Bio - Holly A. BlackledgeHolly has more than 30 years of leadership experience with a proven track record of accomplishments in the areas of fundraising, marketing, philanthropy, arts, management and event production.

She built, expanded and enhanced these activities at a number of organizations across the country. She began in Dallas, Texas at Southern Methodist University where she oversaw large event venues and honed her skills in operations management and event production. In Rhode Island at Trinity Repertory Company she added development and marketing to her portfolio. A move to the mid-Atlantic took Holly to Washington, DC with Arena Stage, the Hospital for Sick Children, the American Nurses Foundation followed by the Sarcoma Foundation for America. As a Maryland resident for over 15 years, she is pleased to be currently serving with Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland. In each of Holly’s position, she has brought together resource development, marketing, communications and production--a blend that she believes is vital to the success of any organization.

She has served in numerous leadership roles helping organizations transition to a new framework as well as to develop strategic planning and branding. She has successfully initiated and driven innovative concepts from seedling to fruition resulting in increased revenues, designed tools to advance fund raising efforts, and developed communications to expand visibility and ensure optimal results.

Holly holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a Major in Communication Arts/Minor in English from Southern Methodist University, and is an active member of several professional groups including the Association of Fundraising Professionals, BoardSource, and GuideStar. Throughout her career, Holly has been privileged to work with luminaries including Bob Hope, John Houseman, Merce Cunningham, Mstivlav Rostropovich, Gene Kelly, Greer Garson, Denyce Graves, Hal Holbrook, Phylicia Rashad, Rosie O’Donnell and Jason Mraz.

Determination, drive for results, accessibility, sense of humor and strong interpersonal and communication skills are just a few of the attributes that one would use to describe Holly. She is a strategist with an eye for detail, and is a true advocate of fostering an environment of creativity and collaboration to realize the full potential of staff and board relationships.

Holly sets the bar high for both herself and others, and has had the distinct honor of creating the best products and services with style, credibility and grace working side by side with and to leading talented people. Inspiring others to be creative through a supportive and collaborative environment is of utmost importance to Holly as she consistently produces positive results and outcomes.

Accomplishments Include:

As the Deputy Executive Director of Development, Marketing & Communications with Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland (MOWCM), Holly is honored to serve as a senior leader influencing the short and long-term strategic planning to ensure growth, productivity and sustainability to the organization that increases the opportunity for those who are homebound, disabled and/or chronically illness to remain in their homes and communities longer for greater financial stability and wellness. To date, the organization continues to experience positive growth in the resource development areas of grants, direct mail, events, social media, marketing efforts and communication vehicles.

As the Director of Development with the Sarcoma Foundation of America (SFA), Holly was pleased to have held a pivotal position in the leadership, vision, expansion and impact of SFA through revenue stream development, volunteer recruitment, brand and program awareness. Her vision and efforts have resulted in nearly 20% increase in the annual gala unrestricted funds and over 40% increase in fundraising event and solicitation revenue.

As the Director of the American Nurses Foundation (ANF), developed lifetime recognition and fundraising programs that led to a 90% increase in supporters and a 40% increase in contributions; identified the need to convert the Nursing Research Grants (NRG) Program from a manual process to an electronic, online process that resulted in a 65% reduction of expenses. She led the ANF Nurses Disaster Fund to raise vital funds for nurses personally affected by natural disasters giving them the resources to care for victims of these same disasters.

Led major donor lifetime giving recognition programs including the ANF Legacy Wall and the SFA Leadership Wall, increasing revenue by over 60% through the Honor a Nurse campaign, growing silent auction revenue by over 40%, raising employee giving funds by 20%, establishing the Nurses Disaster Fund to aid nurses affected by disaster.

At Arena Stage, served as event producer for numerous annual benefit staged readings by political and media representatives including Donna Shalala, Cokie Roberts, Ben Bradlee, Robert Reich, Barney Frank, Richard Army, Fred Grandy and Sam Donaldson.