Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Claudia Peña Porretti, J.D., CFRE has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer effective October 1, 2018. “After an extensive search, we look forward to welcoming Claudia as the CEO of Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay. Claudia is bringing new energy, new opportunities, and new growth to the organization and community with her extensive almost 20 years of experience and passion working with non-profits. Together we will continue to serve girls with the best leadership program designed specifically for them – to build our girls of courage, confidence, and character.” said Katya Nieburg-Wheeler, GSCB Board Chair.
Claudia Peña Porretti’s response to being appointed as the CEO, “In these times of heightened awareness for women’s movements, it is of the utmost importance and never more relevant than today to support girl-led initiatives that build our future female leaders. Reflecting on my experience as a Girl Scout, I am convinced that the guidance and encouragement I received from my troop leader gave me the courage and confidence to take many risks throughout my life to become the person I am today. I feel that my entire life and career experiences leading up to this point were in preparation for this amazing opportunity. Therefore, I am excited and honored to be working alongside the Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay troop leaders, volunteers, board, and staff to continue the critical and significant work of building girls of courage, confidence and character.”
Since 2015, Claudia has worked for the Latin American Community Center (LACC) in Wilmington in various leadership roles and most recently as Executive Vice President. In 2016, she successfully secured U.S. Department of Justice Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) recognition for the LACC, with a primary purpose of providing affordable legal immigration services for low-income Hispanic immigrants through the Family Immigration Services program.
Prior to the LACC, Claudia was the Executive Director of La Esperanza Community Center in Georgetown, Delaware, providing strategic and programmatic direction for the agency. While at La Esperanza, Claudia launched the Victims Immigration Services program, offering wraparound holistic services for Latina victims of domestic violence, and created the PASA (Prevent Alcohol and Substance Abuse) program, an evidence-based substance abuse prevention program for Hispanic youth. A strong advocate for children, she advocated for the Unaccompanied Children who migrated in 2014 from Mexico and Central America to Sussex County, supported Latina girls through a collaboration with Girls Inc. of Delaware, implemented various youth programs, and promoted awareness of English Learners’ educational issues.
Claudia has almost 20 years of nonprofit management experience, including administration, fundraising, governance, finance, operations, strategic planning and event planning. Prior to La Esperanza, she was the Director of Development for People’s Place in Milford and served as the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana.
Claudia earned her J.D. from Indiana University McKinney School of Law, her bachelor’s in business administration from Indiana Institute of Technology, and in 2012, she attained the designation of Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE).
One of Delaware Today’s 2013 Women in Business and a 2015 recipient of Girls Inc.’s Strong, Smart and Bold Award, Claudia serves as a Trustee for the University of Delaware, a Trustee for Woodlawn Trustees, and Vice Chair for Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement (DANA).