HOMETOWN
I was born in Freeport, IL and grew up in Machesney Park, IL, a suburb of the big town of Rockford, 90 miles northwest of Chicago.

FAVORITE HOBBY
Camping! I love to camp, hike, kayak, and fish with my husband. I can’t wait for my grandson to be old enough for us to teach him to fish and paddle. My husband and I are also avid VW lovers and we often camp in our VW Bus!

BEFORE NPACT
I spent 20 years in manufacturing as an International Sales Engineer and Inside Sales/Customer Service Representative. I love learning about other cultures. My experience in quality management and continuous improvement took me to the Community Foundation of Northern IL where I spent 5 years as Director of Systems before joining the NPact team in 2019 as a Senior Consultant.

FAVORITE NON-PROFIT
Girl Scouts of the USA has always been a favorite nonprofit of mine. Their empowerment of girls, encouraging their independence and strength has always resonated. And of course, I always support their cookie sales!

BIO
Prior to joining NPact, Denise spent 30 years in customer service and inside sales positions in various industries, including manufacturing and the nonprofit sector. During her tenure in manufacturing, she became certified as an internal quality auditor for ISO 9001 and participated in Lean/Six Sigma implementations. Her background in quality management, customer service, continuous improvement facilitation, and business systems implementations led her to become the Director of Systems for the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois.

At the Foundation she was responsible for implementing a quality management system, leading continuous improvement projects, and overseeing Network Management functions, including database administration for the organization’s RE, FE, and GE/Spectrum software. She was responsible for developing and supporting internal and external reporting across the organization from finance to development and grantmaking. She participated in developing and refining grant and scholarship applications as well as their review and award processes. Created and improved processes to track and ensure adherence to donor intent within the overall grantmaking process. She has experience implementing and working in Blackbaud’s Financial Edge and Raiser’s Edge, NPact’s GrantEdge and Spectrum, and Infor’s ERP LN, and Microsoft’s Office365, including SharePoint.

Since joining NPact in 2019, Denise has implemented Raiser’s Edge NXT and Financial Edge NXT, converting data from source systems such as Microsoft Great Plains, Sage FR100, Sage/Intaact, PeopleSoft, Salesforce, Senior Systems, Quickbooks, and many more. She has supported organizations in developing integrations with Financial Edge through SKYAPI and continues to assist organizations in improving their processes and generating efficiencies in their work by leveraging the power of their software. Her life’s motto is “One click less.”

Denise is professionally certified by Blackbaud in both the Raiser’s Edge and Financial Edge software. She is a certified ISO 9001 Lead Auditor and has implemented quality, environmental, and health and safety management systems in office environments. She is currently studying for her Agile SCRUM Master Certification.