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Amy Wishnick

Wishnick & Associates, LLC

 

Member profile details

First Name
Amy
Last Name
Wishnick
Company
Wishnick & Associates, LLC
Title
Principal
Phone
312-802-8066
Address Line 1
100 E. Bellevue
Address Line 2
Suite 20B
City
Chicago
State/Province
IL
Zip Code
60611
Headshot
 

Website / Social Platforms

 

Company Profile

Company Overview
Amy Wishnick has an instinct for organizations. She is a valued colleague and trusted advisor with notable success in diverse settings. An astute listener, she asks the right questions to elicit the necessary information to help clients uncover valuable opportunities to increase organizational and leadership effectiveness.

Let's talk about your project! Please give Amy a call.
Company Logo
Services
Led by Amy Wishnick, Wishnick & Associates is dedicated to helping organizations become as effective internally as they are in delivering their services and fulfilling their missions. With over 30 years' experience in administration and consulting in government, nonprofit, and the private sector, Amy has a knack for meeting organizations where they are and identifying the next level of success. Her ability to see issues from all angles serves her clients well.

Here is some of what Wishnick & Associates, LLC can do for your organization in the areas of organizational effectiveness and development, planning and assessment, project design and implementation, and facilitation:

Planning:

• STRATEGIC PLANNING: design and facilitate planning processes tailored to an organization’s specific needs, time line, and budget

• EXECUTIVE TRANSITION AND SEARCH MANAGEMENT / SUCCESSION PLANNING: provide counsel on ED/CEO leadership transition; develop and implement an executive search process; ED/CEO on-boarding; advise on recruiting and hiring, professional development, and retention

• RETREATS AND MEETINGS: plan and facilitate board and/or staff retreats and meetings to accomplish organizational goals, including strategic planning retreats

Organizational Effectiveness:

• ASSESSMENTS: Organizational, Board, Staff, and/or Capacity Building Needs: design and conduct assessments to identify areas of success, areas in need of improvement, and enhance the ability to set priorities and make informed decisions

• LEADERSHIP AND BOARD DEVELOPMENT: advise on governance, by-laws, and other key issues and provide counsel and training

• ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY BUILDING: design, manage, and implement specific projects to identify and understand capacity building needs and priorities to increase organizational effectiveness

• STRATEGIC ADVISING: work with individuals, boards, and organizations to enhance leadership, decision-making, and management abilities
Practice Areas (select top 3)
  • Board Support (Development, Governance, Retreats, Training)
  • Capacity Building
  • Executive Coaching
  • Executive Search & Recruitment
  • Human Resources (Including Recruitment/Training, Benefits, HR Tech)
  • Leadership and Professional Development
  • Organizational Development
  • Strategic planning
Client List
Wishnick & Associates, LLC works equally successfully with local and national nonprofit and private sector organizations - small, mid-size, and large, emerging or mature, and with professional and volunteer leadership.

Clients include:

Arts, Education, and Culture:

3 Arts*
Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School
Changing Worlds
Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras*
Chicago Artists Coalition*
Chicago Jazz Orchestra
Chicago Public Library Foundation
Company of Folk
DanceWorks Chicago*
Erasing the Distance
Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago*
Holocaust Memorial Center
Know Your Chicago
Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth*
Same Planet Performance Project
See Chicago Dance
Spertus Institute’s Master of Arts in Jewish Professional Studies

Community Development/Workforce/Housing/Advocacy:

Center for New Community~
Chicago Community Bond Fund
Chicago Jobs Council
Community Renewal Society
Garfield Park Community Council (formerly East Garfield Park New Communities Program)
Healthy Schools Campaign~
Illinois Safe Schools Alliance*
Pilsen Education Task Force
Preservation of Affordable Housing~
Puerto Rican Cultural Center
Woodstock Institute~
Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights*~

Human Services:

Between Friends*
Center for Disability and Elder Law
Center for Life and Learning, Fourth Presbyterian Church
Center of Concern*
Chicago Child Care Society* (as of 1.2021: Family Focus)
Chicago Lights*
CASL - Chinese American Service League*
Connections for the Homeless*
Elderday Center
Escorted Transportation Services/Northwest
EZRA Multi-Service
Friedman Place
Harmony Community Cares
Howard Area Community Center
HPNC (Hyde Park Neighborhood Club)*
Illinois Adult Day Services Association
Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly, National*~
Senior Connections
Seniors Assistance Center*
SGA - Youth & Family Services*
Trilogy Inc.

