×

VP of Mission Delivery, Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana

Lesley Kennedy has dedicated her 20-year career to helping strengthen Chicago’s non-profit sector. Lesley currently serves as VP of Mission Delivery for Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana and was previously Director of Strategy and Organization Development at Cabrini Green Legal Aid (CGLA), supporting the organization’s internal culture and strategic direction. Prior to joining CGLA, Lesley developed and maintained a thriving nonprofit coaching and consulting practice. Lesley served as Youth & Opportunity United’s Chief Program Officer, leading the development of Y.O.U.’s long-term program strategy and oversaw the daily impact of more than 50 staff members across 11 program sites. Lesley brings an extraordinary breadth and depth of experience to the sector. She joined Y.O.U. following five years as a Senior Program Officer at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, where she managed the Foundation’s Child and Youth Education and Health and Wellness Portfolios. Prior to McCormick, Lesley served for seven years as the Executive Director of the Chicago Girls’ Coalition, a Chicago-based non-profit that provided capacity building and technical assistance to girl-serving organizations and programs.

Lesley led McCormick Foundation’s integration of a racial equity lens to their giving as well as pioneered racial equity all-staff training at Y.O.U. and CGLA and in 2018, contributed as an Advisory Committee member to Equity in the Center’s report: Awake to Woke to Work: Building a Race Equity Culture. Lesley is a guest lecturer at UChicago’s Crown School of Social Work, where she teaches Inclusive Leadership in the Social Sector Leadership program. She teaches a similar course for the Baumhart Scholars MBA program, in the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University Chicago.

Lesley has a master’s degree in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in English and Women’s Studies from Stephens College. She is a Newfield Network trained personal and professional coach and provides capacity building leadership development consulting to non-profits.