know how they
• 16:29
  felt about it. They may have felt a
• 16:30
  certain way. Uh but I really wanted to
• 16:32
  learn from them. Sure.
• 16:33
  >> And so I was again purchased it from a
• 16:35
  very humble space um that I was there to
• 16:38
  help them and to do my best to be able
• 16:39
  to help support the services that we're
• 16:41
  providing to Girl Scouts and their
• 16:42
  families. Gotcha. It It's great. First,
• 16:45
  one of them said was you were honored
• 16:47
  and humbled in those types of things,
• 16:49
  but then also the ability to learn from
• 16:51
  others. There's something about that
• 16:53
  when you're in a room with people,
• 16:55
  there's an opportunity to learn, gain
• 16:56
  perspective, right? All those types of
• 16:58
  things and just listen to what they have
• 17:00
  to say and take in their knowledge.
• 17:01
  Great advice. And that's awesome that
• 17:03
  she did that for you. So, how does the
• 17:06
  transition happen from because at this
• 17:08
  point you're still up in in Lafayette,
• 17:10
  right? How does the transition happen to
• 17:13
  come down south and come into Indie?
• 17:15
  >> Yeah, so back in about 2006,
• 17:18
  excuse me, about 2006, Girl Scouts USA
• 17:22
  um had about 315 Girl Scout councils
• 17:24
  across the country.
• 17:25
  >> So a Girl Scout Council is its own 501c3
• 17:28
  with its own local board of directors.
• 17:30
  They're in charge of fundraising to help
• 17:32
  support their uh mission delivery, so
• 17:34
  membership, um all that type of thing.
• 17:36
  And so they're all all their own
• 17:38
  franchises such that they're chartered
• 17:39
  organizations. And so in 2006, Girl
• 17:42
  Scouts USA said, "We would like to have
• 17:45
  fewer Girl Scout councils. 315 is just a
• 17:48
  lot for us to be able to support. And so
• 17:50
  we'd like to see you get down to about a
• 17:52
  100 Girl Scout councils." Cut it in and
• 17:54
  about twothirds, right?
• 17:55
  >> Oh, no kidding.
• 17:56
  >> Yeah. So huge consolidation. And so, um,
• 17:59
  Girl Scouts of, uh, Sycamore Council
• 18:02
  joined with about five other Girl Scout
• 18:03
  councils to form Girl Scouts of Central
• 18:05
  Indiana.
• 18:06
  >> Gotcha.
• 18:06
  >> That was such a fascinating process to
• 18:08
  be on the sidelines for Jason. You know,
• 18:10
  I was really close to the CEO at the
• 18:12
  time, my mentor. And so, she shared with
• 18:14
  me as much as she could. Of course, it
• 18:16
  was confidential, but as much of that
• 18:18
  process she could share with me, she
• 18:19
  allowed me to kind of witness it and be
• 18:21
  part of it. And so, such a cool
• 18:23
  opportunity, um, to be on the sidelines
• 18:25
  there. And so, uh, by 2007, January 1st,
• 18:29
  2007, those Girl Scout councils merged
• 18:31
  to become Girl Scouts of Central
• 18:32
  Indiana.
• 18:33
  >> Okay?
• 18:33
  >> Now, we were the first in the country.
• 18:35
  And here's why that was important. Um,
• 18:37
  in 2008, we were set to host the Girl
• 18:40
  Scouts National Convention in
• 18:41
  Indianapolis.
• 18:42
  >> Okay.
• 18:43
  >> So, it was important to the CEO who who
• 18:45
  became CEO of Girl Scout of Central
• 18:46
  Indiana. She said, "We're either going
• 18:47
  to be first and get this done before we
• 18:50
  host national convention or we're going
• 18:51
  to be last." Right.
• 18:52
  >> Right. And so I I have the mindset like
• 18:54
  she did of like let's just get this
• 18:56
  done, right? Let's let's get it done. We
• 18:58
  don't really want to wait around. Um and
• 19:00
  so got it done to start operating
• 19:02
  January 1st, 2007. And my wife and I
• 19:05
  were in a situation in our family of
• 19:07
  either because she had been uh commuting
• 19:09
  for three years from Lafayette to south
• 19:11
  of the airport for her job.
• 19:12
  >> Okay. And so my job was moving to
• 19:14
  Indianapolis as well. So either we
• 19:16
  needed to move to Indianapolis, both
• 19:19
  work out of Indianapolis, or just kind
• 19:21
  of fish or cut bait, right? or we find
• 19:23
  jobs in Lafayette and we stay in
• 19:24
  Lafayette.
• 19:25
  >> Yep.
• 19:25
  >> So, love the opportunity and move to
• 19:27
  Indianapolis. Gotcha.
• 19:29
  >> And moved because of the jobs.
• 19:31
  >> Yeah. So, 2007, you guys are both down
• 19:33
  here now.
• 19:34
  >> Yeah.
• 19:34
  >> And and this is the the first of 315
• 19:38
  councils to get down to about a hundred.
• 19:40
  Yeah.
• 19:40
  >> And so at that point in 2007, you guys
• 19:42
  must be the biggest council in the
• 19:44
  United States, right? Because if you put
• 19:46
  everybody together, is that true?
• 19:47
  >> Yeah, we were. Yes, we were one of the
• 19:49
  biggest. You know, the mergers happened
• 19:50
  pretty quickly. Exo, um, probably not
• 19:53
  for very long, right? Yeah. Right.
• 19:55
  >> Uh, but yeah, it was definitely a cool
• 19:58
  opportunity for me because Girl Scouts
• 19:59
  of the USA was really using that as a
• 20:01
  learning opportunity. They watched us.
• 20:03
  They wanted to hear about our merger
• 20:04
  process so we could help other councils.
• 20:06
  So, I think it was a two or three year
• 20:07
  process for the other Girl Scout
• 20:09
  councils to get merged.
