2010 - 2011 SOS Board Members

Susan Block – Membership Committee Co-Chair

Susan Block is dedicated to enriching lives. As owner of The Designing Block, a home décor and designing business, she adds aesthetic enhancements to her clients’ homes. She also volunteers tirelessly with various nonprofit organizations, including the St. Louis Art Museum and Gilda’s Club in St. Louis. Block co-chaired the Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund (SOS) with Shelby Schagrin for its first three years (2006-2009). “SOS is all about community and our role in it,” she says. “Helping - meeting - learning - granting. It is an incredible feeling seeing first-hand how a grant from SOS can enrich the life and circumstances for many in our community.” 

Marie A. Casey – PR/Communications Committee Chair

Marie Casey is president and founder of Casey Communications, Inc., a St. Louis-based integrated marketing communications firm. She is an active member of numerous community organizations. She currently serves on the Clayton History Society and Mother of Good Counsel boards and is past president of the University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Fine Arts & Communication Leadership Council. She also serves on Midwest BankCentre’s Clayton Regional and WomenConnect boards. A St. Louis native, Casey attributes her passion for philanthropic causes and love of SOS to her childhood. “As the fourth of eight children, the value of cooperative giving was apparent to me at an early age. We can do better and make a bigger impact when giving together than we can by giving alone,” she says.

Leslie Corey - Impact Committee Chair

For more than 30 years, Leslie Corey enriched the healthcare industry during her tenure at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Her career spanned information systems and product development, and she most recently served as staff vice president of process improvement to oversee project implementations for individual markets. A native St. Louisan, Corey tutors high school students through the Firm Foundation Program at Restore St. Louis. Volunteering with Restore St. Louis also led Corey and her husband to work with a local refugee family from Liberia. She also volunteers with Rainbow Village. “I’m so impressed by SOS’ dedication to its mission to make a difference in St. Louis. I’ve learned so much about our local charitable organizations and the needs of our community,” she says. Corey has volunteered with SOS’ Impact and Evaluation Committee and was a team leader for SOS site visits during the most recent grant cycle.

Lynn Dole

A native St. Louisan, Lynn Dole is grateful for the opportunity SOS provides to have an impact on the communities she most cares about. For Dole, former SOS secretary, the opportunity to give back at the level of each participant’s choosing is empowering. “I am proud to be an active member of SOS and hope to encourage more of my friends and neighbors to join our group.” In addition to her work with SOS, Dole volunteers with the Jewish Food Pantry and College Bound, an academic and social resource for promising high school students from under-resourced backgrounds. 

Linda Finerty – Education Committee Chair

Linda Finerty is an active volunteer in the St. Louis community, serving numerous deserving causes through her involvement with non-profit boards that include Ready Readers, Aim High, The Missouri Botanical Gardens and the Saint Louis Art Museum. She has also served on the boards of The Magic House, Junior League of St. Louis and Moneta Group Foundation. Finerty believes firmly in the power of women’s gifts and was drawn to SOS because of the potential to have an impact on numerous deserving organizations which improve the greater St. Louis community.

Laura Friedman

Laura Friedman worked as a campaign consultant, issues advocate, congressional aide, state lobbyist and community volunteer for more than twenty years. She was the founder of the Charter Schools Information Center, which, like many of the agencies SOS supports, took an idea born around a kitchen table and expanded it into a successful nonprofit organization. She served as the group’s executive director for six years before stepping down in 2004.  Friedman understands the structure and operations of emergent nonprofit corporations, as well the special challenges they face, including growth, leadership and development.  She was attracted to the mission of SOS because she believes in the ability of small organizations to effect big change.

Kathy Frost – Secretary

Kathy Frost is committed to lifelong learning, teaching and making a difference in the community where she lives.  Her dedication to ongoing professional development recently earned her a Chancellor’s Certificate in electronic art and publishing from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Frost is on the membership committee for the Weidenbaum Center for Public Policy at Washington University.  She’s also a community volunteer for Girls On the Run, and she swims for and coaches the Clayton Shaw Park Masters Swim Team. Her dedication to SOS has led Frost to serve on the SOS Grant-Making Committee. 

Linda Grayson

Linda Grayson’s 35-year career with May Department Stores took her from California to New York and finally to St. Louis in 1993. Grayson held a variety of merchandising positions there, serving as senior vice president of product development for her final three years. She is very active with SOS, having served on the Grant-Making Committee and participating in site visits to prospective grantees. Her passion for improving the St. Louis community is also seen in her contributions to the Saint Louis Zoo, where she served as co-chair of the logistics committee for the 2009 Zoofari.

Laure Hullverson

Laure Hullverson is co-owner of Cortinovis & Hullverson, a St. Louis-based interior design firm. With more than 20 years experience in design, Hullverson is currently working toward a degree in horticulture to expand her knowledge and services to landscape design. She is very passionate about education and gardening. Hullverson has served on the boards of Salem Methodist Preschool, the MICDS Parents, Reed School and Gateway Greening. In 2011, she will take the helm as president of the Missouri Botanical Garden Members Board. She also is active in the Ladue Garden Club. Her involvement with SOS includes service on the Education Committee

Melissa Jones

Since 2006, Melissa Jones has served as the director of development for Jazz St. Louis. Her hard work and dedication have increased the group's contributed income by more than 60 percent. Prior to joining Jazz St. Louis, Jones worked in fundraising for social service organizations such as St. Louis City Court Appointed Special Advocates (now Voices for Children). She is active in the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and is a mentor for the group. She also supports Food Outreach, Komen Race for the Cure and Kiva. Her membership in SOS is a natural progression of her ongoing contributions to St. Louis through various donations and volunteer positions with several local charities.

