Leadership Profiles
Board of Directors
Larry Fox, President
Larry Fox has been a Partner for just over a year. He has served twice on the Capacity Building Fund Investment Team and Chairs the Finance Resource team. He is currently the Lead Partner on our investment in Listen To Kids. He is also deeply invested in leadership development activity at Friends of the Children and does routine executive coaching with New Avenues for Youth. Prior to joining SVPP, Larry was a Finance Controller at Intel for 25 years where, in addition to his strategic and operational work, he developed the Finance organization’s training approach in the areas of Business Partnering and Advanced Leadership Development. He lives in Beaverton with his wife Judy, a certified genealogist. They have two sons, one an itinerant outdoor educator in Bend and the other a professional baseball player. Prior to Intel, Larry was a logger, Forest Service trail crew foreman, and long standing graduate student of political science. He spends his time outside SVPP reading, gardening, hiking, and ballroom dancing. He joined SVPP out of the conviction that well managed and strategic non-profit activity at the community level is the best answer to the rapidly accumulating blind spots around poverty, violence, neglect, and abuse. His best experience has been in seeing coaching progress with the Friends of Children management team as they learn to lead a complex organization more effectively.
Kirt Nilsson, Treasurer
Kirt joined the ranks of SVP Portland in August of 2008. Since that time he has served as the Lead Partner for LEP High, and became Treasurer and a member of the Board of Directors this June. His passions are in improving access to education and encouraging sustainable business development. He is the Senior Vice President of Operations at Insight Schools Inc, a Portland company which operates a national network of online high schools. Kirt received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from George Washington University and both his Masters in Economics and Masters of Business Administration from Boston University. Kirt is a native of New Hampshire, but has lived in Portland with his wife Lisa for over a decade. His favorite things include spending time with his daughters at every opportunity and enjoying the town on walks with his yellow lab.
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William Porter, Secretary
Bill Porter joined the SVPP Board of Directors in June 2009 after three years of service as the Lead Partner for SVPP’s Child Care Improvement Project investment. Bill is a Partner at Education First Consulting and has a broad background in public affairs, politics and philanthropy, with expertise in education policy and issue advocacy. Between 2001 and 2008, Bill was executive director of Grantmakers for Education—a national network of 250 foundations, companies and donors—and previously worked on education efforts in Washington, DC, Washington state and Colorado. He and his wife Kieren have two children, Evan and Rose.
Dina Alexander, Director
Dina became a Partner in 2006, served on the Investment Team in 2008 and 2009, and is in her second term as a member of the SVPP Board of Directors. Dina is a Partner at Ball Janik LLP and Chair of the firm’s Real Estate Practice. She has practiced real estate law since 1996 and handles a wide variety of complex transactions. Her professional work is shaping Portland’s landscape; Dina has played critical roles in the development of South Waterfront and in the renovation of PGE Park for Major League Soccer. When not at work, Dina enjoys training for triathlons with Team in Training and hiking and scuba diving with her husband, Jim. She continues to be inspired by the venture philanthropy model and believes there is fresh positive energy within SVPP.
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Ellie Eliopulos, Director
Ellie entered SVP in June of 2007. She was attracted to SVP because of its philosophy to do more than give. SVP would provide an avenue to get “hands on” with a variety of non-profits in Portland. Ellie is from Portland and attended Oregon State University where she received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. She later accomplished her MBA at the University of Portland in 2006. Currently, Ellie is a Marketing Manager at the Reynolds and Reynolds Company. In her free time, Ellie enjoys running in Forest Park, skiing and spending time with her husband, Dave and son, Nicholas.
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Kerry McClenahan, Director
Kerry became a partner in April, 2010 and quickly engaged with the communications committee, helping SVPP to uncover its core brand identity elements and outline a plan for marketing the organization to its potential Partners and Investees. Kerry also served on SVPP’s BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) committee, where she became a passionate advocate for ensuring every child in our community arrives at kindergarten ready to succeed. In her day job, Kerry runs a technology business-to-business marketing firm that she co-founded in 1993. Her particular areas of expertise include branding, positioning and messaging, social media strategy, lead nurturing and global advertising program development. In her free time, Kerry enjoys cooking and discussing books and politics with her daughter, Marika; and reading and playing basketball and football with her son, Kellen.
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Drew Smith, Director
Drew and his wife Barbara Resnick have been SVPP Partners since 2002. He is a member of SVPP’s Community Impact Committee and serves as an advisor to our CASH Oregon investment. He has also served on several Investment Committees. Drew was formerly with Intel Capital overseeing venture capital investments and most recently oversaw Intel’s investments in mobile computing technologies. Prior to joining Intel he was a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company, as well as other semiconductor firms. He has an MBA from Cornell and a degree in Applied Mathematics from Brown University. Drew and his family have lived in Portland for 11 years. Barbara is a dermatologist in private practice in northwest Portland. They have two school aged children, Ian and Lauren. They enjoy biking, hiking, skiing and other outdoor pursuits.