• 20:10
  >> Okay.
• 20:10
  >> And so, I actually uh created that
• 20:13
  communications plan for Girl Scout to
• 20:14
  Central Indiana for the merger process
• 20:16
  both uh pre and post, right? During Post
• 20:19
  and then Girl Scout USA actually invited
• 20:22
  me in um to a conference that they held
• 20:24
  for councils to learn more about the
• 20:26
  merger process and so I shared that
• 20:28
  communications plan with those councils
• 20:30
  um to help them with their own
• 20:31
  realignment merger efforts too.
• 20:33
  >> So what a what a cool experience you get
• 20:35
  a chance to do it firsthand for you know
• 20:37
  the council here but then a chance to
• 20:39
  consult for everybody else around the
• 20:41
  United States. That's super cool.
• 20:42
  >> Yeah, it was awesome. Great opportunity.
• 20:44
  So does so with that new with the new
• 20:46
  merger one, how large does that make
• 20:49
  Girl Scouts of Central Yeah. How many
• 20:51
  counties does that cover?
• 20:52
  >> So Girl Scouts of Central Indiana serves
• 20:54
  45 counties.
• 20:55
  >> Holy cow.
• 20:56
  >> Yeah. We go about as far So it's not
• 20:57
  really central Indiana. That's that's
• 20:59
  where the heart is, but Right. Yeah. Uh
• 21:01
  we go as far north as Monaceel, White
• 21:03
  County, right? Um we're state line to
• 21:06
  state line. So Terode over to Richmond.
• 21:08
  >> Okay. Okay. And then down as far south
• 21:10
  as Switzerland, although it's a little
• 21:11
  bit of an outlier for us, Switzerland
• 21:13
  County, we're really more like
• 21:15
  Bloomington.
• 21:16
  >> Okay.
• 21:16
  >> Columbus, that area. Got it. Okay. And
• 21:18
  then a little further south.
• 21:19
  >> All right. So, in 2007, you're doing
• 21:21
  that. You're writing the plan. What's
• 21:23
  your role? Do you have had the same role
• 21:26
  just in the larger organization or
• 21:27
  what's your role go to?
• 21:28
  >> Sure. So, one of the selling features
• 21:30
  from um this Girl Scout Council
• 21:32
  realignment was that they Girl Scouts of
• 21:34
  the USA was aware that we have all these
• 21:36
  smaller councils who maybe don't have
• 21:38
  the capacity um to have larger staffs,
• 21:41
  right? And so we very much wore a lot of
• 21:43
  hats at Girl Scouts of Sycamore Council,
• 21:45
  right? And so I was a communications
• 21:46
  person, but I was also overseeing
• 21:48
  membership and program and the site
• 21:49
  manager.
• 21:49
  >> Yeah. Little everything.
• 21:50
  >> Yes. Exactly. Yeah. Which was great
• 21:52
  experience for me. Uh but they wanted to
• 21:54
  be a bit more efficient, right? And so
• 21:57
  um I became the director of
• 21:58
  communications um for Girl Scouts of
• 22:00
  Central again. I went back to my roots.
• 22:02
  >> Gotcha. Right.
• 22:03
  >> Yeah. That's awesome. All right. So
• 22:05
  eventually we know you end up as CEO,
• 22:08
  but how does that progression change for
• 22:10
  you? Because obviously the the first CEO
• 22:13
  helped you, gave you an opportunity to
• 22:14
  start managing some people. How do you
• 22:16
  go from the director of communications
• 22:18
  now to the CEO?
• 22:19
  >> Yeah.
• 22:21
  Oh, I had a lot of really great mentors.
• 22:24
  um got a lot of great opportunities for
• 22:25
  me along the way. Uh you know the Girl
• 22:28
  Scout motto, you used it earlier and I
• 22:29
  love that. Be prepared, which is a good
• 22:31
  one. My own personal motto is to show up
• 22:34
  and be helpful.
• 22:35
  >> Oh, I like that. Yeah, that simple and
• 22:38
  very succinct and it gosh, if people
• 22:40
  just thought about that, that's a great
• 22:41
  way just to do life.
• 22:43
  >> Yes,
• 22:43
  >> I like that. Okay, go ahead.
• 22:45
  >> Yes. And so, um, really from the very
• 22:48
  early stages when I was a Girl Scout
• 22:49
  staff member, I learned, um, really to
• 22:52
  just kind of, you know, show up to
• 22:53
  events and see what you can do, um, and
• 22:56
  not worry about the job description. You
• 22:58
  know, a lot of the things that I did
• 22:59
  weren't really in my job description,
• 23:01
  but to me, it was opportunity to learn
• 23:03
  new things, which again, I love, and
• 23:05
  also, I could help people along the way,
• 23:07
  help support my colleagues, help support
• 23:09
  the girls that we served. And so I
• 23:11
  earned a lot of experience in that
• 23:13
  director communications role, which
• 23:15
  might sound a little narrow. Um, I would
• 23:17
  show up and do whatever I could to help
• 23:18
  out. And so I was gaining technology
• 23:21
  experience, right? Like there's some IT
• 23:22
  stuff there in early stages like
• 23:24
  projectors and cables and like just
• 23:26
  whatever I could do.
• 23:28
  >> I was slinging tables, right? I was
• 23:29
  setting up chairs. Um, at Girl Scouts to
• 23:32
  Sycamore Council, we actually had in
• 23:34
  that smaller council, we had a a little
• 23:36
  committee of staff who put together the
• 23:38
  Girl Scout cookie program each year. And
• 23:40
  so I led that as director of
• 23:41
  communications. Um, but then we had the
• 23:43
  operations person who actually like
• 23:45
  figured out the transportation of the
• 23:46
  cookies and organized the TRS. We had
• 23:48
  somebody else who was in charge of
• 23:50
  training and so on. And so because of
• 23:52
  that experience again at Sycamore
• 23:54
  Council, that smaller council,
• 23:55
  eventually I lended that um, Girl Scout
• 23:58
  cookie experience. And so I started
• 23:59
  overseeing Girl Scout cookies and that
• 24:01
  whole program as director of
• 24:02
  communications
• 24:03
  >> uh because they were like, "Well, you've
• 24:04
  got this too."
