After more than 25 years in investor relations, NIRI national board member Mona Zeehandelaar has announced on her LinkedIn page that her career is moving in a new direction.
Zeehandelaar, familiar to Philadelphia area NIRI members, was recently named assistant vice president of philanthropy in the Office of Institutional Advancement at Drexel University in Philadelphia. In her new role, the long-time Philadelphia area resident will be responsible for managing all aspects of president John Fry’s presidential councils and a portfolio of potential donors.
Her professional career has spanned IR roles at Towers Perrin, Radian, Safeguard Scientifics and CIGNA, as well as finance and marketing roles early on. A graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, she has also picked up a CPA qualification and served a stint at Peat Marwick.
Zeehandelaar says her broad IR experience positions her well for the new role. ‘The relationship building, and collaborative, leadership and communication skills should serve me well,’ she tells IR magazine in an email exchange.
Zeehandelaar left Towers Perrin in October 2009, when her husband of 32 years was diagnosed with cancer. ‘My husband passed away at the end of March, and it took several months before I was ready to figure out what the next step of my journey would be,’ she says.
‘I began with a fresh sheet of paper and decided that I wanted to work for a large non-profit – which was managed like a business – that had a mission I could be passionate about.
‘I began networking and asking colleagues about my strengths, and it became clear very quickly that my IR skills and experience would serve me well in a fundraising role in a large non-profit. It so happened that I had connections to the executives heading development at Drexel University and at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, so I pursued opportunities at both.’
Seeing as she will no longer be working in IR, Zeehandelaar has resigned from the national NIRI board. ‘The NIRI board is in the process of determining its course of action related to the remainder of Mona’s term through to the end of 2011, and expect to make an announcement in the near future,’ comments Matt Brusch, vice president of communications at NIRI.
