DawnLeaness

My Resume

I'm a social entrepreneur looking to combine my experiences in building my own ventures and designing tools to support hundreds of entrepreneurs to grow and scale their businesses globally with my passion for working directly with inspiring founders and leaders to turn their ideas into action.

📩 Contact Information

👩🏻‍💻 Work Experience

Managing Director

• Led globally distributed team in the design and launch of a virtual 12-month accelerator empowering women across Africa and the diaspora with the knowledge and network needed to scale their businesses through live content delivery, applied assignments, and peer-to-peer learning; attracted applications from 10,000+ early-stage entrepreneurs across 54 African countries with a ~10% acceptance rate

• Designed curriculum in line with due diligence process, helping entrepreneurs become investment ready by refining business models, understanding market opportunities, strengthening management teams, codifying operating procedures, projecting sales, and forecasting financials; resulted in 44% of alumnae raising new capital, amounting to a 36% increase in total funds invested within one year of completing the program

• Advised 800+ entrepreneurs representing more than 30 industries through the challenges of building early-stage startups in emerging markets; 74% of alumnae increased their revenue, injecting a total of $18 million revenue into the African economy from 2018-2020 and 47% of alumnae hired additional employees, creating over 3,700 jobs

• Built and cultivated a network of 68 senior business professionals across 40 countries to provide individualized support and business advising to 200 entrepreneurs annually, with 77% of the cohort reporting an increase in access to quality mentoring post-program

• Developed impact thesis and strategy to quantify program impact; designed and implemented impact assessment strategy to ensure program rigor and benchmark against global competitors and industry standards

Chief Operating Officer

• Developed and led financial and operational strategies and systems to triple the size and enrollment of an innovative urban charter school, increasing staff from 25 to 85, growing budget from $2 million to $8.5 million over five years, and achieving 100% college acceptance rate and Best High School ranking in US News & World Report

• Initiated and conducted assessment of organizational structures and salary ranges in schools throughout Greater Boston via quantitative analysis and focus groups; established salary ladder and innovative benefits package to increase staff retention within resource constraints, resulting in 97% increase in employee retention rate

• Designed and executed fundraising strategy comprised of donor cultivation, foundation grant-writing, corporate partnerships, and events; successfully raised over $15M in capital and exceeded revenue goal by 25% annually

Director of Development

• Oversaw Codman’s private and governmental fundraising initiatives through a combination of donor engagement, foundation relationship management, grant-writing, and event planning. Exceeded FY11 annual fund goal by 29%, FY12 annual fund goal by 23%, FY13 annual fund goal by 25%. Achieved 65% success rate in grant procurement in FY11, 80% success rate in FY12, 73% success rate in FY13.

• Established successful annual fundraising gala and corresponding corporate sponsorship program and live auction, which has net over 20% of Codman’s annual fund since 2011.

• Managed $18 million joint capital campaign with Codman Square Health Center, including $8 million in federal stimulus funding and $4 million in private donations.

Co-Founder

• Co-founded a small-batch gourmet crouton company with the mission of producing homemade, preservative free, and naturally flavored croutons

• Led recipe design, production, branding, packaging, sales, and business development efforts; secured shelf space in Whole Foods and 40+ independent grocery stores nationwide

• Engaged in strategic discussions with Costco in an effort to scale production and sales; ultimately chose not to pursue growth due to lack of manufacturers able to meet unique product specifications, resulting in a risk/reward balance that did not warrant the investment

Marketing Coordinator

• Managed the execution of company-wide marketing initiatives and maintained national website.

• Served as key member of The Network’s corporate social responsibility team. Oversaw The MENTOR Network Foundation grant process and communication agenda. Assisted in creation of Network Angels employee assistance fund.

Foundation & Political Associate

• Contributed to the planning and development of the Foundation’s organizational strategy. Analyzed grant proposals and provided recommendations for further action. Principal author of Foundation website feature articles and news stories.

• Managed the Governors Guidebook Series project, a collection of non-partisan research to identify the roadblocks faced by women running for governor. Developed strategies for candidates to beat obstacles, including analyses from a national survey, focus groups, exit poll data, and interviews with candidates, staff and consultants

• Tracked and analyzed Massachusetts state legislative races; made candidate funding recommendations. Provided support for internal and external fundraising activities. Develop targeted fundraising call books. Managed Principal’s call time for candidate fundraising initiatives.

Public Relations Manager

• Acted as client lead; managed all public relations accounts in the real estate, consumer goods and non-profit industries.

• Developed and executed strategic and tactical public relations plans. Created press releases, media advisories, fact sheets, story pitches and media kits.

• Developed targeted distribution lists and pitched accordingly. Tracked published press, created reprints and distributed to clients.

🏫 Education

MBA, Questrom School of Business, Boston University (2016)

BA, International Politics, Princeton University (2006)

📚 Fellowships

Venture Fellow

• One of 50 fellows selected from a pool of 3,000 global applicants to participate in a year-long venture capital fellowship backed by an international consortium of VC partners and sponsors focused on building diverse networks within excluded entrepreneurial communities to increase investments in outlier entrepreneurs

Impact Fellow

• Developed and refined impact model, thesis, metrics, and analysis for prospective investments in seed-stage startups operating in fintech, cleantech, digital health, and food innovation throughout francophone West Africa

• Evaluated business plans of potential investments for growth potential, economic return, sustainability, and impact

• Conducted due diligence, assessed market opportunities, evaluated investment potential, and participated in Investment Committee discussions to select portfolio companies

Emerging Leaders Program Fellow

• One of 50 rising leaders selected from across corporate, nonprofit and government sectors to build collaborative leadership capacity for our respective organizations through 90+ hours of action learning facilitated by subject matter experts with diverse peers, fireside chat speakers, and team projects.

Massachusetts Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP)

• One of 30 fellows selected to represent Massachusetts in a national 10-month fellowship program focused on enhancing knowledge and developing skills in educational leadership and public policy through monthly seminars, team building retreats, and visits to Beacon Hill and Washington DC to experience education policy making in action.

🏙️ Community Involvement

Codman Academy Charter Public School Dorchester, MA

• Board of Trustees (2023-Current)

Princeton Internships in Civic Service (PICS)

• Mentor (2006-2021)

• Board of Directors (2006-2017)

Girls in Tech Boston

• Founding Managing Director (2019-2020)

Big Sister Association of Greater Boston

• Big Sister Mentor (2007-2019)

Quebec-Labrador Foundation

• U.S. Board of Directors (2011-2015)