Blessed Sacrament parent named a Woman to Watch on business magazine's 2015 list

Friday, Jul. 24, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — On May 8, “Utah Business” magazine announced its annual 30 Women to Watch, a list honoring businesswomen for their contributions to the community across industries. Joni Petrogeorge Clark, whose two children attend Blessed Sacrament School, was one of the women to receive the honor, which recognized her work as chief development officer for the Salt Lake City Community Action Program and Head Start. 

Clark’s department oversees numerous activities, such as community relations, communications, volunteers and fundraising for SLCAP, an organization devoted to improving the lives of low-income individuals through “holistic case management.” This includes Head Start and six additional distinct programs, from education and health care, to home weatherization and landlord mediation. 

Since starting in 2012, Clark has nearly doubled the amount of donations her department receives, to nearly $1 million; her goal now is $1.5 million, she said, crediting her success to forming solid relationships with specific donors.

“One of the reasons we’re successful with fundraising is because it’s important to ask for money for specific causes and to diversify the fundraising” by working with “foundations, corporations, municipal state funding, and of course, individuals,” Clark said. “I would love to see our individual donor base grow, and that’s one of my goals.” 

Clark, who originally thought of becoming a teacher, graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, and later earned a master’s degree in educational counseling from the University of Phoenix. However, “I was working at Morgan Stanley to put myself through college and really was enjoying what I was doing and was making more money than I would as a teacher,” she said, so she never entered the educational sector. 

She stayed with Morgan Stanley for 10 years. 

“I worked in the community reinvestment team, and I ran the grant program to give to non-profits. That’s how I got involved in the non-profit world, and absolutely fell in love with Head Start,” she said. 

Since 2006, Clark has volunteered for Head Start and has served on the organization’s boards and committees. 

“When the opportunity came to work [at Head Start], it was a perfect fit for me,” Clark said, adding that  it “was really hard to go from giving money away to asking for money,” but she wanted to see the money make an impact on people’s lives. 

She was able to do that with her new position fundraising for Head Start, which focuses on education and disadvantaged children. 

“Because it was still in the education realm, because at the time I was just working for fundraising for Head Start, I still got to use the skills that I had learned in school, but I also have the business skills from working at Morgan Stanley,” she said. 

Those nominated for the annual Women to Watch program  are evaluated on “professional accomplishments, community involvement, demonstrated leadership, and the individual’s impact on her company or industry,” said Heather Stewart, “Utah Business” editor.

This year the 30 recipients included Erni Hernandez Armstrong, president and founder of Freestyle Marketing Group; Gretchen Dietrich, executive director of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts; and Monica Whalen, president/CEO of Employers Council. 

After learning that she was among those to receive the award, Clark said she was “humbled and a little shocked. Although it’s hard work, I didn’t feel like I did anything above and beyond what everyone else is doing on a day-to-day basis.” 

In her spare time, Clark continues to help the community by serving as chairperson for Habitat for Humanity’s family selection committee, and also sitting on the board of Blessed Sacrament School. She and her husband give monetarily to other agencies and charities, but “all the rest of my spare time is spent being a mom” and being with family, she said. 

“I like to just be out in the community and give back,” Clark said. “I think that’s so important, and I try to teach that to my kids as well. Being a role model for my kids gives me the drive to do my best, but I am also so in love with the mission of what we do here at SLCAP and Head Start. That it lights a fire under me to give back.”