Today we’d like to introduce you to Gretchen Villegas

Hi Gretchen , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?

I was the first in my family of three siblings to attend college and to complete my Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies. I spent most of my undergraduate degree studying abroad in Spain, Mexico, and England, followed by a two-year volunteer opportunity in the Peace Corps based in Suriname, South America. This only solidified the fact that I loved living abroad and not only learning about other cultures but helping others in emerging markets find ways to break cycles of poverty that were hindering their growth.

My learning journey did not end there. I returned to the United States to complete a master’s degree in Intercultural Management at the School for International Studies in Burlington, VT, where I attended experiential learning sessions with professionals from around the world seeking to advance their knowledge in global development studies. This set me up for my career to take off managing United States Government foreign aid projects in Latin America and Africa. Instead of settling into a US-based position at a home-office which would have been the easy route, I was persistent in finding an organization willing to send me directly to the field to learn on the job. Starting in the field was the best decision I could have made, and I was lucky enough to find an organization willing to take that risk.

I was sent to Colombia as a Deputy Chief of Party, entrusted to manage all of the operations functions for an 8M+ USD project. I was challenged time and again to comply with all of the government standards and I did so with support from my peers, mentors and staff. I grew in my knowledge and wisdom not only in operations and compliance functions but also program design, proposal and partnership development, and impact reporting from my time in Colombia, then moving on to Malawi, to Tanzania, to Uganda, until 15 years later when I returned to the United States.

During the 15 years abroad, I had been the sole representative for the organization in each country where we operated. Coming back to the United States, I was part of the executive team, but no longer the one in charge. It took some time to adjust and understand the dynamics were different as well as my perspective was first and foremost always from the field and not from the headquarters view. My value to the headquarters teams was my field experience and my field perspectives where I could easily help to bridge the gaps that happened frequently between the home office and the field teams in strategy, financials, legal issues, labor laws, and of course that of donor compliance that the field teams did not necessarily understand.

From being abroad, in another culture, I also learned leadership skills in regard to how to be present and actively listen – there were times that when I did not do this, I made mistakes because I misunderstood what staff were trying to tell me. I learned how to ask good questions and get feedback to ensure understanding which proved essential when trying to design a solid proposal with projected impact analytics. These skills were not only relevant, but they also supported me in proving my value once I returned stateside in winning proposals to grow organizational revenue significantly, setting strategy and managing change processes organization-wide including 20+ countries, traveling to the field to introduce new program methodologies and having enough trust with the field teams to ensure adoption.

I believe that it was the initial field experiences that allowed me to climb the executive ladder quickly after returning stateside and within less than 10 years I was recruited to take on a CEO position for a global non-profit requiring an evolution of its programming structure. I successfully accomplished this within a two-year time frame, and I believe that was due to the tenacity and learnings that I received due to starting my career abroad; my deep understanding of what it takes to operationalize a global organization with field operations that need to become self-sustaining and well operationalized much like a business needs to function. I left the CEO position in good hands, with the family who started the non-profit almost 20 years ago, ready to partner with donors and leverage resources from those who align with the mission to support children in need in East Africa.

I recently launched my own business Nexus Strategy and Growth Partners, where I am able to use my past experiences and well-honed skillsets to drive revenue for global and domestic non-profits, corporations and social enterprises. Nexus empowers internal executive teams to use data and evidence to build strategy that transforms operations functions to provide excellent impact and revenue scenario planning. And if that is not enough, we can also execute the solutions to bring in the revenue!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

I was the first child from my family to go to college. I had to be tenacious and strong willed to ensure that I did not miss my opportunity to make college happen. And in the end, I went to college on scholarships and loans, and I was even able to complete a master’s degree. As a result, my two younger siblings also followed. This broke the generational cycle in my family, and we now have college graduates.

I was determined to break into an industry of global international development, one in which was male dominated when I started, at least those positions that were led abroad, and I did not have any contacts in the industry that could help me find a first job. I struggled for some time to find an organization that would take a chance on me right after I finished my master’s degree. I finally talked Land O’Lakes into allowing me to take on a consultancy, as a volunteer, only with expenses paid in Nicaragua, to prove that I could do the work. I was so grateful for this chance, and it was all I needed. However, if Land O’Lakes had not given me the opportunity, to this day, I am not sure if I would have had the career I was blessed to have. Due to this opportunity that I did well at, I was given a full-time position in Colombia and that launched my career.