• 24:05
  >> And so very shortly um after that, I
• 24:08
  became the chief communications officer.
• 24:10
  >> I started overseeing other departments
• 24:12
  like the the product program team, which
• 24:13
  is the Girl Scout cookie team. And so
• 24:15
  earned more experience along the way.
• 24:17
  And then I started overseeing it, the IT
• 24:19
  department, um and then at some retail
• 24:22
  sales. And so as I just kind of moved
• 24:25
  along and gained more and more
• 24:26
  experience and opportunity um I started
• 24:28
  overseeing different departments and
• 24:30
  just my portfolio got larger and larger
• 24:32
  of the different areas that I was able
• 24:34
  to impact and
• 24:34
  >> yeah you know the show up and be helpful
• 24:38
  that there's so many things you can hear
• 24:39
  as you as you think about that career
• 24:41
  progression
• 24:43
  you were just helpful you were doing
• 24:45
  things and then eventually people could
• 24:46
  say well well Dina could take this over
• 24:48
  Dena could do this right over those
• 24:50
  things and it wasn't you went and earned
• 24:52
  that just by doing the natural things.
• 24:54
  By the way, slinging tables, I I like
• 24:56
  that term right there. Slinging tables,
• 24:58
  ragged, you know, those type things.
• 24:59
  But, you know, as a leader, you were
• 25:01
  doing everything along the way. So, do
• 25:04
  you end up like as like a a COO before
• 25:06
  you become the CEO? What what's the last
• 25:08
  stop before you become CEO?
• 25:10
  >> Yeah, sure. So, I'm very much a servant
• 25:12
  leader as which you honed in on. So, um
• 25:15
  I was the chief communications officer
• 25:17
  for quite a while under the leadership
• 25:18
  of Deborah Hearn Smith, one of our
• 25:20
  former CEO. She's great. I learned a lot
• 25:22
  from her too. And then uh Deborah
• 25:24
  retired and along came Danielle Shocki,
• 25:26
  our former CEO. And I learned a lot from
• 25:28
  Danielle, especially around rolling up
• 25:30
  your sleeves and helping out the team to
• 25:31
  get things done.
• 25:32
  >> And so again, Danielle, I think, saw
• 25:34
  some things in me. Um I did go for the
• 25:37
  CEO position when Danielle was hired,
• 25:38
  but the feedback I got back from the
• 25:40
  search groom was you need more
• 25:42
  operations experience. And so I had that
• 25:44
  experience from the 4,000 girl council,
• 25:46
  right? But I didn't have it from the
• 25:47
  15,000 to 20,000 girl perspective. And
• 25:50
  it's different. I not her and so again
• 25:52
  Danielle I think saw some things in me
• 25:54
  saw that there was opportunity there and
• 25:56
  so she began giving me more experience
• 25:58
  too. So um she um asked me to be the
• 26:02
  chief um marketing and membership
• 26:04
  officer and so I started working with
• 26:05
  the membership team again kind of back
• 26:07
  to my roots
• 26:08
  >> and then um slowly again earned more
• 26:10
  responsibility. So went from chief
• 26:12
  mission delivery off, excuse me, chief
• 26:13
  marketing um and membership officer to
• 26:17
  um chief experience officer and that was
• 26:19
  all about honing in on the experience of
• 26:21
  our Girl Scouts and their families and
• 26:23
  our volunteers. And so that was really
• 26:24
  enjoyable and interesting. Really
• 26:26
  focused in on the mission of the
• 26:27
  organization and then finally chief
• 26:29
  operating officer which really kind of
• 26:31
  just acknowledged I was serving as the
• 26:32
  right hand of our organization.
• 26:34
  >> Makes sense.
• 26:35
  >> You know we've talked a lot about Girl
• 26:36
  Scouts and couple of things that we've
• 26:39
  learned along the way. Number one, that
• 26:40
  each individual Girl Scout council is
• 26:43
  its own 501c3, right? So that's a lot of
• 26:45
  folks think that Girl Scouts this big
• 26:47
  national thing, and it is. There's
• 26:49
  obviously a national level to it, but
• 26:51
  each individual council is its own
• 26:53
  individual operating system. That's one
• 26:56
  interesting thing. Two, we we've talked
• 26:58
  a lot about being prepared, and it's
• 27:00
  interesting as you listen to your story,
• 27:02
  you you seem like you always were
• 27:04
  prepared. you were a humble servant
• 27:05
  leader and the next thing you know you
• 27:07
  kind of just learned and learned and
• 27:08
  learned and continued to help people
• 27:10
  which by the way is a great part of your
• 27:11
  story. But the Girl Scouts, I don't know
• 27:14
  that a lot of folks truly know what the
• 27:17
  Girl Scouts actually do. I I think
• 27:19
  there's their thoughts in their minds
• 27:21
  and maybe when they were kids and what
• 27:22
  they were thinking, but it'd be a great
• 27:24
  opportunity to talk what's the Girl
• 27:26
  Scouts do, who is serving, you know,
• 27:28
  what's the mission, those types of
• 27:29
  things.
