Linda Czipo, Moderator
Linda Czipo is president and CEO of the Center for Non-Profits, New Jersey’s statewide umbrella association for the charitable community. The Center strengthens charities individually and collectively through advocacy, public education, management and compliance assistance, and membership services.
Linda’s nonprofit sector experience spans over 30 years, and includes expertise in public policy, analysis, research, compliance, and management. She gives frequent presentations and interviews regarding New Jersey’s nonprofit sector and current and emerging trends facing the nonprofit community: she has successfully mobilized broad-based coalitions of non-profits around numerous advocacy issues.
Linda serves on the public policy committee of the National Council of Nonprofits, the New Jersey Commission on National and Community Service, and the Leadership and Policy Committee of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers. She holds a degree in political science from Rutgers University.
Center for Non-Profits web and social media:
Web – njnonprofits.org
Facebook – @njnonprofits
Twitter – @NJ_Nonprofits
LinkedIn – company/center-for-nonprofits
Instagram – @njnonprofits
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Panelists
Jeffrey M. Vega
In 2015, Jeffrey Vega joined the Princeton Area Community Foundation as its President & CEO. Serving the greater Mercer County region, the Princeton Area Community Foundation promotes philanthropy to advance the well-being of communities forever. Prior to joining the Community Foundation, Mr. Vega served as President of New Brunswick Tomorrow, an organization established to revitalize the City of New Brunswick. Mr. Vega serves on the Boards of the Center for Non-Profits, LeadNJ, Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers. Mr. Vega has been honored and recognized for his work by various nonprofit and faith-based organizations and government agencies. A resident of Monroe Township, NJ, he is married to Angela Klizos and they have a young son, Nico.
Maria Vizcarrondo
Maria Vizcarrondo is the President and CEO of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers since March, 2019. Prior to this, she was Director of Community Development and External Relations at Cabrini University in Philadelphia, PA. She was inaugural Executive Director of the school’s Nerney Leadership Institute, launched in 2013.
Ms. Vizcarrondo brings more than 25 years of experience transforming service organizations and has served her communities as both an appointed and elected official. In 2006, when he was first elected Mayor of Newark, Cory Booker tapped Ms. Vizcarrondo to head Newark’s Health and Human Service Department, the largest of its kind in New Jersey. One of her first actions in that role was to develop a Children’s Bill of Rights to benchmark improvements in the lives of children and families throughout the city. Her accomplishments included securing state funding to establish Family Success Centers to provide neighborhood-based services, and launching a major citywide campaign to raise the immunization rates of Newark’s children.
Prior to her mayoral appointment, Ms. Vizcarrondo served as the first woman president and CEO of United Way of Essex and West Hudson. Her pioneer work in re-engineering the organization’s mission into community building was documented in the United Way Transformation Diaries. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Ms. Vizcarrondo led the New Jersey United Way in a statewide coordination of services for affected families and managed the distribution of corporate funding for these efforts.
She was elected Essex County Surrogate in 1993 and served four years of a five-year term before leaving to join United Way. Ms. Vizcarrondo has been listed among the “100 Most Influential People in New Jersey” and was a founding member of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.
Katherine N. Nunnally
Katherine N. Nunnally, MPA from Trenton, NJ, gained a passion for community service and education from her parents and the many programs and organizations she participated in around the city. After graduating from Trenton Central High School, Class of 1994, Katherine attended Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ, where she double majored in African American Studies and Elementary Education. During her college career, her passion for community empowerment began to form and she began working in the public and nonprofit sectors in the Greater Newark Community. Katherine coordinated the AmeriCorps and America Reads Programs at Seton Hall, as well as participated in the College Leadership NJ Program. Additionally, she founded the African Student Leadership Coalition and the Educational Opportunity Program Student Organization, Seton Hall chapter. Katherine served on several other organizational boards and was awarded organizational leader of the year from the Educational Opportunity Fund Statewide Organization 1997 and 1998. She also started a women’s support group called The Sister Circle and mentored youth through the campus ministry DOVE. Her work of empowering girls and young women as well as spreading the love of Jesus Christ continues to be a staple in Katherine’s life.
After graduating in 1999 with a BS in Education, Katherine became a teacher at Sojourner Truth Middle School in East Orange, NJ. Returning to Seton Hall University in 2003, Katherine served as an adjunct professor and Coordinator for Counseling Services. Maintaining her commitment to the community, Katherine provided college tutors to Newark Public Schools and community organizations and worked in the Youth Ministry. She served as Christian Education Director, Praise Dance Director, and Minister at her various church homes.
Katherine founded God’s Promise in 2004 and received her Masters’ Degree from Seton Hall University, 2006 in Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management and Governance. God’s Promise served both the Newark (Dhkiyah Kabibi) and Trenton (My Sister’s and I) communities and focused on youth and girls’ empowerment. Katherine has served on several boards for community organizations and mentored many youths. In 2006, Katherine was awarded Woman of The Year by Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Gamma Omicron Zeta Chapter. She is a published author (Brick City Blues) and consultant for nonprofit organizations and their governing boards. While working in the nonprofit sector, Katherine served in what she calls a “Work of Heart” as a classroom teacher and then administrator in both the public and charter school systems.
In 2016, Katherine returned to her hometown of Trenton to serve as the Executive Director/CEO of the Smith Family Foundation and #IAMTHECHANGE. The Smith Family Foundation’s mission is to empower the community, cultivate leaders and transform lives by providing funding and leadership development to Trenton based organizations. With her personal mantra, “Success is the ONLY option!”, Katherine is dedicated to the foundation’s Core Values of Education, Cultivation, Transformation, and Urban Ministry. She is committed to diligently working to empower leaders.
Katherine resides in New Jersey with her husband Talib and children Makeda, Zaria, Ezra, and Sakura.
Peg Forrestel
Peg Forrestel is the Director, Community Impact, for Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. Peg oversees Janssen’s charitable giving program, centered on advancing the health and well-being of patients and the communities surrounding Janssen’s corporate campuses in Titusville, NJ and Horsham, PA. This giving program involves cash, pharmaceutical product, and in-kind donations, as well as engaging employees in efforts to address patient and community needs through personal giving and volunteerism. Peg is a member of the North America Pharmaceuticals Communication and Public Affairs Leadership Team.
Peg has been with Johnson & Johnson for twenty-four years, during which time she has worked at their corporate office and several operating companies based in New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Prior to joining Community Impact, Peg worked in finance in various capacities within Johnson & Johnson. Peg began her career working in public accounting for Coopers & Lybrand.
Peg serves on the Board of Directors for Greater Trenton, the Advisory Board of the Johnson & Johnson Patient Assistance Foundation, and the Audit Committee of the Princeton Area Community Foundation.
