About Us
Meet the Staff
The experience, knowledge, passion and teamwork of our staff is what makes The Nonprofit Center so well equipped to help your organization address its needs and interests. In this increasingly impersonal world, we recognize that it’s people who make the difference and we’d like to take a few moments to introduce our team, who together represent a total of 130 years of service to the nonprofit community.
Terri Clark, Manager, Client Services
Terri brought a great range of experiences – as a legal secretary, a paralegal, an office manager (for an organizational psychologist so you know that comes in handy) - when she joined The Nonprofit Center more than five years ago. Her part-time position evolved into producing the Nexus, our former printed jobs newsletter (now the online jobscoop.org), to manager of educational programs, evolving into her current responsibilities for both On-Site Group Trainings and coordination of Consulting projects. As the first point of contact for both those key services, Terri’s affinity for design and remodeling enables her to handle logistics and details so critical to successful implementation. Her special insight facilitates each project to ensure that the consulting process gets started in the right direction and on-site trainings produce the desired results.
"Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely." (Auguste Rodin)
Contact Terri at 215-951-5194 or clarkt@lasalle.edu
Rob Fennell, Administrative Assistant
Rob comes to The Nonprofit Center from his native England. Since he most often answers our main telephone line, you'll recognize him from his charming accent (and the fact that he's currently our only male staff member). Rob brings experience in customer service and administration to his position here, along with a desire to work in the nonprofit sector having spent time volunteering both in England and Philadelphia. His commitment to learning matches The Nonprofit Center’s philosophy, and he is currently enrolled in both the Nonprofit Management and Financial Management certificate programs. This quote from Bob Dylan sums up my approach to life and why I want to work with nonprofits, "A man is a success if he gets up and the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do."
Contact Rob at 215-951-1701, fennell@lasalle.edu
Ellen H. Funk, Assistant Manager, Client Services
Ellen is richly experienced in the nonprofit world, most recently as a consultant in planning, development and management. She spent 16 years with United Way of Southeastern PA in a variety of roles working with agencies, most recently as community impact officer. She is active on several nonprofit boards, and as her picture above illustrates, involved in the world of figure skating. Ellen earned her B.S. in psychology from Gordon College and her MA in Social Gerontology at the University of PA. Her philosophy of life, "We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand...and melting like a snowflake. Let us use it before it is too late" (Marie Beynon).
Contact Ellen at 215-951-1711, funk@lasalle.edu
Joanne Konczyk, Finance Manager
Joanne has more than 30 years experience with several nonprofit organizations. She’s been at La Salle for 12 years, first in Accounts Payable/Purchasing, and later in Accounts Receivable. She brought her skills in budgeting and financial management to The Nonprofit Center in 2008. Prior to coming to La Salle, she spent 10 years as a full charge bookkeeper, then another 10 as a purchasing agent for a local medical facility in Philadelphia. Joanne’s work ethic is summarized in this quote from Pearl S. Buck: “The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.”
Contact Joanne at 215-951-1705, Konczyk@lasalle.edu
Lori Moffa, Director of Consulting
Lori’s appreciation and understanding of the role of the consultant stems from her extensive experience as a consultant to a variety of nonprofits and as a professional whose role has been to work with groups of consultants. At United Way of King County, Seattle, she recruited and managed a corps of consultants, including some volunteer, to provide specialized expertise to nonprofit organizations. During her many years in Philadelphia nonprofits, Lori has worked for the United Way of Gloucester County, the Philadelphia Zoo, Mercy Health System, the Arthritis Foundation and also founded the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce’s Nonprofit Council."You make a living by what you get...But you make a life by what you give."(Winston Churchill)
Contact Lori at 215-951-1709 or moffa@lasalle.edu
Laura Otten, Ph.D., Director
Laura has the longest history with The Nonprofit Center, serving as a consultant and instructor for more than 20 years. In that time, she has distinguished herself on both the national and local levels, as an expert in nonprofit leadership, governance, strategic planning, evaluation, and other aspects of organizational management. Since 2001, she has led the Center, integrating a commitment to best practices in all aspects of nonprofit operations, and solidified our educational model to provide in-depth, high quality learning experiences that make The Nonprofit Center unique among any other organizations in the region. This same philosophy of integrated services and highly skilled and experienced experts also guides our consulting practice, in which she is also an active participant. Laura demonstrates a life-long commitment to the nonprofit sector having served on her first nonprofit board while still a teenager. While Laura jokes that someone who qualifies for AARP shouldn’t be blogging, her weekly posts on nonprofituniversityblog.org are read regularly in more than 20 countries.
"We should make use of our security, our seniority, to take risks, to make noise, to be courageous, to become unpopular." (Carolyn G. Heilbrun)
Contact Laura at 215-951-1118, otten@lasalle.edu
Joan Mintz Ulmer, Director, Marketing & Communications
Kismet brought Joan to nonprofit work, but it was choice that has kept her there for more than 30 years. She brings to The Nonprofit Center extensive firsthand experience doing media and public relations and resource development for a wide range of organizations from domestic violence programs to hunger relief. Her first and enduring interest was writing and she found that her writing skills enabled her to support causes she believed in. At The Nonprofit Center, she creates all the printed materials, handles public affairs and marketing, serves as webmaster, and is liaison to membership. A quote by Woodrow Wilson reminds me of the meaning of my life in the nonprofit sector: "You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."
Contact Joan Mintz Ulmer at 215-951-1710, ulmer@lasalle.edu
The rest of our team is our corps of extraordinary instructors and consultants. You can read more about their exceptional credentials >
