About – Sara Meno
Sara Meno serves as Noble’s Chief Development Officer. She has spent the entirety of her career working in nonprofits as a fundraiser and is drawn to serve organizations that actively work to further educational equity. Sara originally joined Noble in 2010 and spent a decade advancing in her leadership of Noble’s Development Team during a time of immense organizational growth and change. She stepped away in 2020 to build the fundraising capacity of Global Glimpse as their first VP of Fundraising & Development, and then spent two years as the Managing Director of Development leading the fundraising team at City Year Chicago. She holds a bachelors degree from Marquette University and a Masters of Nonprofit Management from DePaul University.
Sara is a proud Wisconsinite, and also a long-time resident of Chicago where her family has made their home in Albany Park. She loves to travel and explore our nation’s National Parks with her family.
Why do you work at Noble?
I work at Noble because I want to do my part to ensure all students, regardless of color, zip code, or economic background, have access to and can benefit from the same high-quality education that I received. My talents are best leveraged, not in our classrooms, but in building relationships that create champions of our work and bring more resources to our students, teachers and families.
Who was your favorite teacher while growing up?
My favorite teacher was my high school marketing teacher, Keri (nee Schermerhorn) Holter. She made learning fun and exposed me to the value of understanding and integrating key marketing and business principles into all aspects of my life. Through her encouragement, I launched myself into DECA (an organization that exposes and prepares emerging leaders for careers in business) and ultimately grew in my leadership, ability to present myself and my ideas effectively to others, and developed life-long soft skills that I still use today. I am grateful for the potential she saw and developed in me and so many other students.
Favorite thing about Noble or favorite Noble moment?
I am most proud of the role I played in establishing and growing our Pritzker Access Scholarship (PAS) for Noble’s undocumented students. The PAS delivered on a promise that Noble makes to all our students and families, that Noble would help make a college education a reality for all students who choose it. It has been a true privilege to watch our PAS scholars and undocumented students shine, achieve amazing collegiate outcomes, and realize their dreams.
What do you/your department do at Noble?
My department is responsible for securing additional resources and funding to continue and enhance Noble’s schools and our many programs that support our alumni on their continued path to success well after they graduate from Noble. We also work with our Board of Directors to support their leadership and engagement.
Start at Noble?
Originally joined in 2020, returned in 2022.
Hometown:
Education:
Marquette University ( B.A. in Psychology)
DePaul University (M.A. in Nonprofit Management)
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