- Board of Directors
- Management
ForKids’ innovative, result-driven programs for homeless families have garnered numerous awards including the 2008 Special Project Award from the Hampton Roads Housing Consortium for the redevelopment of W. 38th Street, the 2008 Campbell and Company Award for Excellence in Fundraising from the Association of Fundraising Professionals International,the 2006 Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award, the 2005 Virginia Housing Award for Best Housing Program and the 2004 United Way Agency of the Year.
During her tenure with ForKids, Thaler has secured millions in federal government grants while successfully reducing ForKids’ dependence on government funding. Since 2001 she has increased community contributions from less than $100,000 to over $1.6 million in FY2009. Her success in implementing results-driven practices while bringing ForKids onto a firm financial footing earned her the 2009 Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Prize from the Virginia Beach Foundation and the “Women In Business Achievement Award” from INSIDE Business magazine in 2005.
Thaler’s work to end homelessness has taken her to Washington D.C. to participate in a White House Roundtable discussion on national solutions for family homelessness and to Moscow to provide training in case management best practices for the AIDS Foundation East-West. She was a member of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Commission to End Homelessness that created the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Norfolk. Thaler is currently active in the Western Tidewater Continuum of Care and on numerous boards and advisory councils.
Prior to her work with ForKids, she worked as a Senior Consultant for Arthur Andersen in Washington, D.C. and wrote on housing and development issues for the Urban Land Institute. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Business from Miami University and a Masters Degree in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University Of Virginia School Of Architecture.
ForKids’ innovative, result-driven programs for homeless families have garnered numerous awards including the 2008 Special Project Award from the Hampton Roads Housing Consortium for the redevelopment of W. 38th Street, the 2008 Campbell and Company Award for Excellence in Fundraising from the Association of Fundraising Professionals International,the 2006 Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award, the 2005 Virginia Housing Award for Best Housing Program and the 2004 United Way Agency of the Year.
During her tenure with ForKids, Thaler has secured millions in federal government grants while successfully reducing ForKids’ dependence on government funding. Since 2001 she has increased community contributions from less than $100,000 to over $1.6 million in FY2009. Her success in implementing results-driven practices while bringing ForKids onto a firm financial footing earned her the 2009 Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Prize from the Virginia Beach Foundation and the “Women In Business Achievement Award” from INSIDE Business magazine in 2005.
Thaler’s work to end homelessness has taken her to Washington D.C. to participate in a White House Roundtable discussion on national solutions for family homelessness and to Moscow to provide training in case management best practices for the AIDS Foundation East-West. She was a member of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Commission to End Homelessness that created the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Norfolk. Thaler is currently active in the Western Tidewater Continuum of Care and on numerous boards and advisory councils.
Prior to her work with ForKids, she worked as a Senior Consultant for Arthur Andersen in Washington, D.C. and wrote on housing and development issues for the Urban Land Institute. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Business from Miami University and a Masters Degree in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University Of Virginia School Of Architecture.
Chief Services Officer, Sally Berger, LPC, has been with ForKids since 2008. Joining ForKids as the Clinical Therapist, she was promoted to replace the retiring Services Director in 2009. A Norfolk native, Sally relocated back to Norfolk from Missouri where she was a Department Chair of Psychology and Alcohol and Drug Studies at Missouri Valley College. Sally has 18 years of experience providing direct care working in group home settings, private practice, and non-profit community settings. Sally specializes in families, trauma, and substance abuse. She is currently an adjunct professor at Tidewater Community College in the Department of Psychology. She earned her BS in Psychology and Special Education from Salem College in West Virginia, a MS Ed. in Counseling Psychology from Old Dominion University and is a doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Missouri. Licensures include LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) and NCC (National Certified Counselor).
Senior Director of Grants and Research, Vikki Henderson has been with ForKids for five years, recently transitioning from Associate Director of Finance and Administration to direct the newly formed Grants and Research Department. A Norfolk native, Vikki spent 15 years working in Dallas, Texas, at Dallas Services, an early childhood center for special needs children with a budget of $2.5 million. Vikki worked her way up from Administrative Assistant to Bookkeeper to Comptroller to Associate Director. Through each of these positions, she learned critical elements of the day-to-day operations of running a non-profit. She has applied this knowledge to ForKids, where Vikki spent four years managing the operations of eleven properties, the federal Continuum of Care grants process, and all financial processes of the agency. Vikki is currently completing her Bachelor’s degree in Business at Strayer University. In her new role at ForKids, she oversees the application and reporting of over 65 different grants which fund the agency. In addition, her department implements the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) for ForKids’ Housing and Urban Development grants, the Chesapeake Central Intake System, and the communities of Suffolk and Western Tidewater.
Chief Development Officer, Bill Young joined the ForKids team in December of 2009 to grow and diversify ForKids’ income streams following a 15-year career in a variety of for-profit businesses. Bill heads up the ForKids’ development team, including fundraising, community relations, volunteer coordination, special events, and marketing as well as new business development. Bill came to ForKids from Beaufort Advisors, a small, rapidly growing healthcare consulting firm in Norfolk where he served as VP of Business Development. Prior to Beaufort, Bill served as the Chief Operating Officer and owner of Taste Unlimited for eight years until negotiating its sale in 2006. He holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia where he was a Shermet Scholar and the recipient of the C. Lewis Sheppard award for distinguished community service. He received his BA in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Chief Financial Officer, MacKenzie Arbogust joined ForKids in September 2009. MacKenzie oversees the financial and operational aspects of ForKids, including budget development, annual external audit, facilities management, and human resources. MacKenzie came to ForKids from AARP’s Legal Counsel for the Elderly (LCE) in Washington, D.C., where she worked as the Manager of Business Operations. LCE provides free legal services to D.C. seniors who earn up to 200% of the national poverty level and is supported by governmental grants and the AARP. Prior to her tenure at AARP, MacKenzie worked in the Northern Virginia high tech corridor as an analyst in varying roles for 5 years before going back to school full time to pursue her MBA. She has her BS from the College of William and Mary and her MBA from the Robert McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, where she was a Connelly Scholar.