• 27:30
  >> Great. So, uh, Girl Scouts serves girls
• 27:33
  in grades K to 12. So, we really do go
• 27:35
  whole from kindergarten all the way up
• 27:37
  to graduating from high school. Um, you
• 27:40
  know, the really cool thing about Girl
• 27:43
  Scouts is that, uh, we operate on
• 27:45
  progression. And so, our youngest Girl
• 27:47
  Scouts are doing, um, smaller things
• 27:49
  really help support the troop and to
• 27:51
  help lead the troop. And by that, I
• 27:53
  mean, you know, maybe they're in charge
• 27:54
  of the chores before the meeting or
• 27:56
  after meeting. Maybe they bring the
• 27:58
  snack, right? or maybe they're making
• 28:00
  sure that we're leaving places better
• 28:01
  than we found them. Um, two, our um,
• 28:05
  middle- range girls, maybe our middle
• 28:07
  school age girls are starting to learn
• 28:09
  about um, goal setting and planning for
• 28:12
  a trip they might want to take to
• 28:13
  Savannah, Georgia, right? And how many
• 28:15
  cookies maybe they need to sell in order
• 28:16
  to be able to go on that trip to
• 28:18
  Savannah. Police self-sustaining to um,
• 28:20
  our high school Girl Scouts. They are
• 28:22
  leading the me the meeting. The
• 28:23
  volunteer is there to keep them safe and
• 28:25
  make sure, right, to kind of guide them.
• 28:27
  But when it comes to those high school
• 28:28
  age girl scouts, that troop is theirs
• 28:30
  and they're really leading that troop.
• 28:31
  >> So, I think that progression of learning
• 28:33
  leadership along the way is really cool.
• 28:36
  The other really cool thing about our
• 28:37
  program is that girls make lifelong
• 28:39
  friends uh in Girl Scouts and they're
• 28:42
  learning things along the way that they
• 28:43
  have no idea become skills that they're
• 28:45
  going to use for life. Um it helps them
• 28:47
  in inform their college decisions or
• 28:49
  their post high school decisions,
• 28:51
  additional education. And then we see
• 28:53
  very many of them who get careers in the
• 28:55
  fields that they learned about in Girl
• 28:57
  Scouts that they really enjoyed. Jason,
• 28:59
  they had no idea they were doing that,
• 29:00
  right? When they were Girl Scouts, they
• 29:02
  were just having fun with their friends.
• 29:03
  Yeah.
• 29:04
  >> Uh but the impact that we see is really
• 29:05
  lifelong.
• 29:06
  >> Yeah, it's amazing.
• 29:07
  >> It really is. And so here are some of
• 29:09
  the things I think that we that we do
• 29:10
  that people may not really think about
• 29:12
  or know about. So we operate uh four
• 29:14
  Girl Scout camps across the 45 counties.
• 29:16
  One of them is Camp Delwood, which is
• 29:18
  right on the west side of Indianapolis.
• 29:20
  Camp Delwood has an exploration lab.
• 29:23
  It's a building um that really has three
• 29:26
  different labs that we offer STEM
• 29:28
  activities, science, technology,
• 29:29
  engineering, and math activities um for
• 29:31
  badge earning. And so a troop can
• 29:33
  basically rent that space at that lab
• 29:36
  and there's somebody on site, a
• 29:37
  facilitator who doesn't really
• 29:39
  facilitate that program for them. The
• 29:40
  troop still does that and they lead
• 29:42
  through that, but they're on site in
• 29:43
  case they have any questions, right? Or
• 29:44
  they kind of need some help along the
• 29:46
  way. And we have all those supplies in
• 29:48
  that exploration lab for that bad
• 29:49
  journey activity, for the STEM activity
• 29:51
  that actually was called a math and
• 29:53
  science center back in the day. It was
• 29:55
  built around 2000, 2001. And so before
• 29:58
  STEM was even a thing, we were doing
• 30:00
  that out at Cameron. Right.
• 30:02
  >> The other cool thing that we've done is
• 30:04
  um the entire um campus about 150 acres
• 30:07
  there on the west side of Indianapolis
• 30:09
  is called um a STEM experience center.
• 30:12
  And so what we've done is we've
• 30:14
  acknowledged that there is STEM
• 30:16
  everywhere that you look, especially in
• 30:17
  the outdoors. And so we've begun
• 30:20
  overlaying those STEM activities over
• 30:23
  some of the typ traditional camp
• 30:24
  activities. And so we do archery out at
• 30:27
  Camp Dwood, but then we also talk about
• 30:29
  the science behind it, right? The
• 30:30
  physics, the friction, and so on is one
• 30:32
  example. And so we've taken those kind
• 30:34
  of everyday camp activities and we also
• 30:37
  help girls learn the STEM behind those
• 30:39
  activities, too.
• 30:40
  >> Yeah. using everyday experiences where
• 30:42
  they're having fun. They absorb things
• 30:44
  like a sponge when they're having fun.
• 30:45
  What a great way to do that. You know,
• 30:47
  if you're a Girl Scout and you go all
• 30:48
  the way through high school, there's an
• 30:50
  award potentially you can get. Could you
• 30:52
  talk a little bit about that for some of
• 30:53
  those young ladies that get an award at
• 30:54
  the end?
• 30:55
  >> Sure. So, we have uh three of our
• 30:57
  highest awards. Um the bronze award is
• 31:00
  usually middle school age girl scouts.
• 31:01
  They usually do that as a group
• 31:02
  activity. They find a community service
• 31:04
  project that's really interesting to
• 31:06
  them and they earn a little bit of money
• 31:09
  or they use their Girl Scout cookie
• 31:10
  money and then they perform that
• 31:12
  activity. So that's the bronze award.
• 31:14
  The Girl Scout Silver Award is typically
• 31:16
  like older middle school, younger high
• 31:18
  school age girls. They usually do that
• 31:20
  on their own or maybe they buddy up to
• 31:22
  earn that award. It's a little bit more
• 31:24
  sophisticated than the bronze award in
• 31:26
  terms of like a larger community service
• 31:27
  project. Again, they earn a little funds
• 31:29
  for it to use their girls cookie money
• 31:30
  to do that. And then the award you might
• 31:32
  be thinking about is the Girl Scout Gold
• 31:34
  Award.
