Jennifer brings over 12 years of experience in the volunteer engagement sector, specializing in program development, outreach, training, and consulting with organizations to design and optimize effective, sustainable volunteer programs. Her own journey as a volunteer began in her pre-teen years, an early experience that shaped her values and inspired a lifelong commitment to supporting others in giving back. Over the years, she has partnered with a wide range of nonprofits to enhance volunteer engagement, improve retention, and strengthen connections between volunteers and the communities they serve.

As Certified Volunteer Administrator, Jennifer is passionate about connecting volunteer engagement professionals, advancing sector standards, and promoting inclusive practices that empower both volunteers and the organizations they support. She is committed to fostering learning, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing across the sector to help organizations thrive and create rewarding volunteer experiences.

Contact Jennifer at jdewolff@cvacert.org

Vanessa has worked in the volunteering and community sector for 15+ years. During this time she has been involved in promoting volunteering and the outstanding work of volunteer-involving organisations that effectively engage volunteers to achieve their missions and advance their causes.

Vanessa was previously involved in marketing strategy and tactics for promoting the numerous services and programs that Volunteering Queensland provides. She managed a small team of volunteers to run major events and campaigns, oversee branding and communications, handle media enquiries, and update websites and social media. Events Vanessa worked on included National Volunteer Week, the Queensland Volunteering Awards, and the Queensland State Volunteering Conference.

Vanessa currently supports the not-for-profit sector as a consultant helping with marketing and graphic design.

Nicole is a dynamic leader in volunteer, intern and community engagement with over two decades of experience in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, including the performing arts, social services, sports, media and entertainment. As a Certified Volunteer Administrator (CVA) and recognized thought leader, Nicole has been at the forefront of creating scalable, impactful and capacity building volunteer and internship programs that emphasize recruitment, engagement, retention, and mentorship. She has developed recognition programs that have strengthened organizational cultures and volunteer experiences. Her professional background brings a creative and innovative approach to her leadership in the nonprofit and volunteer sectors.

With a B.S. in Broadcast/Design Art and certification in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from the University of South Florida, she brings a creative and inclusive lens to volunteer engagement, ensuring diverse voices are represented and compelling stories are shared to inspire meaningful community involvement.

Deeply passionate about supporting leaders of volunteers and volunteer engagement professionals, Nicole is committed to empowering them with the tools, recognition, and community they need to thrive. This led to her publishing the 101 Affirmations for Volunteer Engagement Administrators and sparked the creation of the From the Suggestion Box podcast that she hosts. She is an international motivational speaker and her work has been featured in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Human Capital Leadership Magazine, and The Volunteer Management Report.

Nicole’s dedication to community impact extends to her volunteerism and board memberships. She has served as a board member for AL!VE, Ageless Chic Magazine, and the Arts & Business Council of Miami. She is also a mentor for the Tessitura Network’s Career Accelerator program, where she supports young arts professionals in developing their leadership skills and voices within the arts industry.

Nicole has been recognized for her contributions with several prestigious honors, including the 2022 United Latina Amplifying Voices Award, the 2020 AL!VE Emerging Leader Impact Award, 2019 WLRN’s Women Who Inspire You and being named one of Legacy Miami’s Most Prominent and Influential Black Women in Business in 2019.

A proud Afro-Latina and American of Panamanian descent, she loves music, salsa dancing and a good suspense novel.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolersmithnet/

Ruth Leonard is Chair of the UK’s Association of Volunteer Managers who has held Head of Volunteering posts at UK wide charities such as Macmillan Cancer Support and Samaritans. She is a frequent public speaker, appearing on podcasts and chairing conferences and is the co-author of a recently published book on Volunteer Involvement: an Introduction to Theory and Practice.

For Ruth, volunteer management is about empowering and enabling people to bring creativity and ingenuity to a solution to make a difference in their community. Her career roles have been to consider strategically where volunteering can add value to developing solutions and to ensure a supportive infrastructure so people who want to give their time can have a quality experience. Having been involved in volunteer management for over two decades she has significant experience at providing leadership on involving and engaging people and is committed to ensuring others are able to develop these skills.

Association of Volunteer Managers is a membership organisation for people who involve volunteers. Their vision is Connecting leaders of volunteering to make change happen together and their mission is to inspire and empower leaders of volunteering, to be a recognised community of leaders of volunteers, sharing expertise and support and to build this through the provision of engagement, resources and advocacy.

https://volunteermanagers.org.uk/

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ruthbleonard

Faiza Venzant CVA is the Executive Director of the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration and is also a Principal Investigator with the Assessing Diversity and Equity in Volunteer Inclusion project.

With 25 years of leadership experience in volunteer engagement, she continues this work with a goal of centering community amongst the profession, improving equity and access to volunteerism and increasing diversity amongst professional leaders of volunteers. In 2018, Faiza published her first children’s book entitled, My Mamma Wants to Eat Me Up! As a mother of two young boys, she has not actually eaten any of her children.

Learn more about the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration at www.cvacert.org

With over 15 years of experience leading volunteers in local, provincial and National organizations, Erin is excited to be coming up on 5 years in her role as the Director of Alumni and Volunteer Engagement at Trails Youth Initiatives. Each day she is energized and challenged by the opportunity to develop and implement best practices in volunteer engagement while partnering for impact and getting to grow relationships with dedicated and passionate alumni and community volunteers. Erin earned her CVA designation in October 2024 and is also honoured and grateful to have been recognized within the profession for her contributions to the field of Volunteer Engagement, including being the recipient of an Impact Award and the Linda Buchanan Award.

Erin’s favourite thing about being a leader of volunteers is getting to contribute to relationship building and community partnerships. Her love for connecting with people and advancing her learning has driven her professional pursuits, as well as her volunteer work. Erin has been involved with local and provincial volunteer associations and is thrilled to currently be contributing to the board of VMPC (Volunteer Management Professionals of Canada) and the editorial team of Engage. What she loves about both of these roles is that they help her to further contribute to the growth of our profession and offer the opportunity to connect with peers in a variety of ways.

When not working or volunteering, Erin loves to travel and explore new places, while learning new things and eating delicious food! She finds it best when she gets to share these experiences with her husband and daughter or close family and friends. Erin is an avid sports fan; dog-mom; and usually has more than one book on the go. While her favourite season is winter, her favourite activity is swimming in a lake, and she is always up for an impromptu dance party.