Board Service: Why it's good for you, your career & your community 

This session will focus on how participation on a nonprofit board is important for you as an individual, as an employee and as a community member. Committed volunteer and philanthropist Julie Cowan will explore, in an interactive session, how supporting the mission of a nonprofit can be a critical factor in your life, contributing to a greater level of satisfaction in your personal and professional lives, while also creating new professional opportunities along the way. She brings a unique perspective to this discussion, having been a volunteer leader at a nonprofit where she then took on a professional role. Participants can expect to walk away with greater clarity on how to find the right role personally and professionally as well as some tips on when it is okay to say no to a volunteer opportunity/relationship.

Julie Cowan is the Vice President for Business Development at MassDevelopment, the State’s Economic Development and Finance Agency. Her responsibilities include making the scope of its program offerings known throughout the 100 towns and cities of western Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties). In that role, she works with private industry, municipalities and nonprofits as well as part of recruitment teams that meet with prospects who are interested in moving to, expanding into or investing in Massachusetts, all with the aim of community stabilization/redevelopment as well as employee base retention and growth. MassDevelopment is one of two agencies that the State authorizes to issue tax-exempt bonds on behalf of private industry and nonprofit organizations: it also partners with banks and other lenders with its loan and guaranty programs. Prior to joining MassDevelopment, she was part of the Executive Leadership team, first as volunteer Treasurer and Board member, and then on staff as Chief Development Officer, for Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech. In her tenure with Clarke, she negotiated the sale of its founding campus in Northampton and secured funding for a significant expansion of its distance learning programs. Prior to Clarke, she was a career banker, having worked at both Bank of Boston and TD Bank, with industry concentrations in petroleum, nonprofit healthcare and cosmetics manufacturing, with expertise in mergers and acquisitions. She attended Suffolk University, where she studied International Economics. She currently serves as an at-large Board member for the Massachusetts Economic Development Council (MEDC) and has previously served on the boards of the United Way of Hampshire County, Women in Philanthropy of Western Massachusetts and the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce.