Pearl Street Collective Recruits Chief Development Officer for Treehouse
December 18, 2023 – Boston-based executive search firm Pearl Street Collective has assisted in the recruitment of Laura Perez Hamilton as chief development officer of Treehouse, a Seattle, WA-based non-profit focused on the specific educational needs of youth in foster care. Ms. Perez Hamilton brings over 20 years of advancement and development leadership including major gift fundraising experience to her new role. She most recently served as the chief advancement officer for Northwest Harvest where she led a 20+ person team focused on philanthropy, community engagement, communications, and volunteer management. She completed a $14 million capital campaign during the pandemic and led the organization to multiple years of record revenue growth.
Ms. Perez Hamilton’s early career began in arts and culture with development roles at organizations that included SF Jazz and the San Francisco Symphony. She transitioned to the Alameda County Community Food Bank as their director of leadership gifts before assuming the leadership role at Northwest Harvest.
In her new position with Treehouse, Ms. Perez Hamilton will primarily be responsible for directing a growing development program that ensures that the organization meets its strategic and financial goals through philanthropy and communications, and for working intentionally with the team to lead all engagement relationships through an equity lens, utilizing the principles of community-centric fundraising. She will serve as a member of the Treehouse executive team and play an integral role in setting agency direction, culture, and policy.
In 1988, a group of social workers founded Treehouse on the belief that kids in foster care deserve a community committed to their success. Powered by donors, its staff, and many caring committed partners, Treehouse has become Washington’s leading organization addressing the academic and other essential supports of youth in foster care.
Serving Non-Profits
Women-owned and operated Pearl Street Collective, founded in 2019, provides high-touch executive search and talent strategy services to identify purpose-driven leaders for the non-profit sector. Operating out of main offices in Boston and San Diego, CA with team members around the country, the firm supports organizations in higher education, arts and culture, social justice, human services, philanthropy, health, and more. Pearl Street was named by Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy as the Top Search Firm for Women of Color for two consecutive years.
The firm is led by co-founders and managing partners Adele Mezher and Maeve Clifford. Ms. Mezher brings nearly 30 years of leadership in executive search to her role as co-founder and managing partner of Pearl Street. Highly skilled in strategic marketing and business development, she began her search career implementing programs that supported new market entry and practice expansion before assuming a search portfolio of CEO and vice president-level engagements on behalf of the Fortune 500 and venture/private equity portfolio companies in technology and industrial manufacturing.
Pearl Street Collective Seeks Two CDOs for University of Massachusetts Amherst Foundation
Pearl Street Collective has been enlisted to help fill two key roles for the University of Massachusetts Amherst Foundation (UMAF). The non-profit is seeking chief development officers for the university’s Elaine Marieb College of Nursing and its Commonwealth Honors College. The Elaine Marieb College of Nursing role presents “a unique opportunity to leverage the fundraising potential that exists and to follow multiple pathways towards collaborative, interdisciplinary, and thematic giving opportunities that will significantly increase private support for the university and the college as it serves as a force for innovation, learning, and discovery in preparing culturally proficient nurses for leadership in health for a global society,” said Pearl Street Collective.
Ms. Clifford has more than 20 years of blended non-profit and executive search leadership to her role as co-founder and managing partner of Pearl Street. In addition to search management, she has led built, trained, and guided research teams for multiple search firms in the non-profit and for-profit sectors, and was an integral contributor to the launch of two national search firms before establishing Pearl Street. Her non-profit career includes functional roles at Harvard University, a charter school network, and a community non-profit, as well as board experience.
Pearl Street Collective recently recruited Chris DeMeo to the newly created leadership role of associate vice president of marketing and communications for the office of university advancement at Northeastern University. Mr. DeMeo has a track record of achievement with more than two decades of sales results, brand performance, and global omnichannel execution across D2C, B2B, and Enterprise SaaS industries. “He is energized to welcome Northeastern’s 125th incoming class and, as experience is a transformational force, he is thrilled to help lead Experience Powered by Northeastern, the university’s historic $1.3 billion campaign and supporting initiatives spanning the globe, accelerating outcomes, and creating a better world right now,” Pearl Street Collective said.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor; Lily Fauver, Senior Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