Other:

American Classical League*~
Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals~
Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management
Boeing in the Community, The Boeing Company
CHARGE Syndrome Foundation~*
Children's Memorial Foundation*
Congregation Solel*
Jewish Women's Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago
KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation
Kendall College Trust
MetroSquash
Morrison-Shearer Foundation
National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder~*
RRF Foundation for Aging (formerly The Retirement Research Foundation)*

*Multiple engagements
~National organizations
Testimonial 1
"Talk about finding the right person at the right time! Our organization is a worldwide membership organization that is turning 100 this year. We had not really done any review of our organizational structure and governance, and with a change in management the new team agreed we needed to do this, and we luckily found Amy Wishnick. Amy’s qualifications are impeccable, and her experience was valuable as we went through a very rigorous review and overhaul. What was most impressive to me was that Amy took the time to understand our organization, with all its quirks. She wasn’t pushing into a pre-packaged idea of what a non-profit should look like, but instead helped us learn and grow into what we needed to become. What could have been a divisive and difficult process, as we overhauled the governance and hired our first Executive Director, instead was a celebration of what our organization can become, and what we mean to our members. Amy’s wisdom and gentle coaching inspired confidence in our volunteer leadership to think big and act decisively. We were so thrilled with the process and the outcome that we extended Amy’s contract so that she could help us develop our very first Strategic Plan. We recommend Amy Wishnick most highly with no reservations."

Sherwin Little, Executive Director, American Classical League
Testimonial 2
"Amy served as an Executive Coach for the Chinese American Service League’s Founder/President and the Executive Director as they transitioned into retirement after 35 years of service. Amy also served as the Transition Committee’s Resource Manager and Consultant as the organization transitioned into new leadership. The guidance and counsel that Amy provided the Committee was invaluable. Amy carefully and intuitively advised the Committee on process, challenges and obstacles as the Committee struggled through a Search Firm solicitation, a CEO search and the onboarding of a new CEO for the organization. Amy’s responsiveness to questions, thoughtfulness to issues and resourcefulness to a challenging search was impressive. Meanwhile, she guided the outgoing leadership with sensitivity and care. Amy is a gem and a consummate professional. Her ability to listen, strategize and guide in a natural and seamless manner provides success without drama, egos or conflict. As the Chair of the Transition Committee, former Chair of the Board and a leading voice in a complex community, I am honored and grateful to have had Amy Wishnick as a guiding hand in the succession of the Chinese American Service League in Chicago."

Ernest Wong, fASLA, Principal, site design group ltd. Past President, Board of Directors, Chinese American Service League
Testimonial 3
"I frequently refer RRF grantees to Amy when they are looking for someone to help build organizational capacity, plan for the future, or maximize opportunities for growth. She has a great way of connecting with nonprofit leaders and helping them navigate realistic paths through complex situations. Amy’s unique mix of skills, perspective, and creative thinking has helped many nonprofits move forward."

Mary O’Donnell, President, RRF Foundation for Aging
 

Speaker's Bureau Information

Speaker Bio
With skill, sensitivity, and good humor, Amy Wishnick works with diverse organizations to enhance their management, leadership, and adaptive capacities to increase effectiveness. Since founding Wishnick & Associates in 2004, Amy has worked nationally with an array of nonprofit clients on strategic planning, executive leadership transition management, board development/governance, organizational assessments, and more. She works effectively with human services agencies, arts, cultural, education, workforce, community development, and religious organizations, associations, and foundations.
Topic 1
Onboarding: Keys to Successfully Welcoming and Acclimating New Board Members
Topic 1 Description
Target audience: Nonprofit chief executives, person in a nonprofit responsible for orienting new directors (could also include board chairs and/or the board member responsible for onboarding new directors)
Session learning objectives: The value to your nonprofit of thoughtfully onboarding
and welcoming new directors, topics to cover in an orientation and why, how to set new directors up to be engaged leaders and organizational ambassadors.
In my experience with boards, board orientation of is often overlooked or too basic. In addition to acclimating new directors to the organization, there is an overlooked need to inform them about the culture of the board - how it works, how decisions are made, how the group
interacts. There are tangibles and intangibles that need to be conveyed.
Topic 2
Executive Leadership Transitions: Focus on Founders
Topic 2 Description
Session learning objectives: How to think about what's next both for the individual
(founder) and the nonprofit; understand the internal and external ramifications of a founder's departure; how to prepare self and organization; and more.
[I have worked with many founders and nonprofits on executive leadership transitions. There are steps to take that support smooth transitions. As well, this is a way to foster thinking about leadership transition in a productive way. Ancillary to this workshop, I would be interested in discussing another related workshop how boards of directors manage and lead a chief executive transition.]

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