I excelled in Colombia as the Deputy Chief of Party on a USAID award, however at the end of the project, there were not any further funds, and thus the project ended and so did my contract. Again, I was left without work, and it was difficult to find another opportunity because I still did not have enough experience. Again, I had months of waiting to find another role, and that is when I went to Africa. I am grateful that someone who believed in me gave me a chance to take on this project. The company believed the project would actually fail; however I accepted the challenge with the grit and tenacity to ensure it would be successful in the end. And it was very successful thanks to support from local leaders who believed in the social impacts it brought to communities.

I would say today is my next challenge, learning to grow my own business. Launching a business and being an executive in a company is a completely different ball game! It takes thinking and planning differently, and I am learning day to day from so many new mentors! If anyone has the golden ticket in how to create content so clients come directly to you – please let me know. I am still learning that one.

We’ve been impressed with Nexus Strategy and Growth Partners LLC , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

I am the Founder and CEO of Nexus Strategy and Growth Partners, https://www.linkedin.com/company/nexus-strategy-and-growth-partners-llc. My purpose is to empower non-profit, corporate, and social enterprise leadership teams to have a defined strategy and options to catalyze, measure and achieve transformational growth.

I have spent my 25+ year career working in privately held 1B+ USD revenue corporations and 180M+ USD income non-profits ensuring operations and strategy are aligned to ensure year over year revenue projections are on-target. My teams not only identified solutions to complex challenges hindering revenue growth but executed the solutions. For instance, the restructuring of operations saving upwards of 500K to 1M in reductions in expenses, reinvested income in nontraditional ways and 10X’ed revenue, and increased revenue by leveraging values-aligned partnerships to win grant proposals worth 100M USD+ to invest in social impact programming.

At Nexus, we use the proven WIN Revenue Methodology with three pillars to support you in increasing your revenue.
The Pillars can be applied stand alone, together or customized to fit your needs.
WIN Revenue Methodology three pillars:

W inning Strategy Foundation
• Clear Mission, Guiding Principles, Data-driven Impact
• Compelling Vision, Strategy map, Goals
• Efficient Management Systems, Capabilities, Targets

I ncreasing New Business and Impact
• Aggressive yet Realistic Goals, Assumptions
• Values-aligned Partners, New Business Opportunities
• Efficient, Collaborative Structures, Aligned Capabilities

N ew Areas and Expansion
• Diversification and Scale, adjusted Goals, Assumptions
• New Values-aligned Partners, New Business Opportunities
• Efficient, adjusted Collaborative Structures, Aligned Capabilities

What I have found in my work over the years, is that there is not a one size fits all approach and even though we have revenue growth pillars, if you work with Nexus, we will customize every service for you! We will work through a plan that will give you exactly what your entity needs in order to have a transformational and sustainable revenue strategy that will give you the blueprint you need to make growth happen. Then Nexus can either become part of your execution team or become the best mentor your leadership team has ever had! You just tell us what works best for you and your team.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?

If you are just starting out, I suggest giving yourself many experiences. The more experiences you are exposed to the better idea you have of what you enjoy doing and want to study and learn more about. You need to find joy in your work, we spend too much time at work to not enjoy what we are doing. I was blessed to be given a job I loved from the very beginning. Do not just settle, seek the work you love.

I would also advise that you have various income streams. The times have evolved in work. I always thought you could have one job and poor your heart and soul into it and the income would always be there to care for an entire family. That is not always there anymore. I ended up in a situation this year, where I did not have a job, and I did not have another source of income. If I had been able to give myself advice 5-10 years ago, it would be to search out the opportunities to have two to three income streams and keep them going. Times have changed. Learn how to monetize your superpowers early in life!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.GretchenVillegas.net
• Instagram: [email protected]
• Facebook: [email protected]
• Twitter: [email protected]
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNSJYOkvPXw
• Yelp: [email protected]
• Soundcloud: [email protected]
• Other: [email protected]