Milwaukee-based nonprofit
Penfield Children's Center has named
Kara Coleman as its new chief financial officer and vice president of administration.
Coleman, a Milwaukee native, has several years of financial management experience in the higher education and nonprofit sectors, including at Cardinal Stritch University and the ACLU of Wisconsin.
In her new role as CFO, Kara will oversee all financial, IT, facilities operations and strategies for Penfield, which serves children with and without disabilities in Milwaukee through early education, health and wellness services and family programs. She succeeds
Ron Jacobs, who served as CFO since August 2021.
"We are thrilled to welcome Kara Coleman as our new CFO," said Polina Makievsky, who
was named chief executive officer of Penfield in January. "Her expertise in financial management and her commitment to our mission made her the ideal leader to guide our financial strategy as we continue to expand our reach and impact in the community."
Coleman most recently served as financial controller for the ACLU of Wisconsin in 2018. Prior to that, she was senior financial analyst for Cardinal Stritch from 2015 to 2018. The private Catholic university in Glendale recently shut down due to declining enrollment among other factors. Coleman also briefly worked as an accountant for Mount Mary University in Milwaukee.
For the past five years, Coleman has also worked on the teaching side of higher education, first as an accounting instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College and then as assistant professor of business administration and MBA director at Mount Mary.
After graduating with a bachelor's in nonprofit management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Coleman went on to earn an MBA from the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University in 2014. She is currently working toward a Ph.D. in urban education at UW-Milwaukee.
In addition, Coleman serves on Gov. Tony Evers’ Council for Financial Literacy, volunteers as a financial mentor for SecureFutures and facilitates financial workshops through the Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corp.
