Brewer, Jeannie

Since 1988, Jeannie Brewer has worked in the non-profit sector as a fundraiser, project manager and independent consultant for community service organizations. After many years as senior staff with local United Ways throughout the US, she returned to Kentucky as a home repair volunteer with Christian Appalachian Project. That experience with Kentucky’s rural populations led to her to co-found WINGS, an entrepreneurship program for Appalachian women, with four other women in 1995. Based in Berea, WINGS provided training, networking and marketing support to small business owners throughout Kentucky’s 49 Appalachian counties. She served as it’s only Executive Director until the program closed in 2002, and during that time participated on state advisory councils and task forces focused on rural issues. She led economic development seminars for the federal Appalachian Regional Commission, and in the late 1990’s, facilitated workshops with rural women entrepreneurs in Tanzania and China through the US Agency for International Development (US AID) and the Institute for International Education.

Since 2002, she has worked as a private consultant with smaller non-profits in the region to help them build organizational capacity. She is a Board member for two local charitable foundations and an active volunteer with Central KY Riding for Hope.  Jeannie joined Global Advancement in 2009.