Diana R. Sieger is the president of the Grand Rapids Commmunity Foundation. For more information, visit Diana's President's pages or view her biography.

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President's Point of View: "Cushy" - "retiring" - hardly!

June 23, 2008

I realize that there may be a perception that I have a cushy job and that the pace of what I do may be seen as not terribly frenetic and may border on leisurely. I try, through this blog, to provide some insight as to the background of our decisions and how this Foundation operates. The more transparent we can be then greater understanding I hope will emerge.

This brings me to last Thursday evening when Juan Olivarez was honored and “roasted” on the occasion of his leaving the Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) as president. As noted in a previous blog entry, Juan is moving into the president’s role at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation as Jack Hopkins retires. I was honored and pleased to be asked to be one of the roasters. I have known Juan for more than 25 years and he is an exceptional leader and will continue to provide this tremendous leadership in Kalamazoo and throughout the state!

In my presentation I laughingly referenced the fact that if Juan thought he was going to a cushy job running a community foundation, that he had another thing coming! Community politics, knotty issues, keeping tabs of legislative and regulatory changes affecting philanthropy, raising awareness along with financial support, and a long list of other items fill the days of a President of a community foundation - far from a relaxing job but it is an exciting and frankly the best position to hold in any community!

There were lots of laughs as many of the presenters enlightened the crowd with wonderfully humorous stories and references to Juan’s very successful career at the GRCC. He is a beloved leader in Grand Rapids and will be missed here!

As the presentations were winding down, a friend asked me why I thought Juan was moving to the position in Kalamazoo. I was a little stunned and just said it was a good move and something Juan will likely enjoy. My sense was that this was a “fishing expedition”. The next thing this person said was that it seems like a job that was like retirement. I glowered at this comment and was really offended. To add to this, this person has known me for years. Knowing I was not happy, there was much stammering and a slew of words followed which essentially noted that Juan was moving to a less demanding job. My comment is that the work is just different work.

First of all, this is no job for folks thinking they are going to coast to get ready for retirement. I was 35 years old back in 1987 when I started at this Foundation and it was hardly a time for relaxing! It still isn’t a time for relaxing. I simply love what I do and I’m passionate about it and the Foundation! I am honored to be in this position and at the GRCF, all the staff make the most of every moment we have to strive for the betterment of our community! It is exciting and challenging work!

Here’s a blog entry from over a year ago that tried to dispel the myth of the “simple life” of a foundation executive “giving away all that money”. I wish Juan the best of everything and look forward to working with him as I have in the past. As he moves to his new position in Kalamazoo, I know he will relish the demands of the position and will be rewarded for the great job he will do!