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Among the lessons Pamela Strobel has learned from her extensive involvement on nonprofit boards is not to be choosy about the organization. “You’d like to do something you like, but it doesn’t always happen that way,” Strobel said. “If someone you trust—or fate—gives you an opportunity to get involved with an organization, it may give you interesting experiences.”
Strobel, former executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Exelon Corporation, was keynote speaker at the University of Chicago Women’s Business Group’s fifth annual networking event, “Linking Professionals to Nonprofit Boards,” which drew alumnae and nonprofit organizations to the Mid-America Club in Chicago November 17.
Stroebel’s first boss as an attorney was former Illinois governor Richard Ogilvie, who taught her such service is valuable both for “doing good” and making business contacts, she said. He suggested she join the U.S.O. women’s board, an organization about which she knew little and had perhaps even less interest. Through a woman she met at the U.S.O., Strobel eventually was invited to serve Joffrey Ballet, about which she knew little.
Stroebel has since become chairman and enjoyed some of her most rewarding experiences in nonprofits, she said. In 2001, when a variety of forces conspired to sink Joffrey into a deep hole, Strobel was pegged to guide the cultural institution. “The first two years were incredibly daunting,” she said. “I would say to people, ‘We have no choice. We have to keep this incredibly beautiful company going.’”
Today, its turnaround is widely celebrated. “We get better every day financially; the subscriber base is increasing; and we’re getting the Joffrey in that upper echelon with the Lyric (Opera) and the [Chicago Symphony Orchestra],” Strobel said. “That was as hard of a job as my job at Exelon, which required more time. Somehow I made time to make sure that we were doing what we could for the Joffrey Ballet.”
—Phil Rockrohr