Carol Thompson Cole

Position: President and chief executive, Venture Philanthropy Partners, a District organization that helps build strong, high-performing nonprofit institutions that serve young people in low-income families.

Career Highlights: Managing partner, Venture Philanthropy Partners; senior adviser, Venture Philanthropy Partners; special adviser on the District of Columbia, Executive Office of the President in the Clinton administration; and vice president, government and environmental affairs, RJR Nabisco. Previously, Cole worked for the District government in various capacities including as city administrator and deputy mayor for operations; state historic preservation officer; deputy mayor for economic development; chief of staff, Executive Office of the Mayor; director, Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs; acting director, Department of Licenses, Investigations and Inspections; special assistant to director, Department of Housing and Community Development; staff director, Task Force on Housing and Community Development, mayor's transition committee; and senior assistant for congressional liaison, Department of Housing and Urban Development. Before that, she was research associate, Urban Institute; and legislative staff assistant, Committee on the District of Columbia, House of Representatives.

Age: 56

Education: BA, government, Smith College; MPA, urban public policy, Wagner School of Public Service, New York University; Certificate, senior executive in state and local government program, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Personal: Lives in the District and has a commuter marriage with husband Curtis Cole Jr., who lives in Norfolk.

How did you get to where you are?

I was born and raised in Washington. From the time I was young, I was always fascinated with living in the nation's capital, looking at government and how it served people. So at an early age, I always knew that in some way I would have a career in government service.

When I graduated from high school, I was interested in national government. But in college I became interested in state and local government because that's where programs and services directly impact people's lives. After college I came back to Washington to work for local government. But, there were a lot of freezes and not a lot of openings for people starting out. So, I wrote my congressman and got a job at the House District Committee. Through my job, I was able to really see what local government was like and work on federal legislation that would impact the District. It took me a little while, but eventually I was able to work in the city government and on District issues from many different jobs, and, ultimately, from the White House.

When I went to the District government I started as a special assistant to the director of the Department of Housing and Community Development. When I was in that position I was always given assignments that were more focused on accomplishing goals. From that position, I became known within government as someone who worked hard and was a good problem-solver. I went to the Department of Licenses, Investigations and Inspections, which was an agency that had a lot of issues related to the structure of the organization and their delivery of services in an effective way. It was through my work in that department that I started to get experience in turning around organizations. The acting director position was my biggest break. I had been a staff person and in support positions working with leaders. So, that opportunity really allowed me to see that I had good management skills and that I was a good motivator of people. The agency had 57 employees, which prepared me to work on a project such as the One Stop Business and Permit Center. I was able to create a model for excellence, which was an operational strategy to facilitate the delivery of more competent and courteous services to District residents.

From the Department of Licenses, Investigations and Inspections to the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, I was asked to reorganize city functions. When I went to the White House, I worked for the revitalization program for the District. All those experiences have prepared me to do the work that I do at VPP, working with strong leaders to transform their organizations to serve more children and have a greater impact on the lives of those children through the programs they provide. I've been going from a very small organization to a citywide function as city administrator and then working private-public partnerships and coming to helping strong nonprofit leaders to transform high-performing nonprofit organizations.

While in government, I came to understand that most of the issues that we have were problems that could not be solved by government alone. It was necessary to have businesses, government and individuals come together to solve problems. I wanted an opportunity to go into a business to see how it worked and how you could forge public-private partnerships. I had an opportunity to do that. One of the things I had decided when I left the White House was that I would go to Norfolk where my husband lives. He was doing work with churches and community-based organizations. They asked me if I would do economic development, community organizing and nonprofit board development work for them. I worked with those groups through his company. After doing that for a couple of years, I really wanted to go back home and continue that work there. And I knew I could do it so much better in D.C.

I really loved growing up in this city. It was a very nurturing place for children and youth. Based on the problems that society has today, kids don't have the same support and opportunities that I had and that's what motivates me doing the work that I do at VPP. I always wanted to make Washington a better community. I came in as special adviser to really look at what VPP was doing. I got involved in working with some of the leaders and organizations and after a few years, I was asked to be managing partner, now I'm CEO.

-- Judith Mbuya