The Greater Milwaukee Foundation Board of Directors welcomed two new members this summer while bidding farewell to a pair whose longtime service has left an indelible mark on the organization.

Jacqueline Ward and Naryan Leazer began three-year terms on July 1. 

Ward is a national speaker, trainer and community development strategist with a wealth of experience in neighborhood revitalization. She founded and owns Venus Consulting LLC, a business and economic development firm that identifies public and private resources for entrepreneurs, start-ups, micro-businesses and nonprofit organizations. Additionally, she is a founding partner with the Commercial Corridors Consulting Consortium and co-founder of Superior Care Training Center, a nonprofit providing leadership and personal development workshops, classes and training.

Unifying Ward’s varied interests is a personal mission to connect unrepresented people to business resources and professional development techniques to increase their quadruple bottom line – social, ecological, financial and purpose.

Leazer is a financial adviser with IronwoodDrive Financial Group. In addition to guiding families toward financial security through investment and insurance decisions, he works with businesses servicing retirement plans and employee benefits. Leazer has been driven in his career to help hundreds of students in their quest to afford and complete college as well as assisting people preparing for retirement.

Prior to entering the financial services industry, Leazer spent 17 years working for a Fortune 500 company, served as a college recruiter, college adviser, pre-college director and led a nonprofit organization. He is a lifelong Milwaukeean and a U.S. Army Reserve veteran.

Retiring from Board service on June 30 were Wendy Reed Bosworth and David Kundert.

At 13 years, Bosworth was the longest serving member of the Board. Through the years, she contributed extensively to the Foundation’s Community Impact Committee, Investment Committee, Development Committee, Administration and Audit Committee and was the inaugural chair of the Impact Investing Committee. She also chaired the strategic planning committee that began the process of centering racial equity and inclusion throughout the Foundation’s work.

Kundert led the Foundation as Board Chair from 2018-2020 during a critical time in the Foundation’s growth and the beginning of one of the most challenging times in the community’s recent history. His volunteer connection with the Foundation began in 2004 as a member of the Investment Committee, a group he went on to chair for many years after joining the Board. He, too, served on the Community Impact Committee.

Both Bosworth and Kundert are continuing to stay engaged with the Foundation through committee and campaign volunteerism.

“If ever there were two leaders whose intellect and insight matched their heart and soul, they are Dave and Wendy,” said Ellen Gilligan, Foundation president and CEO. “They offered a steady hand that kept the Foundation fiscally strong, honoring our lasting commitment to donors while also challenging us to innovate and find new ways for philanthropy to serve the community’s interests. We are better for their service, and now we have the great pleasure of learning with and from Naryan and Jacqueline as we write the next chapter of the Foundation’s narrative. I am grateful for these relationships – enduring and emerging.”