New Sector Alliance

09/03/2026

Leadership is stronger when we don’t do it alone. 💙

We’ve loved getting to know and spotlight the incredible leaders who make up the 2025–2026 National Leadership Longevity Fellowship cohort.

From education and poverty alleviation to public policy, data, community engagement, and organizational leadership, these Fellows bring different experiences, perspectives, and approaches to the work, but they share a common commitment: creating meaningful change and making the social sector stronger for the long haul.

The Leadership Longevity Fellowship is about more than developing individual leaders. It’s about creating a space where experienced social sector leaders can pause, reflect, learn from one another, invest in their own growth, and build the capacity to keep leading with purpose.

Because leadership longevity isn’t about doing more or pushing harder. It’s about finding the practices, perspectives, and community that help leaders stay in the work and thrive in it.

We’re so proud to have this group of changemakers in our community and excited to see where their leadership takes them next. 🌱

Here’s to the leaders doing the work, supporting one another, and helping build a stronger social sector for the future. 🚀⚡✨

Learn more about the Leadership Longevity Fellowship: https://www.newsector.org/leadership-longevity

Explore New Sector Alliance's Leadership Longevity Fellowship, a program designed to support mission-driven professionals with well-being strategies, leadership development, and connections for sustained impact. Learn more and apply today!

09/02/2026

What does it look like to make equity part of how an organization and a community leads?

Meet Lauren Reynolds, a 2025–2026 Leadership Longevity Fellow and Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer for the City of Bloomington.

Lauren’s work is centered on embedding equity, inclusion, and belonging into the policies, practices, and culture that shape how communities operate.

Her leadership experience spans public and private sectors, including advancing systemic equity initiatives at the Minnesota Department of Human Services and leading external partnerships within UnitedHealth Group’s Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office.

Today, Lauren brings that experience to local government, helping create systems where inclusion isn’t simply an initiative or a statement, it’s part of how decisions are made and how people experience their community.

That kind of leadership takes both vision and staying power. And it’s exactly why spaces like the Leadership Longevity Fellowship matter.

The Fellowship gives experienced social sector leaders the opportunity to step back from the day-to-day, reflect on their leadership, learn alongside peers, and invest in the practices that help them sustain their impact over time.

Because building more equitable systems is long-term work. And long-term work needs leaders who are equipped and supported for the journey.

We’re proud to have Lauren as part of this year’s cohort and grateful for the perspective, experience, and commitment she brings to our Fellowship community. 💙 🌿

Learn more about the Leadership Longevity Fellowship: https://www.newsector.org/leadership-longevity

09/01/2026

What if student success begins with something as fundamental as belonging? 🫶

Meet Dr. Tony Ryals, a 2025–2026 Leadership Longevity Fellow and Assistant Dean for Student Success Strategies at Roanoke College.

For more than a decade, Tony has worked at the intersection of educational equity, student success, and academic development, with a particular focus on helping first-generation, systemically marginalized, and neurodivergent students persist and thrive.

Previously, at Sweet Briar College, Tony founded the Office of Student Success and Belonging, leading campus-wide efforts to strengthen retention through equity-minded strategies that recognize an important truth: students are more likely to thrive when they feel that they belong.

His leadership combines research, strategy, and action—but at its heart is a commitment to creating educational environments where every student has the opportunity to see themselves succeeding.

That commitment reflects the spirit of the Leadership Longevity Fellowship: supporting social sector leaders as they pause, reflect, invest in their leadership, and build the capacity to sustain their impact for the long term.

Because creating lasting change in education takes more than programs and policies. It takes leaders who keep asking: Who is being served? Who is being left out? And what can we do differently?

We’re proud to spotlight Tony and the work he is doing to help make higher education more equitable, inclusive, and welcoming for all. 🎓✨🌿

Learn more about the New Sector Leadership Longevity Fellowship: https://www.newsector.org/leadership-longevity

08/30/2026

Leadership can mean changing the systems that shape whether people have the opportunity to thrive. 💪

Meet Theresa Lau, a 2025–2026 Leadership Longevity Fellow and Senior Federal Policy Counsel on Eradicating Poverty at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Theresa’s work focuses on advancing equity and ensuring people have access to the resources they need to live with dignity, from quality housing and nutritious food to healthcare, good jobs, and strong schools.

