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Katie Fitzgerald
Global President & CEO at Ronald McDonald House Charities
Katie Fitzgerald is the Global President and CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), a role she assumed on March 6, 2023.1 With over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, Fitzgerald brings a wealth of knowledge and leadership to her position at RMHC.2
Professional Background
Prior to joining RMHC, Fitzgerald served as the President and Chief Operating Officer at Feeding America, the largest nonprofit organization in the United States dedicated to combating hunger.1 Her career has been focused on improving outcomes for children, youth, and families, with previous leadership roles at:
- Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma
- Make-a-Wish Oklahoma
- Center for Children and Families in Norman, Oklahoma1
Education and Expertise
Fitzgerald holds a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University and a master's degree in social work from the University of Michigan.1 Her extensive nonprofit background and highly empathetic leadership style make her well-suited to lead RMHC's global efforts.2
Role at RMHC
As President and CEO, Fitzgerald is responsible for:
- Leading the strategic vision for the charity's long-term growth
- Overseeing global impact initiatives
- Guiding the delivery of RMHC's mission through chapters worldwide1
She is also a member of McDonald's Global Impact Leadership Team, working to ensure alignment and partnership between RMHC and its founding mission partner, McDonald's Corporation.1
Recognition
Fitzgerald's leadership and impact have been recognized in the industry. She was selected for the 2024 Forbes 50 Over 50 list, highlighting her influence and achievements in the nonprofit sector.3
Highlights
I am deeply humbled to share that I have been selected for the 2024 Forbes 50 Over 50.
When I became a social worker, over 25 years ago, I didn’t know where my path would lead. I’ve had the great privilege of working on critical issues impacting families from abuse and neglect to poverty and hunger alleviation to now helping families have what they need to ensure the best health outcomes for their children at Ronald McDonald House Charities.
It has been an absolute JOY to work alongside and support so many incredibly smart, talented, and visionary leaders from around the world as they strive to make their communities, countries, and the world a better place. This honor is a testament to them.
Thank you to everyone who has walked alongside me on this journey and taught me so much, and a huge congratulations to all the other trailblazers on this list!
https://lnkd.in/gF2Nq_yG
#ForbesOver50 #RMHC50
My feet haven’t yet touched the ground! I'm still on cloud nine following our AMAZING week at the Ronald McDonald House Charities International Conference. Over 1,700 colleagues from 58 countries came together in Chicago, and it was beyond inspiring! It’s difficult to capture the richness of our time together, but some highlights include: 💙 3 full days of connecting and reuniting with colleagues and friends from 227 Chapters across the world, 💙 100 learning sessions and dynamic workshops that challenged and inspired our System to think about how we can serve more families even better, 💙 33 engaging mainstage speakers, featuring some of the most prominent thought leaders in our space, 💙 A special screening at the Chicago Theatre of the soon-to-be-released film, "Audrey’s Children," about the life and legacy of our founder Dr. Audrey Evans. The film won best feature film for social impact at Tribeca Film Festival last month! 💙 Countless important conversations discussing strategic initiatives, enhancing collaboration, and advancing our future. As I reflect on all the incredible moments and connections over the past week, I keep pinching myself that I get to be a part of this system that is so diverse and full of such talented people who are so deeply committed to centering the families we serve in all that we do. I’m also so enthusiastic and eager for what’s to come! The passion and commitment that our system has is unmatched, and as we celebrate fifty years of mission impact this year, I am confident more confident than ever that we are fifty years young and our work has just begun! Thank you to all our RMHC colleagues who traveled from all over the world to be with us this week. Our team is deeply honored and so privileged to work alongside you. Here’s to you, the families we serve, and 50 more years of mission impact! #RMHC50
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
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Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
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Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
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User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.