NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Robyn Minton, director of the YWCA’s Domestic Violence Services program, has been named the first recipient of tuition sponsorship to the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management Executive MBA (EMBA) program under the school’s partnership with the Center for Nonprofit Management. The sponsorship, which will pay Minton’s tuition for the 21-month program, is valued at about $73,000.
The Owen School and the Center for Nonprofit Management announced the program late last year, offering tuition to one executive or senior staff member of a Middle Tennessee 501(c)3 organization per year to enable nonprofit executives to earn an MBA at Vanderbilt. The Owen School EMBA program meets on the Vanderbilt campus on alternate weekends, so professionals can earn their degrees without interrupting their careers.
Minton, who will begin the program in August, was chosen from a group of what Associate Dean for Executive Programs Tami Fassinger termed “exceptional applicants.”
As director of the Domestic Violence Services program of the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, Minton is responsible for the overall management of the largest program of its type in the state. Under her leadership, the program has expanded its staff and services by 150 percent; today she manages about 50 staff members and oversees a budget in excess of $1.6 million. Last year, the program served more than 5,000 women, men and children.
While Minton has been its director, the YWCA’s domestic violence program has become one of the most comprehensive in the Southeast and a model for other domestic violence programs. It includes a nationally recognized on-site health clinic, which received the National Healthcare for the Homeless Best Practices Award in 2002, and it is one of only a few in the nation to include on-site addiction and recovery counseling.
Minton joined the YWCA in 2000 after serving as associate director of Omni Visions’ Residential Treatment Center, as a program coordinator at Centerstone and as coordinator of social services for the Salvation Army in Nashville. Prior to that, she had been a YWCA Domestic Violence Program team counselor, a part-time staff position in the program she eventually would return to direct. As a team counselor, she answered the crisis line and performed client intake and counseling.
Minton earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Kentucky Wesleyan College. While working at Centerstone, she earned a master’s degree in counseling at Trevecca Nazarene University, to enable her to pursue her dream of being a successful nonprofit executive. She is a board member for the Nashville Coalition for the Homeless and a member of the peer review team of the Washington, D.C.-based Office of Violence Against Women, part of the Department of Justice.
“I am honored to be chosen as the first recipient of this Owen School/Center for Nonprofit Management sponsorship,” Minton said. “I’ve committed my career to nonprofit organizations in Middle Tennessee and have witnessed firsthand how their services improve our community.
“It has been my goal to work with the staff of the YWCA Domestic Violence Services program to create a model victim service agency,” she added. “Nonprofit organizations are businesses, and, while my business sense has helped me create the quality programs I lead, most of what I know about business I’ve learned through trial and error. The Owen School program will provide me—and, by extension, the entire YWCA—with state-of-the-art management skills, and it will help us achieve our desire to be one of the best managed nonprofits in Middle Tennessee,” Minton said.
Fassinger said Minton possesses a natural business acumen that complements her clinical counseling education and experience. “She will bring to the executive classroom the disciplined thinking that has enabled her to apply metrics to YWCA programs, combined with a leadership style that has allowed her to improve those programs’ effectiveness.
“In turn, the Executive MBA program will provide her with one of the best business educations in the country and access to the minds of dozens of other business executives. In effect, her Vanderbilt EMBA peers will become a new volunteer group, each with their ideas and years of expertise to help her bring new levels of service excellence to those served by YWCA domestic violence program.”
Lewis Lavine, president of the Center for Nonprofit Management, thanked Vanderbilt Chancellor Gordon Gee and Owen School Dean James W. Bradford for making this partnership program possible, and he praised the choice of Minton for the program. “The committee made a terrific selection. Robyn has 18 years of experience in our nonprofit community. She will enliven the entire Owen EMBA class, and the experience will strengthen her ability to make a difference in the lives of Middle Tennesseans for years to come.”
Patricia Shea, president and CEO of the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, is as excited as Minton about what this opportunity will mean to the YWCA. “Under Robyn’s leadership, the YWCA has created a domestic violence program worthy of the national recognition it receives. An educational opportunity of this magnitude will only enhance her capabilities. The YWCA looks forward to benefiting from Robyn’s Owen experience as she brings new knowledge and ideas to our leadership team.
Candidates for the sponsorship were required to qualify for and be admitted into the Executive MBA program just like any other prospective student: They took the GMAT, provided transcripts and an application and were interviewed by Owen School administrators. Those admitted to the program were then considered by a selection committee, which named Minton this year’s recipient.
The Center for Nonprofit Management is a nonprofit organization committed to helping Middle Tennessee nonprofits enhance their results by providing education, consulting, research, performance evaluation and recognition. Established almost 20 years ago, it has about 600 member agencies.
BusinessWeek magazine recently ranked the Owen Executive MBA program No. 24 in the world on its list of top programs and No. 3 in strategy. The Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University is ranked as a top institution by BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, Financial Times and Forbes. For more news about Owen, visit www.owen.vanderbilt.edu.
Media contact: Susanne Hicks, (615) 322-NEWS
Susanne.hicks@vanderbilt.edu