Felice Joyce – Grantmaking Committee Chair

Felice Joyce believes that women can lead by example, positively impacting their community through a sense of shared mission and selfless collaboration. A skilled attorney, Joyce is a board member of the Congregation Shaare-Emeth and serves as secretary of St. Louis’ Interfaith Partnership/Faith Beyond Walls. “I am honored to work with our members to discover the varied and novel resources that exist to support our community members and to direct the funds of our members to those resources in the best way possible,” she says. “The people I meet through my SOS involvement impact my life in a dynamic way.  All said, I feel as though I am receiving, not giving.”

Parker McMillan – Chair, Website Committee

For Parker McMillan, SOS represents an opportunity to learn about and address the needs of the St. Louis community. “I have learned first-hand about the needs of our community and I have met some incredible people - dedicated and creative individuals who manage nonprofit organizations that do so much for our community.  It is amazing to actually see how much impact a grant can make for these organizations and the people each one serves.” A community activist for more than 15 years, McMillan currently volunteers with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and as a Master Gardener with the Green Center. In addition, she serves on the Missouri Botanical Garden Members Board and Shaw Nature Reserve Advisory Board.

Lisa Nouss

Lisa Nouss joined SOS in 2007 and has served on the group's Grant-Making and Education committees. Her leadership in SOS is an extension of her breadth of service to the St. Louis community. Lisa is currently active in numerous area organizations and boards, including the Saint Louis Zoo, Saint Louis Children's Hospital, Washington University Women's Society, The Women's Safe House and The Danforth Plant Science Center.

Elaine Queathem

Elaine Queathem has spent 25 years working to make a difference. Her work experience spans multi-billion dollar companies, owning her own company and working for entrepreneurs. She has been involved in telecommunications, financial services, real estate development and cutting edge technology. For Queathem, SOS’ greatest value is the opportunity to give back to the community. A life-long St. Louisan, Queathem says her philanthropic efforts have broadened her awareness of the tremendous needs existing within the St. Louis region, particularly in serving as Grant-Making Committee co-chair until 2010. “SOS is of extreme importance to me because we fund organizations that are grassroots in nature,” she says. “Funding from SOS is profoundly beneficial.” In addition to her work with SOS, Queathem has served on the board of the Human Rights Campaign and now serves as a mentor with Innovate Venture Mentoring Services and as board chair for Discovering Options. 

Shelby Schagrin – Founder and Immediate Past Co-Chair of the SOS Board

Shelby Schagrin, president of Q.E.D. Consulting Group, founded SOS in 2006 and co-chaired SOS with Susan Block for its first three years (2006-2009). Her goal was to bring together a group of women and pool their collective resources of time, talent and money to improve our community. “What I love about SOS is the amazing talent and commitment of members as well as the opportunity to learn about different organizations doing wonderful work in our community. In every possible way, SOS has exceeded my wildest expectations,” she says. 

Mary Schoolman Impact and Evaluation Committee Co-Chair

Mary Schoolman is the co-founder and co-executive director of Educational Multimedia, Inc., a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create preventive educational products, using cutting edge technology, to educate young people about serious health and social issues that directly impact their lives. Schoolman serves on the boards of Temple Emanuel and the St. Louis Center for Hearing and Speech. She also chairs the advisory board at the Center of Creative Arts (COCA). She describes her involvement in SOS as one of the most transformational and fulfilling volunteer opportunities she has experienced.

Vicki Sheehan – President of SOS

An attorney and entrepreneur, Vicki Sheehan is the founder and president of Sheehan Investment Services, a real estate investment, development and management firm that develops, owns and manages commercial property, including office properties in St. Louis and Mount Carmel Senior Living Communities in St. Charles, Mo.  A lifelong St. Louisan, Sheehan has served on several nonprofit and professional boards, including the YWCA, Junior League of St. Louis, Haven of Grace, Independence Center, Community School and Midwest BankCentre. Sheehan began her term as SOS president in 2009. “As women, we are all very busy, which is a good thing!  If we are lucky, we also have time available to become more involved in our community,” she says. “The SOS concept of equality and democracy among a group of women who put their minds together in an active and intelligent effort to support the best emerging charities is empowering. It is an honor to serve as SOS’s president, and an absolute pleasure to work together with SOS’s members and our grantee organizations. Both groups of people are inspiring and it is a privilege to know them and be associated with their work.”

Ann Sutter – Treasurer of the SOS Board

Ann Sutter is a 24-year veteran of the banking industry, currently working as the senior vice president of commercial lending at Midwest BankCentre and president of WomenConnect, a network for women business owners to forge enduring relationships, offering each other advice, counsel and decision-making support. In the same communal spirit, Sutter says partnering with the women of SOS offers her fulfillment by creating an avenue to reach out to others across the community in ways not easily accomplished by an individual. Sutter also volunteers with a variety of other community organizations, including Horizon Housing Foundation, where she serves as treasurer of the board, Puttin' for Downs Syndrome, the Finance Council for Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church and the development board of Sunnyhill, Inc.

Gwen Wesley – Membership Committee Co-Chair

Gwen Wesley is the former executive director of Great Things, Incorporated, a nonprofit organization working to build up economically-depressed areas of the metropolitan St. Louis area through community development. For Wesley, joining SOS is the perfect complement to her life’s mission. “SOS provides me the opportunity to work with other women philanthropists to meet a broad spectrum of needs in the St. Louis community,” she says. A long-time community volunteer, Wesley currently works with the Central West End-North Development Council and has served as a board member and volunteer for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of St. Louis County. A talented vocal artist, who sings with the In Unison Chorus of the St. Louis Symphony and the Legend Singers of St. Louis, Wesley has volunteered as a reading role model for the St. Louis Public Schools and with the IN ROADS program, preparing college students for corporate internships. She is currently a third-party reviewer for foster care cases in St. Louis County.