Make Your Career (& Life) Make a Difference

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005 - 2:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Effective Philanthropy/Volunteerism

Heidi Brooks, Associate Director of Strategic Alliances, Bridgestar

Heidi Brooks is the Associate Director of Strategic Alliances at Bridgestar, an initiative of the Bridgespan Group dedicated to attracting, connecting, and developing leadership for the nonprofit sector. She joined Bridgestar in June 2004 after working as a consultant with the Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit organization that also includes a consulting firm and a knowledge-sharing initiative.

Before business school Ms. Brooks spent a number of years in the field of international development. She managed an AIDS education program in Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa, for Africare, and conducted financial and performance evaluations in Africa and Central America as an internal auditor for Catholic Relief Services. She then developed programs for the Mekong Project Development Facility, a $30 million IFC-managed project dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs in the Mekong Region (Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia), and did independent strategy consulting to the Asian Development Bank and other NGOs.

Ms. Brooks holds a BA in Government and International Studies from the University of South Carolina, an MA in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is fluent in French and Spanish, and conversant in Vietnamese, and loves playing soccer, scuba diving, training for marathons, and singing Vietnamese folk songs.