• 31:35
  >> It's the highest award in Girl Scouts.
• 31:36
  Usually, uh, older high school age girls
• 31:39
  earn that. Usually juniors and seniors
• 31:41
  in high school. Um, they usually take on
• 31:43
  a huge service project that they've
• 31:45
  really become passionate about through
• 31:47
  the years. Uh, they earn money for that.
• 31:49
  They or organize usually a big group of
• 31:52
  volunteers to actually help them get
• 31:53
  that project done because usually it's
• 31:54
  pretty big. They can't get it done on
• 31:56
  their own. And so there's some people
• 31:57
  management involved in that. there's
• 31:59
  usually a fairly significant amount of
• 32:00
  funds that they're going to need for
• 32:02
  that. The other really cool thing about
• 32:03
  the gold award is it needs to be um
• 32:06
  sustainable.
• 32:07
  >> It needs to have a lasting impact on the
• 32:09
  community that they're serving. And so
• 32:11
  it takes uh quite a bit more thought for
• 32:12
  them, quite a bit more preparation.
• 32:14
  >> Now, the other cool thing about the gold
• 32:16
  award is that when girls earn that, we
• 32:18
  know that colleges are looking at the
• 32:20
  gold award that helps set them apart
• 32:21
  when it comes to the college
• 32:22
  application.
• 32:23
  >> We also know that they earn uh one rank
• 32:26
  higher in the military. So they go into
• 32:28
  the military as a gold award earnner one
• 32:30
  rank higher than all of the other people
• 32:32
  that are going in.
• 32:33
  >> Wow.
• 32:33
  >> So it has significant benefits.
• 32:35
  >> Yeah. I I I asked the question for a
• 32:37
  specific reason. So I used to get to
• 32:39
  hire an awful lot of folks at a large
• 32:41
  company that I worked for and I had a
• 32:44
  recruiter, multiple recruiters, and I I
• 32:46
  told them a couple of things. As we're
• 32:48
  looking at candidates, if somebody says
• 32:50
  that I have a gold star award, no matter
• 32:53
  what, interview them. Because it at the
• 32:56
  end of the day, at a young age, they've
• 32:58
  they've orchestrated everything you've
• 32:59
  talked about. They've put together
• 33:01
  something. It's sustainable. They've
• 33:02
  managed a team. They've worked in their
• 33:04
  community. They've done all that stuff
• 33:06
  while going to school, potentially
• 33:08
  having a job. Interview them. Give them
• 33:10
  an opportunity, right? And so, bubble
• 33:12
  them up to the top. We could have
• 33:13
  hundreds of applicants, but if they said
• 33:16
  gold star, they're going to the top.
• 33:17
  >> That's great.
• 33:18
  >> And so, don't know that all of them
• 33:19
  always got a job, but they always got to
• 33:22
  look. And so to me, I think that's just
• 33:24
  awesome, by the way. And so the Girl
• 33:26
  Scouts, I I just I really do enjoy the
• 33:28
  way that the Girl Scouts teaches by
• 33:30
  having fun. You I'm going to go out and
• 33:32
  shoot bow and arrow somewhere
• 33:33
  Capellwood, but I'm also going to learn
• 33:36
  about the physics behind that, right?
• 33:38
  But I'm having fun with my friends and
• 33:40
  so so terrific. Um, as you think about,
• 33:43
  you know, Girl Scouts and some of the
• 33:45
  things that have changed, obviously been
• 33:46
  with the Girl Scouts now for a number of
• 33:48
  years, technologies evolved. you've
• 33:51
  mentioned a lot of technology and a lot
• 33:53
  of STEM and those things, but how is
• 33:54
  technology evolving, you know, within
• 33:56
  the Girl Scouts or maybe in the
• 33:58
  nonprofit space and what are your
• 33:59
  thoughts on that?
• 34:00
  >> Yeah, you know, it's funny. Back in 1999
• 34:02
  when I started uh with Girl Scouts of
• 34:04
  Sycamore Council, I asked them for a
• 34:07
  tour of the office space and there was
• 34:09
  one thing I was looking for, Jason, and
• 34:11
  this is probably pretty foreign to some
• 34:12
  people. Was looking to see if there was
• 34:13
  a computer on my desk,
• 34:15
  >> right? I knew it was a smaller
• 34:17
  nonprofit. It was back in the late 90s.
• 34:19
  it wasn't exactly guaranteed that there
• 34:21
  was going to be a computer there. I saw
• 34:22
  a computer on the desk and I wanted the
• 34:24
  job, right? Like I was like, okay, the
• 34:26
  right tool was there for me to be able
• 34:28
  to do that. Um, you know, back in that
• 34:30
  time, um, there wasn't really a
• 34:32
  consistent membership database for us to
• 34:35
  submit all of our girls that we were
• 34:36
  serving the 4,000 girls. Girl Scouts USA
• 34:39
  had just dispatched just sent out, um,
• 34:42
  315 computers to each Girl Scout, one
• 34:44
  for each Girl Scout council. So they
• 34:46
  would have a computer, they could send
• 34:47
  their membership files off to Girl
• 34:49
  Scouts USA. So I've seen this come a
• 34:52
  very long way. A very long way. Yeah, I
• 34:54
  sure have. Um, you know what? These days
• 34:56
  I think the challenge for Girl Scouts is
• 34:59
  that we are uh a national organization,
• 35:02
  a national brand, but we're still a
• 35:04
  little challenged by technology in terms
• 35:06
  of having one network that families can
• 35:09
  do everything they need to do, get all
• 35:11
  their services from Girl Scouts.