Her career has taken her from the National Women's Law Center and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice to serving as senior civil rights counsel for the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee. Today, she brings that experience to federal policy work focused on addressing poverty and creating more equitable systems.

For Theresa, leadership is rooted in using policy as a tool for possibility, helping change the structures that can either create barriers or open doors for individuals and communities.

That kind of work requires persistence, perspective, and the ability to stay grounded in purpose over the long haul. It’s also at the heart of the Leadership Longevity Fellowship: creating space for social sector leaders to reflect on how they lead, invest in their growth, and build the capacity to sustain meaningful change.

Because systems change takes time. And it takes leaders committed to staying in the work.

We’re proud to spotlight Theresa and the important role she is playing in advancing a more equitable future. ⚖️✨

Learn more about the New Sector Leadership Longevity Fellowship: https://www.newsector.org/leadership-longevity

08/28/2026

What does it take to lead through complexity, build stronger organizations, and help other leaders thrive?

Meet Shana Peete, JD, a 2025–2026 Leadership Longevity Fellow, CEO, attorney, and leadership development expert with more than two decades of experience across law, nonprofit strategy, and corporate operations.

As a leader at the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, Shana has helped expand its reach to equip more than 10,000 nonprofit, civic, and corporate leaders and organizations each year with tools grounded in the IDEAL framework: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access, and Liberation.

But Shana's leadership is about more than scale. It's about helping people and organizations navigate complexity with clarity, compassion, and purpose,whether she's coaching a board, facilitating difficult conversations, delivering a keynote, or helping a team move from conflict to collaboration.

Her approach is grounded in cultural competence, systems thinking, and a belief that strong leadership creates space for others to lead, too.

That makes her a powerful example of what the Leadership Longevity Fellowship is designed to support: leaders who are not only driving change today, but intentionally building the skills, relationships, and resilience needed to sustain that change for the long term.

Because leadership isn't just about knowing how to navigate today's challenges. It's about becoming the kind of leader who can help others navigate whatever comes next.

We’re proud to spotlight Shana and the many ways she is strengthening the people and organizations at the heart of the social sector. ✨🚀🌱

Learn more about the New Sector Leadership Longevity Fellowship: https://www.newsector.org/leadership-longevity

08/26/2026

Strong leadership is often about what happens behind the scenes: building the systems, relationships, and conditions that help others thrive. 🚀

Meet Sangyeon Lee, a 2025–2026 Leadership Longevity Fellow whose career sits at the intersection of data, operations, education, and social impact.

As Director of Operations and Data for the Center for Learner Pathways at Digital Promise, Sangyeon provides strategic and operational leadership while working across teams to advance learner agency, well-being, and economic security.

Her more than decade-long career has taken her through nonprofit organizations, higher education, research institutes, and intergovernmental organizations. She has also supported educators working in crisis and forced-displacement contexts...work that underscores the importance of strong systems when communities are facing complex challenges.

Sangyeon brings a research-based, data-driven approach to leadership, but her work is ultimately about people: creating the conditions for learners, educators, and communities to have greater opportunity and agency.

That perspective aligns closely with the Leadership Longevity Fellowship, which gives social sector leaders the space to reflect, grow, and strengthen the practices that allow them to sustain their impact over the long term.

Because leadership isn't only about stepping into the spotlight. Sometimes, it's about building what makes meaningful change possible.

We’re proud to spotlight Sangyeon and the thoughtful, systems-focused leadership she brings to the social sector. 🌱📊⚡

Learn more about the NewSectorLeadership Longevity Fellowship: https://www.newsector.org/leadership-longevity

08/24/2026

What if data could do more than measure impact? What if it could help us see people, understand their experiences, and build better systems around them?

Meet Salma Yehia, a 2025–2026 Leadership Longevity Fellow and Senior Research Analyst at The Possible Zone in Boston, where she brings together rigorous data methods and a community-centered perspective.

Salma works with engineers, program teams, educators, boards, and funders to turn complex data into insights that can strengthen programs and advance educational equity and economic opportunity. Each year, her mixed-methods research helps capture the voices and experiences of more than 500 youth entrepreneurs.

