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Social Change Strategists
MEET THE COLLABORATORS
KAREN DAVIS
North Star: Fearlessly striving to be a "Troublemaker for Good," passionately linking arms with other changemakers to create a kinder and more equitable world for all of humankind.
Karen is a respected leader in the social impact field. For 20+ years, she led Hasbro, Inc.’s award-winning global philanthropic work. Serving as president of the Hasbro Children’s Fund, she oversaw grantmaking, product donations, cause marketing, and philanthropic partnerships. As SVP, she also oversaw a global purpose and data-driven employee engagement strategy including, resource groups, recognition, events, and employee volunteering with over 95% global participation. Under her leadership, Hasbro was certified as a Great Place to Work and annually named the Most Community-Minded Company by the Civic 50; Hasbro also achieved the #1 ranking for CSR and philanthropic efforts. She began her career in higher education working in alumni and development, crediting her love of fundraising to her early days of selling Girl Scout cookies!
Karen is an appointee to the RI Board of Education, serves on the RI Kids Count board, and on the advisory board of Trouble, a social impact brand empowering gender equity. She has been a lecturer at the University of Rhode Island and a facilitator for Georgetown Univeristy's New Strategies Program for Nonprofit Leaders . She is a former board chair of City Year RI and served on the SOS Children's Villages USA board, among many other civic board positions.
A passionate advocate for children, Karen has lobbied Congress and presented at the White House, the United Nations, and numerous conferences. She is a co-founder and past chair of the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals. In 2019, she was humbled to receive the Trailblazer Award from her peers, for her contributions to the corporate citizenship field.
Karen co-founded North Star Impact Group in 2019 and is thrilled to working with leading creative, strategic, passionate, and diverse collaborators to assist those who are equally passionate about making the world a better place. Under her leadership, North Star has worked with Fortune 500 companies and leading nonprofits to build and execute social impact strategies, engage nonprofit boards, and tackle the most challenging problems of our times.
MELINDA BOSTWICK
North Star: A belief in the power of "we" as the way forward on any journey.
Melinda is a nationally recognized influential leader in Corporate Social Responsibility with demonstrated success in building relationships, partnerships, and organizations. Expertise in domestic and international grantmaking and volunteer programming. Innovative and entrepreneurial approach to problem-solving. Able to operationalize the big picture. Known for being purpose-driven, inclusive, trustworthy, and results-oriented.
Her vast experience as a CSR professional, most recently as the Vice President, the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals (ACCP), a national membership association for companies with a commitment to corporate citizenship, and purpose-driven professionals.
Prior to joining ACCP, she was the Global Manager of Corporate Contributions and Community Relations for Visteon Corporation. In her role, Melinda was responsible for the company’s global contributions programs in more than 20 countries. She was also a member of the communications team responsible for Visteon’s spin-off from Ford Motor Company.
She serves on the Advisory Board of Directors for the Women Like Us Foundation and the Collette Foundation. She is the Founder of the Picture Me Project.
North Star: Connecting people from all walks of life, to ignite collective action through connections, and create a more just and equitable world.
More than 25 years of experience haven't just made Betty Ann a seasoned development professional; they've forged a leader with a remarkable track record in non-profit success. Across healthcare, education, and the arts (from Bradley Hospital to Tuff's University and the RI Philharmonic), she's tackled diverse challenges, gaining a depth of understanding that empowers her to craft multifaceted solutions.
From Boards of Directors to program staff and volunteers, Betty Ann has a proven ability to connect and motivate diverse stakeholders. Her expertise spans Board Development, Strategic Planning, and executing focused, comprehensive fundraising campaigns.
Prior stints in social work and sales gave Betty Ann a unique perspective, one that fuels her passion for creating positive change. It's this combination of experience, expertise, and empathy that makes her an invaluable asset to any organization seeking to thrive.
Betty Ann Kearney
JACKIE LIAO
North Star: Daring greatly: I am committed to being “in the arena” with everything I do and believe that sharing the journey of challenges and successes with others is what makes life meaningful.
Jackie is the co-founder of North Star Impact Group and is known as a strategic thinker with more than 25 years of experience developing and leading global social impact initiatives and teams. Her career began with financial services companies where she established community and employee programs. This work provided a solid foundation for Jackie for her career at Starbucks Coffee Company where she was able to create, sustain, and lead in social impact for more than 20 years.
Jackie played a pivotal role in building Starbucks’ community engagement strategy in the U.S. and around the world. She led the early development of the community service platform, which is now a fundamental part of the company’s ethos and culture. She was at the forefront of helping Starbucks re-imagine its contributions to communities, from overseeing disaster response to defining the U.S. and global giving approach and driving the evolution of the company’s Community Store model, which addresses needs in underserved communities. She served as director of Community Investments and Executive Director of the Starbucks Foundation and led Starbucks China’s social impact strategy for two years while based in Shanghai.
Active in the advancement of the philanthropic sector, Jackie served on the board of directors for the Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals and Asian American Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy. Jackie is also passionate about supporting and empowering vulnerable individuals and has volunteered for organizations serving youth in foster care and homeless families.
KORI REED
North Star: Communicate Clearly -- Enabling people to see the world and each other in new and creative way, so that we can connect and change the world for good.
Kori brings more than 25 years of experience working in large, complex, Fortune 500 organizations, including more than a decade leading the Conagra Brands Foundation and integrating the company’s core, signature cause. She directed and implemented the strategy that shifted grant making, increased product donations, and initiated both a company-wide month of service and a national cause-marketing campaign. Under her leadership, the integrated community-involvement strategy ranked best-in-class on the Civic 50 and Dow Jones Sustainability Index; employees, via a company survey, also voted it a top engagement driver.
Before her corporate social responsibility work, Kori earned progressive management duties in Corporate Communication at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Quaker Oats, PepsiCo, and Conagra Brands. She has directed large-scale change communication, earned a Gold Quill Award for a strategic redesign of a daily employee newsletter, and published thought leadership pieces on logic models and volunteerism. Adept in the midst of chaos, Kori also wrote a book on the wisdom and humor of work, life, and family balance.
A lifelong learner who thrives at engaging people in process improvement, Kori is certified in Change Management, Human Resources, DISC Communication Styles and DISC Teams and more. She has leveraged these skills to build an employer brand, create communication tools that promote inclusive cultures, as well as develop and facilitate people management skills training for frontline production supervisors.
Kori served as Chairperson for the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals, and today is on the Board of Trustees for the national, Lutheran Church of America Foundation.
KATHY SAULITIS
North Star: To use my passion and energy for good, helping people be more connected and having a positive impact on the lives of others. Give customers a reason to do business with you.
Kathy brings over 20 years of multi-faceted executive leadership experience and success in the non-profit sector.
Kathy served as Executive Director of Kids Care Clubs, which, under her leadership, grew exponentially from 500 to over 2000 chapters nationwide, to become one of the most acclaimed youth and family programs of Washington, DC based Points of Light Foundation. Merging with Atlanta-based HandsOn Network and NYC-based Children for Children, under Kathy’s guidance, generationOn was established. While at generationOn, Kathy was the driving force in creating, implementing and managing youth development and leadership programs, originating, building and retaining relationships with partners and major funders, managing the marketing and communications team and leading the organization through periods of substantial growth and transition.
Kathy launched her career in the information technology industry with IBM and Wang Laboratories, in national account sales and marketing.
Kathy’s talents are fueled by her passion for the development of caring and compassionate children to become lifelong champions of service. She is currently a board member of Design for Change USA, Senior Advisor to InnerView and works with the Hasbro Children’s Fund on their signature philanthropic programs.