The Mandel School is pleased to announce (SAS '80, MGT '88), president of , as its 2023 Diploma Ceremony speaker.
Amy Main Morgenstern brings over 35 years of diverse experiences in the nonprofit, public and private sectors to her board governance, strategic planning and restructuring, and executive coaching work through her company, Main Stream Enterprises, which she established in 1990 to help leaders achieve greater organizational impact. She has assisted a variety of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations with improving performance and outcomes throughout the country and abroad, primarily in Northeast Ohio, but also in Boston, Israel, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Morgenstern's roles on all sides of the table—as a staff person, board member and officer, foundation director, political and strategic adviser, and guest lecturer—contribute to her insights and counsel about how leaders, organizations and their boards can be most effective. Core to her approach is asking tough questions, drawing upon research-based solutions and engaging key stakeholders to help determine the best path forward.
She helped create and manage each aspect of the Volunteer Trustee Institute at Business Volunteers Unlimited, where she provided education and training to new board members and assisted more than fifty nonprofits with their board needs. Morgenstern also served as a marketing manager at Campaign Designs, Inc. and a research analyst at the Benjamin Rose Institute where she was part of a nationally-funded team studying family caregiving for the aged. She began her nonprofit career providing direct services as a music therapist at the Cleveland Music School Settlement (now The Music Settlement).
Long active in volunteer leadership positions, Morgenstern currently serves on the board of the Mt. Sinai Health Foundation, the board and executive committee of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and the Treu-Mart Fund Board. She is also a member of the AIDS Funding Collaborative Advisory Committee, ǿմý's Center for Reproductive Law Advisory Board, the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers, BoardSource and the Leap of Reason Ambassadors Community, where she was reviewer for Mario Morino’s book, Leap of Reason: Managing to Outcomes in an Era of Scarcity.
Morgenstern was previously president-elect of Menorah Park Center for Senior Living, treasurer and co-chair of the Mt. Sinai Health Foundation’s Grants Committee, an executive committee member of the philanthropic sector’s Fund for Our Economic Future, and, when co-located in San Francisco, the Governance Committee Chair of the KIPP Bay Area Schools Board. She was also the Community Relations Committee Chair and an officer of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, as well as a panel review member of the Cleveland Foundation’s Innovation Lab. Among other boards on which she has served are NorTech, the local National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) (now The Diversity Center of NEO), Yale Bulldogs on the Cuyahoga, and the Beit Shean Community Foundation in Israel. Additionally, she is a graduate of Leadership Cleveland and the Wexner Leadership Seminar.
In 1999 Morgenstern created the idea for and co-led the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center’s first successful biennial Sing Out event for which she was honored in 2004. She received the Human Relations Distinguished Leadership Award from the American Jewish Committee and the Kane Memorial Award for Young Leadership from the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. In 2001, Kaleidoscope Magazine honored her in its “Women Who Give Back” issue.