We are excited to share that Nora Ferrell has been promoted to vice president of communications at the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust.
Nora joined the Trust as its first communications director in 2012. She leverages more than 25 years of experience helping nonprofits and foundations use strategic communications to advance public interest issues. In her new role, Nora will propel the Trust’s work forward with the vision, storytelling skills, and drive that’s needed to raise awareness in today’s times.
“Nora’s exemplary leadership has been invaluable in advancing our mission and communicating our core values within philanthropy and to our broader community,” said Dr. Laura Gerald, president of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. “We are truly fortunate to have her as our VP of Communications as she leads our charge to change the philanthropic narrative, to change systems that leave far too many behind.”
Throughout her tenure at the Trust, Nora has played a leadership role in developing messaging and stories central to the Trust’s work, overseeing the Trust’s social and online presence, managing media outreach, and building grantees’ communications capacity. Her narrative efforts have helped make the Trust’s investments in system-level policy change understandable to all kinds of audiences.
“I am so proud to be a part of the Trust team and to work together for equitable access to quality health care, education, and economic opportunity,” said Nora.”I step into my new role in this challenging time when effective communications are more important than ever. I will continue to work to raise awareness to change policies so that everyone thrives.”
For more than a decade, Nora has:
- Overseen the communication and launch of multiple initiatives and major events, including the unveiling of 10-year initiatives Great Expectations and Healthy Places NC, the statewide Innovations in Rural Health Award, and a recent national funder convening in Colorado focused on centering community power and advancing equity in place-based grantmaking.
- Presented about Trust work and strategic communications at multiple statewide and national conferences including the Communications Network, Grantmakers in Health, Philanthropy Southeast, and the North Carolina Network for Grantmakers. Nora also serves as the point person for Press Forward North Carolina, which the Trust co-chairs, working to promote a healthy, local news system.
- Worked closely with Trust President Dr. Laura Gerald on numerous public appearances. Nora directed the Trust’s 75th-anniversary events, where the foundation reckoned with the Trust’s history built on tobacco profits and a legacy of wealth originally earned from the sale and labor of enslaved Black people. Dr. Gerald announced how the Trust has divested from tobacco and committed to a socially responsible investment strategy, racial equity, and systems change. Through Nora’s strategic leadership, this reckoning prompted media attention locally and nationally, and generated conversations in philanthropic circles across the U.S.
Prior to joining the Trust, Nora served as the vice president of the Community Media Workshop, a Chicago-area nonprofit; the communications director and editor at Minnesota 2020, a public policy think tank; and as a senior account executive for Valerie Denney Communications (VDC), a public interest public relations firm, where she directed media work around police torture and wrongful convictions in Chicago.
Nora currently serves on the Board of Directors of Leadership Winston-Salem and the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from Duke University. Nora lives in Winston-Salem where she is a deeply engaged member of her community and a proud mother of two children, who she raises in partnership with her husband.