Meet Jennifer Perry.
Q: Tell us exactly what you do in the Verde Valley?
A: I’m the Regional Director for the Arizona Community Foundation. And I’m in charge of mobilizing enduring philanthropy for our region of Sedona and all the communities in the Verde valley. That sounds rather verbose, but it’s really interesting because we work with individuals, corporations, and nonprofits to help them with their charitable giving. No one gives to the community foundation, we’re a 501(c)(3), they live through us so we’re just a conduit. If someone’s really interested in supporting animals, we help them find out about all the animal organizations. We will take their money, invest it and help them grant it back out to support things that they care about.
Q: What inspired or led you to your current career?
A: I grew up in Massachusetts and my family ran my family business., we were in industrial automation. My kids were little and 9 11 hit and I said, there’s gotta be something better than helping Gillette make razors faster and cheaper. So we had a whole out here since the late eighties was our vacation home and I sold our family business and moved to Sedona with my husband and my two daughters to raise them at the big park school in the village. And I fell in love with the work of the nonprofits in our community. I started out as the PTA volunteer president and started raising money and I realized, I’m pretty good at this. I’ve been with probably most of the nonprofits in the area, either as an Executive Director or a Development Director and an opening came up with the community foundation and now I get to support all the nonprofits in the area. So it’s really been a wonderful journey.
Q: How long have you been here?
A: I’ve been here full-time since 2003, but my family and I have had a home since 1987.
Q: Where exactly are you from?
A: I’m originally from Boston. For most of my life I grew up in Wellesley is suburb west of the city. And then my folks moved down to the south shore to Norwell. My husband’s from Norwell too and we didn’t know it. We went to high school together and met when I moved home from college. Lo and behold, here we are.
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in Sedona?
A: I don’t know that I can pin it down to one. One of the joys that I have is meeting with people and helping them with their philanthropy and that’s all really different. I have some people that want to give all their money in their lifetime and see it go. I have one of my largest donors is Bill Mevers of the Why Not? Foundation. And I’ve helped him give millions of dollars away. He lives in his Fifth Wheel in Cottonwood and he is the most understated, generous gentleman I’ve ever met. And then I have people who live in some of the nicest gated communities in town, and they’re gonna hold onto their money until they pass. And then they’re going to leave it to the community foundation and we will give it out for them in the future. So it’s hard to pin down one person, but I think the variety of people and meeting them where they are in the way that they wanna give back is just extraordinarily rewarding. And we have so many generous people here in town.
Q: When you go out to dinner, what’s your favorite place to go here?
A: It used to be The Hudson, but my new favorite is Stagecoach. I love Stagecoach. I’ve been there for a lunch a number of times, I was there Friday night for dinner. The food is outstanding, the service is great, wonderful music, it has a fun, fresh vibe so that’s my new favorite.
Q: If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would that be?
A: Right here. I love it here, this is a wonderful place. We live in such a gorgeous area. I love to go away and do little trips, but this is my home and I’m proud of our home. And I’m proud of the work that we do to make this the best place to live and raise their family.
Q: What advice would you give a crowd of people?
A: I would give the advice that my father gave to me and that’s ‘always to have a positive mental attitude’. It’s easy to look at the negative and point out the flaws and things and it takes a bigger individual to see the positive and to remain positive even when times are tough.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do around Sedona? What do you do for fun here?
A: I tend to leave Sedona on the weekends when we have lots of visitors. My husband and I, love camping, we have a 5th wheel camper and we go all around the state and explore little pockets and corners. We love to hike, I’m an avid gardener, and just get together with friends and relax.
Q: What’s something interesting about you that probably most people don’t know?
A: I got through college by teaching sailing in the summers. Now I’m in the desert and I haven’t been on a sailboat and far too long, but I had a wonderful time sailing. My dad taught me and then I taught on Martha’s Vineyard at Edgartown Yacht Club and in some sailing programs outside of Boston. It was really fun. It was a great way to spend my college summers.
Q: How would your best friend describe you?
A: I hope they say I’m really fun to be around. I’m very positive, I’m a connector by nature. I really love to connect people. I don’t really want the credit, but I wanna stay behind and get the right people together to make wonderful things happen.
Q: What three words come to mind when you think of the word “home”?
A: I think of my husband, James, my daughter, Sophia, and my daughter, Audrey.
Q: What is something people might not know about you?
A: I am the incoming Chairman of the Chamber of the Sedona Chamber of Commerce. I’m really proud of that and I’m really excited. This is a unique opportunity for our community and with that combined with my role as the Director of the Community Foundation, that’s truly where my heart is, where my skill set is and I’m excited to try to lead us into an interesting new chapter.