But Salma’s leadership extends well beyond the dashboard. As co-founder of M.Y. Mosaic Events and a member of the Boston Dabke Troupe, she uses cultural expression, community engagement, and storytelling to build connections, advance social justice, and support humanitarian causes.

It’s this ability to weave data, storytelling, and culture together that makes Salma’s leadership so powerful and so uniquely suited to the work of the Leadership Longevity Fellowship.

The Fellowship gives social sector leaders space to step back, reflect, and strengthen the leadership practices that will sustain their impact for the long term.

Because lasting change needs more than good data. It needs leaders who can turn what they learn into connection, action, and possibility.

We’re proud to spotlight Salma and the many ways she is helping communities turn information into insight and insight into impact. 📊💃🏽✨🌿

Learn more about the New Sector Leadership Longevity Fellowship: https://www.newsector.org/leadership-longevity

08/22/2026

Leadership can look like many things. Sometimes, it looks like making sure every student has the opportunity to show up, succeed, and be seen.

Meet Rudy Arellano, a 2025–2026 Leadership Longevity Fellow and Program Analyst at the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education.

Rudy works alongside community-based organizations to address one of the challenges facing students today: chronic absenteeism. Through grant administration and program monitoring for D.C.’s multi-million-dollar Show Up Stand Out initiative, he helps support efforts that address the root causes of absenteeism, foster community partnerships, and support the whole child.

His leadership journey has taken him from the classroom as an English and Special Education teacher in Dallas and Los Angeles to policy, advocacy, and systems-level work focused on educational equity.

For Rudy, leadership means working toward a future where every student, regardless of background, ability, or zip code, has access to a quality, rigorous, and culturally responsive education.

That commitment to long-term change is at the heart of the Leadership Longevity Fellowship: supporting social sector leaders as they reflect, grow, and build the capacity to sustain their impact over time.

Because lasting change doesn't happen overnight. It happens when leaders keep showing up for the work and for the people they serve.

We’re proud to spotlight Rudy and the important work he is doing to help students across D.C. thrive. 📚✨🌿

Learn more about the New Sector Leadership Longevity Fellowship: https://www.newsector.org/leadership-longevity

08/20/2026

Leadership is about more than solving problems. It’s about building systems that help communities solve them together.

Meet Liane Moody, a 2025–2026 Leadership Longevity Fellow and Executive Director of the Short Term Emergency Aid Committee, where she brings together, educates, and mobilizes her community to support neighbors experiencing poverty.

With more than a decade of nonprofit experience in Boston and California,and an engineering background from Princeton paired with a master’s in policy and management from Harvard, Liane brings a unique combination of analytical thinking, systems-building, and deep commitment to people.

Her approach to leadership is rooted in a simple but powerful idea: communities are stronger when we build systems of care that help people support one another.

That makes Liane a natural fit for the Leadership Longevity Fellowship, which creates space for social sector leaders to step back from the day-to-day, invest in their own growth, and strengthen the leadership practices that sustain their impact for the long haul.

Because solving today’s challenges matters. Building the capacity to keep solving tomorrow’s challenges matters, too.

We’re proud to spotlight Liane and the many ways she is helping create communities where people care for and show up for one another. 💙🌿

Learn more about the Leadership Longevity Fellowship: https://www.newsector.org/leadership-longevity

08/19/2026

Leadership isn’t just about the impact you make today. It’s about building the capacity to keep making an impact tomorrow.

Meet Juliette Francis, a 2025–2026 Leadership Longevity Fellow and a leader who has spent more than two decades helping mission-driven organizations—and the people within them—thrive.

As Vice President of Mission Advancement at the Science Museum of Minnesota, Juliette brings together philanthropy, marketing and communications, visitor experience, project leadership, and board engagement to deepen the museum’s impact and connection with its communities.

Her leadership is rooted in something she calls servant leadership: creating equitable, inclusive systems, building sustainable teams, and aligning purpose with action.

That philosophy is at the heart of Leadership Longevity Fellowship: creating space for social sector leaders to pause, reflect, grow, and strengthen the practices that allow them to lead with purpose for the long term.

Because sustainable change requires sustainable leaders.

We’re proud to spotlight Juliette and the many ways she is helping raise the tide for the greater good. 🌊

Learn more about the Leadership Longevity Fellowship: https://www.newsector.org/leadership-longevity