Midwest Food Bank

Midwest Food Bank is currently the largest food bank in the United States. In 2024, $526 million of food and resources were distributed to nonprofit food pantries, free of charge. It continues to be the nations leader in rescuing and distributing free food and resources, across the nation and beyond. 

As the Executive Director for the state of Texas, my responsibilities include providing strategic direction to position the organization for success in executing and achieving its mission. This involves overseeing strategic planning, revenue strategy, branding, human resource management, volunteer management, logistics, budgeting, program design, and developing strategic partnerships.

My primary focus is to ensure that Midwest Food Bank continues to make a meaningful difference in addressing food insecurity.

Executive Director - Texas

Issachar Fund 

In my role as an interim C-suite leader (President & COO), as well as an independent consultant, I had the privilege of serving multinational nonprofits with budgets of $16 million and operations in thirty-five countries. I was responsible for managing enterprise CRM systems with 55,000+ records, as well as donor files with over 10,000+ records. My duties encompassed a wide range of tasks, such as providing strategic direction, leading operational audits, designing and implementing systems change, board development, and developing relationships with major donors.

Independent Consultant - Fractional Services

RevJen Group

As the Chief Operating Officer of a startup for-profit, my responsibilities encompassed overseeing all aspects of the organization's bottom line, including financial sustainability and effective operations aligned with the mission. I was accountable for defining and implementing processes and systems to facilitate product development, such as sales procedures, infrastructure, Learning Management Systems, and Business Intelligence platforms that serviced 120+ national nonprofits and 200+ nonprofit executives.

Chief Operations Officer (COO)

Global Advance

Global Advance, a non-profit organization that supports indigenous leaders in addressing socio-economic challenges like clean water and economic development. As part of my role, I managed all aspects of the organization's operations including long-term planning, acquisitions, financial management, investment portfolios, payroll, legal affairs, third-party contracting, grant management, donor files, and facilities. During my tenure, we restructured the operational infrastructure and partner network from the ground up, which helped us increase the program's capacity to recruit national talent. As a result, we were able to provide leadership training in sixty-five countries and support for over 470,000 global leaders.

Chief of Operations & Finance (COO & CFO)

Westgate Chapel

I had the opportunity to work with Westgate Chapel, a faith-based community known for its exceptional outreach programs. My role involved overseeing the implementation of various initiatives across seventeen countries, covering a diverse range of programs such as orphan care, clean water delivery, leadership training curriculum, and economic development. My responsibilities included designing and implementing strategic plans for each program, focusing on the specific needs of the communities they served, which spanned four continents. To ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of each program, I worked closely with local leaders, government officials, and other stakeholders. This often required navigating complex cultural and political landscapes while managing budgets and resources to maximize impact.

Global Missions Lead (SXP of Global Missions)

Mission Increase Foundation

As a strategic leader at a national philanthropic foundation, I played a crucial role in successfully opening a new market in Washington State by providing strategic guidance on all bottom-line factors. In addition, I was responsible for defining the strategic direction and infrastructure for the High-Net-Worth Philanthropic community, which aimed to provide six and seven-figure capacity-building grants.

One of my key responsibilities was overseeing all regional training and grant management services. Through my efforts, I successfully expanded our portfolio from zero to 112 organizations and provided consulting services to over 300 non-profit executive leaders. My leadership and guidance helped establish a comprehensive training program, which enabled all non-profit organizations to manage their grants effectively and achieve their goals.

Foundation Officer - Giving & Training Officer (GTO)

Alpha Relief

During this time, I gained valuable international experience providing humanitarian aid within the 10/40 window (restrictive countries or regions). As a strategic lead, I was responsible for overseeing all bottom-line factors that contributed to the success of our organization. This included developing and implementing logistics strategies for the efficient and timely delivery of humanitarian aid to those in need and spearheading special humanitarian projects that addressed specific issues faced by the communities we served.

One of my most significant achievements was leading a project to implement an organization-wide capacity-building infrastructure that aimed to improve our operational efficiency and effectiveness. This involved developing training programs and resources that helped our staff build their skills and knowledge and implementing new technologies and systems to streamline our processes.

As a result of this project, we increased our revenue by 20%, which enabled us to expand our reach and provide even more support to those who needed it most. Overall, my experience in this role has taught me the importance of strategic planning, effective leadership, and a commitment to positively impacting the world.

Director Of Operations (DOO)

Richland Assembly of God

Richland Assembly of God is a faith-based community in South Eastern Washington with a global humanitarian reach.

As the strategic global lead, I ensured that the organization continued to thrive. I oversaw fund and program development, managed budgets, and helped to increase short-term mission participation in eleven countries. To improve the efficiency and transparency of the organization, I implemented formal processes and procedures, which also helped to ensure that institutional memory was maintained for department operations.

Another significant responsibility that I had was to integrate a young adult leadership intensive program into the global and domestic mission program footprint. This involved instructional design, project management, and ensuring the program succeeded while meeting the organization's goals.

Global Missions Lead (XP of Global Missions)

Healthy (whole) leaders. Healthy (whole) organizations. Those are two outcomes I strive to instill everywhere I go. 

I am a visionary executive with 23 years of proven track record of leading business transformation, operational excellence, and scalable growth across diverse industries. I am a systems leader who aligns business strategy with execution, fosters high-performing teams, and leverages data-driven decision-making to drive efficiency, and sustainable success.

Expert in building agile organizations, optimizing complex operations, and driving cross-functional collaboration to achieve long-term competitive advantage. Adept at leading change, enhancing operational efficiencies, and mentoring leadership teams to deliver measurable impact both nationally and globally.

I care deeply about the nonprofit ecosystems and seek to use this platform to inform, encourage, equip and ensure a healthy and sustainable programs, leadership, revenue models and operational excellence for generations to come.

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.css-1jgreyo{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39,43,72,1) 0%, rgba(33,47,183,1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Gareth Keown, MSML's Linkedin Analytics

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Gareth Keown, MSML's Linkedin Analytics