For more than 18 years, I've had the privilege of serving as president of the Heart of Illinois United Way. When I originally accepted this opportunity and moved my family to central Illinois, I had no idea how rewarding it would be, both professionally and personally, to serve in this position. Over the years, with an exceptional team of volunteers and staff, we have collectively transformed our organization from a fundraiser to a community problem solver—identifying and addressing the most critical health and human care needs in our community.
With my retirement on August 31st, the Heart of Illinois United Way is pleased to announce Jennifer Zammuto will join our organization on August 1st as our next president. Our central Illinois community will benefit tremendously from her leadership. With continued support from business, labor and civic leaders, I am confident Jennifer will take our United Way to the next level of success and build upon our past accomplishments.
Jennifer Zammuto comes to the Heart of Illinois United Way with more than 24 years of experience in philanthropy, communications, strategic planning, consulting, team building and project management. She joins the United Way team after ten years at the Caterpillar Foundation, where she implemented new approaches to philanthropy and advocacy while growing its thought leadership position through processes and procedures focused on supporting and mitigating risk. While at Caterpillar, Jennifer built a diverse, award-winning and high-performing team. Her efforts, both local and worldwide, encourage community-wide collaboration across nonprofit, public, government and corporate sectors.
Prior to joining the Caterpillar Foundation, her years working at Converse Marketing and L.R. Nelson Corporation built her communications, international business, public relations, brand and marketing expertise. She has been actively involved with the Heart of Illinois United Way, including serving as the Solution Council’s vice chair of the Children and Youth Allocation Committee, as well as a member of the Board of Directors, Campaign Cabinet and Heart of Illinois Homeless Continuum of Care Governing Board. Jennifer is currently on the board of LISC Peoria, has served on the board for the Center for Prevention of Abuse, and is a former member of Downtown Rotary.
She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in French – business and translation from Northern Illinois University in 1994 and has lived and worked abroad, in addition to studying at the Université d’Avignon in France. She completed Bradley University’s EMBA program in 2011.
The position of Heart of Illinois United Way president is to provide innovation, collaboration, leadership and vision achieved through the efforts of a diverse team of high-performing leaders, volunteers and staff. As the largest non-governmental funder of health and human care programs in central Illinois, the Heart of Illinois United Way brings together people from business, labor, government, health and human services to address our community's needs, helping one in three people in central Illinois each year.
I cannot begin to express my sincere appreciation for all the dedicated and compassionate volunteers, wise and committed board members, caring and knowledgeable community partners, and generous and thoughtful donors. Our team is proud of our past accomplishments, and with your continued engagement, generosity and support, we are excited about the future success of our United Way. iBi
