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Margaret Steele
Chief Development Officer at Wilkes University
Professional Background
Margaret Steele is a seasoned professional with a robust portfolio in Business and Non-Profit Development, Marketing Management, Executive Administration, and Public Relations. With unlimited passion for community relations and sales development, Margaret has showcased her exceptional prowess in various leadership roles, all aimed at advancing organizational objectives while fostering an environment that benefits stakeholders and the larger community. Known for her articulate communication style, she is highly regarded for her evident dedication, creativity, and diligence, which she integrates seamlessly to achieve both personal and organizational goals.
Throughout her career, Margaret has held several influential positions within Wilkes University, where she has been an integral part of the institutional advancement team. As the Chief Development Officer, she has played a crucial role in shaping fundraising strategies, strengthening alumni relations, and driving community engagement initiatives. Her previous roles at the University include serving as the Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Director of College Development and Major Gifts, and Director of the Center for Continued Learning. Through these positions, Margaret has built a reputation for her strategic approach to development and her ability to cultivate meaningful relationships within the community.
Outside of Wilkes University, Margaret has held significant leadership roles at respected institutions, including ESSA Bank and Trust and Franklin Security Bank, where she contributed her expertise in marketing and administration at the regional and corporate levels. Her time at Martz Group, along with her experience at Franklin First Savings Bank, further enhanced her skill set in overseeing marketing strategies, sales operations, and operational management. One of the highlights of her early career was her role as the Director of Development at the American Red Cross, Wyoming Valley Chapter, where she worked tirelessly to aid disaster relief and community support efforts.
Margaret’s multifaceted experiences have honed her ability to adapt to ever-changing environments while still maintaining a steadfast focus on organizational advancement and community service. Her ability to lead teams, implement effective strategies, and inspire collaborative efforts distinguishes her as an essential asset in any professional setting.
Education and Achievements
Margaret's quest for knowledge is evident in her educational background. She pursued Graduate Coursework in Business at Wilkes University, where she developed a solid foundation in business principles, strategies, and operational management, further enriching her already expansive skill set. In addition to this, she also studied Organizational Psychology at Salem College, gaining insights into human behavior in organizational contexts. This unique combination of business acumen and psychological understanding allows her to navigate complex workplace dynamics effectively while prioritizing stakeholder relationships and community engagement.
Margaret's career is adorned with numerous achievements, including her instrumental role in increasing alumni engagement and significantly boosting fundraising outcomes at Wilkes University. Her leadership in the development of programs that align alumni interests with university growth initiatives has led to more sustainable, long-term relationships between alumni and their alma mater. She has also demonstrated a keen ability to enhance community relations strategies, positioning Wilkes University as a pivotal player within the local community.
Her commitment to professional development and advancement reflects her belief in continuous improvement—both personally and for the organizations she serves. As a result, she has been involved in multiple initiatives aimed at professional development for staff within the non-profit and educational sectors.
Notable Achievements
- Chief Development Officer at Wilkes University: In this strategic role, Margaret has been instrumental in improving alumni relations, fundraising efforts, and community engagement initiatives.
- Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations at Wilkes University: Managed operations that led to increases in alumni donations and engagement, fostering a robust network of support for the University.
- Director of College Development and Major Gifts at Wilkes University: Developed and implemented strategies for major gift solicitations that contributed substantially to the University’s financial health.
- Regional Vice President at ESSA Bank and Trust: Oversaw key operations in regional banking that enhanced service delivery and strengthened client relationships.
- Proven Leader in Marketing and Administration: Held multiple vice-presidential roles across prominent institutions including Franklin Security Bank and Martz Group, where she elevated marketing and sales initiatives, thereby maximizing organizational growth.
- Community Advocate: As the former Director of Development for the American Red Cross, she worked diligently to support community needs through effective fundraising and outreach strategies.
Margaret Steele is not only a professional with a deep well of experience but also a passionate advocate for education and community development. Through her dynamic leadership and commitment to excellence, she has made significant contributions to each organization she has been part of, leaving a lasting impact that continues to inspire others.
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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
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
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.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
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.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
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 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.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
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.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
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.