The senior leaders in our Encore Louisville program have spent decades of their career in leadership roles AND want to share their wisdom to make our community stronger. The program connects groups of senior leaders in an advisory capacity with worthy nonprofits that need help managing critical strategic issues.

Here are a few examples of the work they’re doing – all probono – with local nonprofits.

The Louisville Cardinal

Encore Louisville team members: Tom Monohan (EL ’15 – ’19, LL ’92), Marty Bell (EL ’15-19, BF ’07, ’96, LL ’82), Steve Ellis (EL ’18-’19), Gail Lyttle (EL ’19, LL ’11), Mike Smith (EL ’18-’19, LL ’84)

The Louisville Cardinal is a weekly independent student newspaper at the University of Louisville available in print and online during the school year.

The printed and online newspaper is staffed by two paid part-time employees and 45-60 student volunteers at a university without a journalism program. The University is ending its financial support and advertising revenue is diminishing.

The Encore team developed several dozen suggestions to increase revenue and reduce costs, increase visibility and image of the paper on campus, and develop better and more formal relationships with the university community.  It also developed job descriptions for the paid staff and suggested revisions to the Board by-laws and board governance.

Three of the five team members had previous journalism experience. Their suggestions were based on seasoned knowledge of journalism, trends in the newsprint media, and specific knowledge of the university community.

Implementation of strategic suggestions will be up to the board which will have almost half new members and a new Chair when newspaper operations resume after the annual summer shut down.

Serenity House

Encore Louisville team members: Beth Dlutowski (EL ’15-’19, BF ’13, FL ’12), Lynn Ashton (EL ’16-18, BF ’08, ’00, LL ’98), J-R Curtin (EL ’15-’19, BF ’91, LL ’85), Ken Middleton (EL ’15-’19, LL ’00)

Serenity House is a 48-bed residential halfway program for men in Jeffersonville, Indiana established in 1974.

An Encore Louisville team helped develop a plan to strengthen its appeal to major funders to help sustain its ongoing operations and complete an adjacent building designed to provide recreational space for the men and host meetings of alcohol and drug support groups in the community.

Working with the Executive Director and key board members, the Encore team recommended and the Board agreed to:

— recruit a prominent community leader to join an ad hoc board leadership team to lead necessary changes and then transition the group to an executive leadership group within the board with the expertise needed to guide the organization long-term;

— create a strong “story” about the mission and success of Serenity House, the need for its services, and proof of its sustainability and recruit a local marketing firm to help;

— develop a succession plan for the Executive Director who is nearing retirement and evaluate the need for additional management support;

— transform financials into a format more easily understood by funders including a multi-year forecast that demonstrates sustainability

— meet with local foundations to demonstrate its plans and commitment to sustainability.

U of L Family Business Center

Encore Louisville team members: Michelle Wells (EL ’18-’19, LL ’13), Gail Becker (EL ’17-’19, ’15, LL ’93), Stuart Goldberg (EL ’16-’19, LL ’92), Michael Shaikun (EL ’17-19, FL ’94)

The University of Louisville Family Business Center (FBC) has almost 100 members and represents many of the region’s strongest and most reputable family business leaders.  Business-owning families can exchange strategies and experiences, safely explore challenging issues, and learn from leading experts in areas that are unique to family businesses.

The FBC had been operating with an Interim Executive Director since fall of 2017.

With the impending hiring of an executive director in the fall of 2019, FBC requested recommendations that would benefit the on-boarding of the new hire while rebuilding the reputation of FBC in Louisville and Southern Indiana and help increase its membership and influence.

The Encore team members represented a broad background of businesses — family owned, not-for-profit, and Fortune 250 corporate so the team able to offer diverse perspectives on responding to FBC’s need.

The team provided (1) recommendations of more than 80 local organizations that could help with enhancing the profile/brand while continuing to grow FBC’s membership: government agencies, community service organizations, business and professional associations, media outlets, and foundations. (2) Suggestions that could improve the integration and visibility of FBC within UofL and (3) Ideas to support the on-boarding of a new Executive Director.

Learn more about Encore Louisville

Nonprofits, learn about partnering with Encore Louisville