2023 Annual Conference

Rev. Dr. Shelley Best serves as the CEO of the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the region’s leading arts organization that provides critical financial, educational, and organizational resources to support the arts ecosystem throughout Greater Hartford. The Arts Council’s priority is to connect all people to art experiences in their community. 

Prior to taking leadership of the Arts Council in April 2022, Shelley spent three decades in diverse industries: the military, insurance, human services, government, arts administration, and philanthropy. She is passionate about Soulprenuership (seeking deeper meaning in career and business) and the work of radical hospitality that includes all people. She is also deeply curious about how people can live wholeheartedly while facilitating sustainable transformation, enabling more peace, justice, and freedom in our world. 

A Connecticut Yankee by birth, Shelley holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Central Connecticut State University, a Master of Divinity from Yale University, a Master of Arts in religious leadership, and a Doctorate in Ministry from Hartford International University of Religion & Peace (formerly Hartford Seminary). 

An ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, she is pastor of Redeemer’s A.M.E. Zion Church in Plainville, CT. A 2nd-degree black belt in Tang Soo Do martial arts based on karate, Shelley is certified in the Enneagram personality types, the Open Space Technology meeting format, and Yoga nidra. Additionally, she has trained under Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach as a part of their Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Program and is a 200-hour certified Hatha yoga teacher. 

An abstract artist and creative placemaker, Shelley is also a jazz lover and foodie who enjoys time with her pandemic puppy, P.A.U.S.E (pronounced Pause), who teaches her how to be a non-anxious presence at the end of his leash. 

Mendi Blue Paca is President & CEO of Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, where she leads the $260 million regional funder, capacity builder and placemaker in partnering with the community, including nonprofits, the business sector, elected and administrative officials, external constituent groups, and other grant makers, to ensure that every county resident has an equitable opportunity to thrive.  She joined the Foundation in 2018 and previously served as the Chief Community Impact Officer and VP of Community Impact. In her previous roles, she led grant making, programs, policy advocacy, and major community leadership initiatives to close opportunity gaps in education, employment, housing and health.  Mendi oversaw the Foundation’s Center for Nonprofit Excellence, $20M Fund for Women & Girls, Immigrant Success Fund and Thrive by 25 initiatives.

Mendi began her career as a registered broker and compliance officer at Goldman Sachs & Co.  She was a strategy manager at the Center for Effective Philanthropy; growth and innovation advisor to the president of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; and summer associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which has been repeatedly rated the country’s top law firm.

She has served as a strategic consultant to dozens of the largest U.S.-based philanthropic organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates, Ford, William and Flora Hewlett, W.K. Kellogg, Robert Wood Johnson, David and Lucile Packard and Walton Family foundations.

In 2013, after living in Boston, New York City, Washington D.C. and Madrid, Spain for thirteen years, Mendi returned to her home state, CT, where she held public sector leadership roles and managed political campaigns. In these capacities, she secured millions of dollars in competitive state, federal, foundation, individual and corporate resources to advance community goals.

Mendi holds a bachelor’s degree in economics cum laude from Harvard College, a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School and a Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.  She is Board Chair of Partners for Educational Leadership and a board member of Harvard Business School Community Partners of CT and the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce.  She is passionate about entrepreneurship, maternal and reproductive health, and mental health equity.  Mendi lives with her husband, Marcus, daughter and doodle in Trumbull, CT, where in her spare time she loves entertaining and trying new recipes.

Tiffany Donelson is president and CEO of the Connecticut Health Foundation, overseeing the independent health philanthropy’s work in grantmaking, policy advancement, strategic communications, and leadership development. She brings to the role a deep knowledge of health care systems and policy, extensive experience in grantmaking, and a commitment to equity. Tiffany previously served as the foundation’s vice president of program.

Before joining the foundation in 2014, Tiffany held several leadership roles at Aetna, including as the deputy chief of staff for Aetna’s National Businesses Office and as a director in corporate strategy. Before joining Aetna, Tiffany was a consultant at Ingenix Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Tiffany is a member of several boards and advisory committees, including the United Way of Connecticut, Grantmakers In Health, and she is Chair of the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy's Board of Directors.

She is a graduate of Georgetown University and received her MPH in health policy and management at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health

Karla Fortunato is the president of the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy and a champion for the philanthropic sector. She came to the Council with deep experience in philanthropy, funder collaboration, systems change, and public policy. Prior to the Council, Karla served as director of the Health and Environmental Funders Network (HEFN), where she worked to mobilize philanthropy nationally around solutions to environmental health and justice problems. Before that, she led policy research, communications, and campaigns for Health Care For All, a Massachusetts-based advocacy group best known for the passage of the 2006 health care insurance reform law.

Bryan Garcia is the president and CEO of the Connecticut Green Bank – the nation’s first state-level green bank. The “green bank model” is demonstrating how smarter use of public resources can attract more private investment in the green economy – reducing energy burden on families and businesses, creating jobs in local communities, increasing the deployment of clean and resilient energy, improving public health, and confronting climate change. With its message of “Inclusive Prosperity”, the Green Bank won the “Innovations in American Government Award” in 2017 by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. And through its design of retail accessible Green Liberty Bonds, modelled after the War Bonds of the 1940’s, the Green Bank won the “Innovative Financing” category from The Bond Buyer in 2020.

Before joining the Green Bank, Garcia was program director for the Yale Center for Business and the Environment. At Yale, Garcia led efforts to develop a leading global program responsible for preparing environmental leaders for business and society. Prior to Yale, he served as Connecticut’s Climate Change Coordinator where he supported the Governor’s Steering Committee on Climate Change. Early in his career, he was a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer specializing in NGO capacity building and environmental education in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Bryan serves on the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board. He is on the Board of Directors of the Energy Foundation, Institute for Sustainable Communities, Center for Sustainable Energy, and Sustainable CT. And he serves on the Advisory Board of the Yale Center for Business and the Environment.

He holds a BS degree in political economy of natural resources from Berkeley, MPA in public and non-profit administration from NYU Wagner, MBA in finance from NYU Stern, and an MEM degree from the Yale School of the Environment.

Trista Harris is a renowned philanthropic futurist who advocates for the use of futurism to address critical community challenges worldwide. Her groundbreaking work has been featured in Forbes, CNN, The New York Times, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and many social sector blogs. Trista is the President of FutureGood, a consultancy that helps visionaries create a better future. She has authored two books - "How to Become a Nonprofit Rockstar" and "FutureGood."

Trista has dedicated her entire career to the social sector, starting at the age of 15 as a summer parks assistant. Prior to her work at FutureGood, she served as President of the Minnesota Council on Foundations, a thriving grant-making community that awards over $1.5 billion annually. She was also the Executive Director of the Headwaters Foundation for Justice and a Program Officer at Minnesota Philanthropy Partners.

A strategic foresight expert certified by Oxford University, Trista holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Arts from Howard University. Trista is a board member of Tides, a philanthropic partner and nonprofit accelerator focused on creating a world of shared prosperity and social justice. She is also a corporate board member for Arts + Rec, an entertainment venue that showcases local creatives. Trista has served on the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee and the Governor's Council on Law Enforcement and Community Relations, which was established following the police shooting of Philando Castile.