Over a span of 20 years, Teri as been serving her community through her employment with non-profit organizations.
Before co-founding The Jonas Project, she served as Vice President of Workforce and Career Development with Goodwill Southern California for 9 years. She was instrumental in Goodwill meeting its mission of serving over 250,000 people who were vocationally disadvantaged and/or developmentally disabled by providing training, employment workshops, community job development and job placement, and case management. During her tenure she supervised the successful operations of five One-Stop Centers; established over 80 collaborative partner agencies and community colleges; developed youth and Veteran programs; managed a staff of 188 workforce professionals; managed a budget of $21 million dollars; expanded from five service sites to 27 service sites; and developed a leadership-training course for the Workforce team. Teri also completed the Goodwill Industries International two-year CEO training.
Immediately upon arriving in California as a transplant from Louisiana, Teri took a position with Best Buddies Jobs California where she worked to promote competitive employment and career development for people who were developmentally disabled.
Prior to moving to California, and in-between her stints with Goodwill, for 2 years Teri went into private consulting and training with a casino chain in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Indiana. She was hired to train the entire staff of 2,300 employees on each riverboat in customer service, retention, and leadership. The results of the training drove the casino’s rating from last among seven casinos to number one in customer service. Employee turnover went from 300% to 43%; and she developed a management-mentoring program.
Teri held the position of Director of Training and Employment at the North Louisiana Goodwill Industries Rehabilitation Center, Inc. for six years, serving similar populations as with Goodwill Southern California, taking its fledgling programs and building out its services and reach into surrounding communities. She took her budget from $300,000 to over $1.5 million, and worked closely with local politicians and State Department of Rehabilitation.
Teri’s earlier years had her running group therapy with youth being hospitalized for various behaviors, and she worked for a Youth Shelter as the liaison to the courts.
Teri holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business and a Master’s in General Counseling.