Page 42 - BusinessWest October 27, 2021

Women of IMPACT
WOMEN
BusinessWest
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Women of IMPACT IMPACT A PROGRAM OF BUSINESSWEST
WOMEN WOMENof Impact
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Karin Jeffers
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of Impact A PROGRAM OF BUSINESSWEST
President and CEO,
Clinical & Support
She’s Growing
Her Agency and
Cultivating the Next
Crop of Behavioral-
Health Leaders
arin Jeffers knew she was taking a big risk. It was 2005, and she had the opportunity
to take the reins at Clinical & Support
Options (CSO) — a nonprofit community
behavioral-health agency that had lost
At the time, Jeffers was the regional director
for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC), a job she greatly enjoyed. However, though secure in that role, she decided to take the risk and accept the top job at CSO. Reactions from her colleagues ranged from the polite — “we’re surprised to see you do that” — to the blunt: “what are you thinking?”
But during the interview process, Jeffers met the CSO staff and found people who were passionate and capable, and who cared about providing quality service.
“We’re either going to fall on our face, or we’re going to make something of this.”
“At that moment, it became clear the problem was leadership and not the staff or the agency mission,” she said. So she accepted the position with a realistic attitude. “We’re either going to fall on our face, or we’re going to make something of this.”
Fortunately for people all over Western Mass., she did make something of it. When Jeffers first joined CSO, it was a $4 million agency with 90 employees. Today, she manages a $45 million budget with more than 600 employees who provide services to 19,000 families and individuals.
This impressive growth resulted in large part from Jeffers adopting the philosophy that a nonprofit organization is a business and should be run like one.
“Nonprofit is a tax status, not a business model,” she said. “As important as our employees and clients are to us, profit and loss statements matter, too.”
To achieve the right balance, she believes in open
communication. “Our manager meetings include
behavioral-health people as well as fiscal staff,”
Women of IMPACT IMPACT A PROGRAM OF BUSINESSWEST
Women of
Women of IMPACT A PROGRAM OF BUSINESSWEST
By Mark Morris
Options
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IMPACT
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several large contracts and had just parted ways with its third CEO in five years, the last one under investigation for Medicaid fraud in Vermont.
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OCTOBER 27, 2021
Women of Women of IMPACT
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Photo by Leah Martin Photography
she explained. “When there is something we would
like to do but can’t, we are transparent about it so
everyone understands how we reached our decision.”