• 35:13
  >> Here's an example. So, we do have a
• 35:14
  consistent membership platform in
• 35:16
  Salesforce. Girl Scouts USA manages that
• 35:19
  platform. We have certain rights to be
• 35:20
  able to access that platform as a Girl
• 35:22
  Scout council. Um, and that's incred as
• 35:24
  you can incredibly helpful, right? There
• 35:27
  is not a consistent platform to register
• 35:28
  for Girl Scout camp. Each Girl Scout
• 35:30
  council goes and gets their own
• 35:32
  platform, two or three consistent ones
• 35:34
  that we use across the country. Um, but
• 35:37
  that becomes limiting because now there
• 35:39
  really shouldn't be any borders to Girl
• 35:41
  Scout councils. People don't know Girl
• 35:42
  Scouts to central Indiana from Girl
• 35:44
  Scouts of Northern Indiana, Michigan,
• 35:45
  right? They would just think I can
• 35:47
  register for Girl Scout camp no matter
• 35:48
  where I want to go in the state of
• 35:49
  Indiana.
• 35:50
  >> So, we need a consistent platform to
• 35:53
  register for Girl Scout camps. Go to any
• 35:55
  Girl Scout camp that you want to across
• 35:56
  the state. We also need a consistent
• 35:59
  platform to manage our and reserve our
• 36:01
  properties. And so, we have Girl Scout
• 36:03
  troops throughout the year who rent our
• 36:06
  uh Girl Scout camps. They want to go
• 36:07
  with their troop, right, and camp for
• 36:09
  the weekend. Uh again, you would expect
• 36:11
  you could do that no matter which
• 36:13
  council you're going to in the state of
• 36:14
  Indiana. There's not a consistent
• 36:16
  property platform to be able to go and
• 36:18
  reserve property, right?
• 36:19
  >> And so while we are we should be
• 36:22
  borderless in terms of the Girl Scout
• 36:24
  councils in the state of Indiana, there
• 36:26
  should be any difference between from
• 36:27
  one council to the next, technology
• 36:29
  right now is limiting us from being able
• 36:31
  to share those opportunities across the
• 36:34
  lines, the Girl Scout Council lines.
• 36:35
  >> Gotcha. All right. So technology is
• 36:37
  evolving.
• 36:38
  >> Yes. It's good that the young ladies are
• 36:40
  learning a lot about technology, but
• 36:42
  eventually some things coming together
• 36:43
  could just make it easier to be able to
• 36:45
  reach more girls. Yes, that's where we
• 36:47
  stand with technology.
• 36:48
  >> Yes. And Girl Scouts USA is really
• 36:49
  working on that. They know the need that
• 36:52
  exists out there. Um, you know, a
• 36:54
  consistent uh shopping cart, even go get
• 36:55
  your membership, buy your badges, right?
• 36:57
  Register for Girl Scout Camp. Right now,
• 36:59
  that one system doesn't exist. And
• 37:01
  they're working on that to be able to
• 37:03
  make sure that we have those consistent
• 37:04
  services. We're not quite Amazon yet and
• 37:06
  we'd like, you know, we'd like to be in
• 37:07
  terms of the service we could provide.
• 37:09
  >> Absolutely. Event eventually you'll get
• 37:10
  there and Amazon, you know, love them or
• 37:12
  hate them, they make it easy to be able
• 37:14
  to spend money and be able to do the
• 37:15
  things they want to do, right? And
• 37:17
  access is key, right? Giving those uh
• 37:19
  young kids and their families access to
• 37:21
  be able to do those things, continue to
• 37:22
  support what they're trying to get done.
• 37:24
  >> So, talking about, you know, 501c3
• 37:27
  obviously is a nonprofit. Community is
• 37:29
  pretty big. When you think about
• 37:31
  community, what what comes to mind? What
• 37:33
  what's community mean to you?
• 37:35
  >> Sure. Oh my goodness. You know,
• 37:37
  community is is so many things. Uh I
• 37:40
  first think about the community that
• 37:41
  that we've built um the culture that we
• 37:43
  have at Girl Scouts of Central Indiana.
• 37:45
  We are a people first organization. We
• 37:48
  know that we need to take care of our
• 37:49
  people so they can take care of our
• 37:50
  volunteers and the families that we
• 37:52
  serve. And so it's very very important
• 37:53
  to us. We're also a family organization.
• 37:55
  You know, um families to us are the the
• 37:58
  first priority. And so we make sure that
• 37:59
  we're supporting the families um that
• 38:02
  our staffs go home to every night who
• 38:04
  support them.
• 38:05
  >> And so for me that's very much community
• 38:08
  and I'm really thoughtful about that for
• 38:09
  our teams to make sure we're supporting
• 38:11
  them.
• 38:12
  >> Um the next definitely place that I
• 38:14
  think about with community is our Girl
• 38:15
  Scout community. Um it's a it's a
• 38:18
  membership organization for a reason.
• 38:20
  You know, uh once a Girl Scout always a
• 38:22
  Girl Scout is a very real thing. We're
• 38:24
  almost like a sorority in a sense of a
• 38:26
  sisterhood. Mhm.
• 38:27
  >> And so that community, that network is
• 38:30
  very, very important. I've heard people
• 38:32
  tell stories. There's actually a Lily
• 38:34
  exec right now um who I've gotten to
• 38:36
  know. And she talks about um traveling
• 38:38
  with her family um when she was a girl
• 38:41
  and about how once she got connected to
• 38:43
  a Girl Scout troop, she really felt as
• 38:45
  though she had her network of friends.
• 38:46
  So it didn't matter where she went
• 38:48
  across the country or even across the
• 38:50
  world, she knew there was a Girl Scout
• 38:52
  troop there that she could get plugged
• 38:54
  into and have an instinct group of
• 38:55
  friends. And that was um that means a
• 38:57
  lot to me that we're able to provide
• 38:59
  that.
• 38:59
  >> Yeah. Sure.
• 39:00
  >> Yeah. For our girls.
