People/Passion/Purpose: Lessons from a lifetime in nonprofit leadership

Leading a nonprofit organization offers many rewards and challenges. Our speaker on June 15 has lived those rewards and challenges. 

Susan Hay Patrick spent 45 years in nonprofit leadership, 20 of them as chief executive officer of United Way of Missoula County. She plans to retire from that position in December. 

Previously, Susan served as deputy director of Feeding America, one of the nation’s ten largest nonprofits; development/communications director for a national nonprofit in Washington, DC; executive director of a national foundation; and operated her own independent consulting business, specializing in nonprofits.

Susan chaired or served on the board of several local, state and national nonprofit organizations, including the Poverello Center, the Glacier National Park Conservancy, and the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce. She is a third-generation Rotarian and a past president of the Rotary Club of Missoula Sunrise.

Susan won several local, state and national awards for service, including the U.S. State Department’s Professional Fellows Alumni Impact Award, the Missoula Downtown Association’s Downtowner of the Year, and a Salute to Women award from YWCA of Missoula. In 2026, the Missoula Midtown Association named her "Advocate of the Decade." 

During her 25 years in community volunteerism in Missoula, Susan chaired the 2015 citizen's committee that worked successfully to pass a $157 million bond -- the largest in Montana history -- to support facilities and technology improvements at 17 Missoula County public schools.

Our thanks to John Drew for hosting this week’s speaker.