People in Fundraising, season 3, ep. 17: Past NEDRA President Susan Grivno

I am excited to share this reflective conversation with Susan Grivno. She and I served on the board of directors of NEDRA (the New England Development Research Association, one of the largest chapters of Apra International), from 2016 to early 2018. Susan later became President of NEDRA, her tenure coinciding with the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Among the reasons I wanted to chat with Susan was to have her share what it was like to pivot NEDRA's famous, multi-day, in-person conference, with just weeks' notice. 

Susan also discusses:

* How the decision to cancel the 2021 NEDRA Conference was actually more difficult than the 2020 conference, yet it set a precedent for the NEDRA conferences going virtual in 2021 and 2022

* Susan's reflections on former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers' impression that Americans were "working unsustainably hard" during the pandemic

* Her take-aways from being NEDRA's President about managing bandwidth and expectations (including her own), planning ahead, and allocating and delegating responsibilities - Susan began using a quadrant to segment her personal, work, and NEDRA assignments

* What Susan misses about working for a university, as a fully remote staff member (Susan works for the University of New Hampshire, and is based in the San Antonio area)

* The example of her friend Joyce Newton for the latter stages of one's career

 

Thank you Susan for your thoughtful conversation and for doing so much for NEDRA and the broader prospect development community!