• 39:01
  >> Absolutely. So community we everybody
• 39:03
  knows cookies. I I think right. I mean I
• 39:06
  I I if it were me I would put the
• 39:08
  serving size on the the back to say box
• 39:11
  because you just open it up and eat it.
• 39:12
  That's the appropriate way to do it in
• 39:14
  my opinion. But so we know cookies but
• 39:16
  how can the community if there's some
• 39:19
  things we could do to get involved? What
• 39:20
  would we do to get more involved with
• 39:21
  the Girl Scouts?
• 39:22
  >> Yeah. You know a couple things. We have
• 39:24
  uh cocktails at camp happens every year
• 39:27
  in September and it's our uh signature
• 39:29
  fundraising event for the year. It's a
• 39:31
  lot of fun. Jason, I think you've been
• 39:33
  there.
• 39:33
  >> I have. Yeah.
• 39:34
  >> Yeah. And so, uh essentially it's uh
• 39:37
  camp for grown-ups for the night.
• 39:39
  >> And so we have all different kinds of
• 39:41
  the camp activities we do every day for
• 39:43
  girls, whether it's archery or hatchet
• 39:44
  throwing or slingshots. Um we also have
• 39:47
  rifle. Um so, a lot of fun. Come out and
• 39:51
  try your hand at all that stuff. Um,
• 39:53
  after you do that, we have cocktails.
• 39:55
  Uh, we have usually beer that's provided
• 39:57
  by different wonderful friends that we
• 39:59
  have across the city. Um, we have
• 40:02
  wonderful food, really, really good
• 40:03
  food. Come out for that. And then, uh,
• 40:06
  things usually going on at the Founders
• 40:08
  Lodge, which is right there at Camp
• 40:09
  Dwood. Uh, we usually have a small band,
• 40:12
  we have a DJ, just a lot of fun, uh, for
• 40:15
  the evening. And so, come out and
• 40:16
  support us. Tickets are individual
• 40:18
  tickets are going on sale right now.
• 40:20
  We're also looking for corporate
• 40:21
  sponsors, so would love to have any kind
• 40:23
  of support for that. Um, you can go to
• 40:24
  girlsind indiana.org and then there's a
• 40:26
  cocktails at camp button right there.
• 40:28
  And so, go support us for that. We are
• 40:30
  also we have a monthly giving campaign
• 40:33
  and so for you know uh five 10 bucks,
• 40:35
  whatever you might spend on a cup of
• 40:37
  coffee or two during the month, uh it's
• 40:39
  a great way to get involved. You get on
• 40:41
  our list to know what's going on with
• 40:42
  Girl Scouts throughout the year. Uh, and
• 40:44
  it's a wonderful way to to begin to
• 40:45
  support us um in a in an individual
• 40:48
  giving kind of way. Um, you know, the
• 40:51
  evolution that I've seen is that the
• 40:53
  Girl Scout cookie program, while it's
• 40:55
  fantastic, it's a learning opportunities
• 40:57
  for girl for girls. It's a program for
• 40:59
  them. It's teaches entrepreneurship.
• 41:02
  They learn how to set a budget, learn
• 41:03
  how to set goals. Um, and then they
• 41:06
  learn how to approach the community, ask
• 41:07
  people to buy, communication skills, and
• 41:09
  so on. um it's about 65% of our revenue
• 41:13
  for Girl Scouts. And so um it's
• 41:15
  wonderful, but it's also a little scary
• 41:17
  to have that large of your revenue come
• 41:19
  from one program. Um which is by the way
• 41:22
  supported by girls. Our girls are all
• 41:23
  selling cookies. And so we are looking
• 41:25
  for other um self-sustaining ways for
• 41:27
  our organization to really be able to
• 41:29
  make sure um that we're able to to
• 41:31
  support our Girl Scouts for generations
• 41:33
  to come. And so that's why that
• 41:35
  individual giving that I just talked
• 41:36
  about is so important uh for our
• 41:38
  community to help support us.
• 41:40
  >> Yeah, get getting out to the community
• 41:42
  and having them support is is awesome. I
• 41:44
  want to clarify,
• 41:45
  >> you know, cocktails at camp is a really
• 41:47
  great event,
• 41:48
  >> but you throw the axes and you shoot
• 41:51
  arrows before you have cocktails, right?
• 41:53
  So yeah, you'd get all that done because
• 41:55
  otherwise it would be a different kind
• 41:56
  of a of an experience out there. But
• 41:58
  it's an awful lot of fun. It is really
• 42:00
  good food and people that haven't been
• 42:02
  should go. And then, you know, having
• 42:04
  the opportunity to be in the community
• 42:06
  and to see young ladies out selling
• 42:08
  cookies, how anybody could walk past
• 42:10
  those young and not say hello and and
• 42:13
  ask them a little bit of something. I
• 42:14
  personally carry cash um for that during
• 42:17
  that time. And I get a chance to talk to
• 42:20
  those young ladies, which sometimes
• 42:22
  their moms and dads look at me a little
• 42:23
  funny first and I clarify, hey, this is,
• 42:25
  you know, these types of things, but I
• 42:27
  get a chance to ask them what they
• 42:28
  really like about Girl Scouts. And I
• 42:31
  over the last couple of years, the
• 42:33
  number of young ladies that have said,
• 42:34
  you know, I really like learning about
• 42:36
  this or learning about that and and some
• 42:39
  of it has to do with STEM. I got to do
• 42:41
  this project or whatever the case is.
• 42:43
  I'm like, that is awesome to hear what
• 42:45
  they're doing. And yet they're having a
• 42:46
  ton of fun, right? And then I asked
• 42:48
  them, I said, "Okay, I can make a
• 42:49
  donation or I could buy some boxes and
• 42:52
  you could give them away." And usually
• 42:53
  there's two young ladies a lot of times,
• 42:55
  especially at the Kroger I go to, and
• 42:56
  they start talking about what their
• 42:58
  strategy will be. Should we take the
• 43:00
  boxes, give them away for free and
• 43:02
  entice people to buy more, or should we
• 43:04
  just take the donation? And it is
• 43:06
  phenomenal. Yeah. I I just love to see
• 43:08
  seven, eight, nineyear-old kind of
• 43:10
  thinking of this from a business
• 43:11
  perspective. What are we going to do?
• 43:13
  It's so much fun.
• 43:14
  >> Yeah. Well, and that's exactly what it
• 43:16
  teaches girls. That's that's fantastic.
• 43:17
  Thanks for doing that.
• 43:18
  >> Love every second and ad. So, you know,
• 43:20
  your story, the evolution going through
• 43:22
  college and deciding to make some career
• 43:24
  changes, ending up in communications,
• 43:27
  deciding that sales wasn't necessarily
• 43:29
  the right spot, but hearing, you know,
• 43:31
  humble servant leadership throughout
• 43:34
  your entire journey to where now you are
• 43:36
  the CEO having an opportunity to
• 43:39
  influence everybody not only in the
• 43:41
  council, but also those young ladies and
• 43:43
  their families. It's terrific to see a
• 43:45
  servant leader at your role. And so,
• 43:47
  thank you for all that you're doing
• 43:48
  there. The Girl Scout does. But before
• 43:51
  we end, if you're not at Girl Scouts, if
• 43:53
  you're not doing something there, what
• 43:54
  are you doing for fun?
• 43:55
  >> Oh, yeah. That's a great question. Um,
• 43:58
  we're getting into summer and I'm so
• 44:00
  excited about that. I love to kayak. We
• 44:02
  go kayaking almost every weekend that we
• 44:03
  can. We usually hit up the local lakes
• 44:07
  and rivers. Um, and so love to just get
• 44:09
  outside and go kaying. Also love
• 44:12
  boating. you know, u most of the time
• 44:13
  it's under my own power. I go kayaking,
• 44:15
  but on occasion love a good pontoon boat
• 44:17
  to eat out and bright and just relax.
• 44:19
  So, love the water. Um, also a Purdue
• 44:22
  football season ticket holder. Have been
• 44:24
  really since shortly after college. Y
• 44:26
  >> So, that means I've seen some good
• 44:27
  football, a lot of bad football, right?
• 44:29
  Um, but I love my Boiler Makers.
• 44:31
  >> Yeah, sure.
• 44:32
  >> Purdue athletics fan in general.
• 44:34
  >> Um, so I enjoy following them as well.
• 44:37
  Um, a lot of sports. I just enjoy
• 44:39
  watching sports. Uh, I have recently
• 44:42
  learned how to play pickle ball.
• 44:43
  >> Okay.
• 44:44
  >> And I'm like one of those obsessed
• 44:45
  people. I love it.
• 44:46
  >> So So now you're all in on pickle ball.
• 44:48
  >> I am. Yeah.
• 44:48
  >> So you're you're one of those folks.
• 44:50
  >> Yes. Got my racket in my little bag,
• 44:52
  right? That it goes in. Got my own
• 44:53
  pickle balls. I'm talking to my friends
• 44:55
  all the time about can we go? Right. Let
• 44:58
  me teach you pickle ball. It's a lot of
• 44:59
  fun.
• 45:00
  >> Yeah.
• 45:00
  >> I just love getting outside and being
• 45:02
  active.
• 45:02
  >> Sure.
• 45:03
  >> Um I think health for me is health is
• 45:04
  wealth. It's very important. So I want
• 45:06
  to keep going for a really long time. Y
• 45:08
  >> I love to travel. Okay.
• 45:10
  >> Uh, and you know, I think about our Girl
• 45:11
  Scouts when I travel because to me, when
• 45:14
  you get outside of your own smaller
• 45:16
  community, get outside of your state,
• 45:18
  right? Um, explore the country and then
• 45:21
  if you have a chance to get outside of
• 45:22
  our country and go explore other
• 45:24
  countries, learn about their cultures,
• 45:27
  um, learn about the language a little
• 45:28
  bit more and just get out and meet
• 45:30
  people and talk to them. It's it's such
• 45:33
  a a broadening a minding experience. Um,
• 45:37
  and that I think that it really helps us
• 45:40
  see that the world is just so much
• 45:41
  bigger than we are. Yeah.
• 45:42
  >> And there's so many different
• 45:43
  perspectives and points of view. So many
• 45:46
  different places that people have walked
• 45:48
  that I've never walked, right? So I
• 45:50
  don't really know their journey or
• 45:51
  understand it. Uh, but to get to learn
• 45:53
  more about that, I think it's just a
• 45:55
  wonderful opportunity. And so that's
• 45:56
  what I'd love to see our Girl Scouts do.
• 45:57
  And there are a fair amount of them that
• 45:58
  do love to travel, you know, and so, um,
• 46:01
  anything that we can do to help, uh,
• 46:03
  with our young people and make sure
• 46:04
  they're getting out, right, and having
• 46:06
  these experiences, I think, is really
• 46:08
  important for us.
• 46:09
  >> Yeah, I like that. And before we close,
• 46:10
  I just want to kind of bring something
• 46:12
  back. You started your role on Martin
• 46:15
  Luther King Day, so you could come in on
• 46:16
  a holiday um, so that you could be there
• 46:18
  without having to be around so many
• 46:20
  folks to get started. And now you're
• 46:22
  talking about traveling the United
• 46:23
  States and the world to go out and meet
• 46:25
  people, read their stories, and do all
• 46:26
  those types of things. The evolution's
• 46:28
  been terrific to hear. Yeah.
• 46:30
  >> And uh good for you with the
• 46:31
  opportunities to do that. Continued
• 46:33
  success for you and the Girl Scouts. So,
• 46:35
  thanks for being on the show. Thank you.