Building Impact brings Akinc on as CEO

Boston, MA Building Impact, a 13-year-old nonprofit organization that connects the corporate and nonprofit sectors through volunteer activities, brought Bridget Akinc on as CEO to grow the organization’s impact. Akinc learned of the leadership opportunity through Building Impact’s collaboration with MIT, where she completed her executive MBA in 2013. Entering their third year of partnership entitled “Leading with Impact,” Building Impact and MIT are focused on helping Boston nonprofit organizations achieve greater effectiveness in delivering their missions and demonstrating the results. 

“Since Building Impact’s inception as a tenant appreciation program, we have grown significantly and now operate our core program in over 50 office and apartment buildings around Greater Boston,” said Kevin McCall, CEO of Paradigm Properties, co-founder of Building Impact and chair of its board of directors. “Bridget’s multidisciplinary background in business and nonprofit settings will be instrumental in growing the organization’s impact. Under Bridget’s leadership, Building Impact will increase its outreach to individuals and companies eager to give back to the community, and focus on moving the needle on complex social issues in partnership with leading nonprofits.”

Since its inception, Building Impact has provided volunteers with the knowledge and opportunity to volunteer, donate, and connect in the buildings where they work and live. Beyond the projects themselves, the goal of Building Impact’s volunteer work has been to provide individuals with paths to deeper civic engagement through onsite-workplace drives, donations, and activities that help those in need. As companies look to engage their employees in corporate days of service, Building Impact becomes a key partner in identifying nonprofit organizations to work with.

“Addressing complex social issues requires collaboration, and in joining Building Impact, I hope to inspire individuals and companies to rethink their level of civic commitment,” said Bridget Akinc, CEO of Building Impact. “I am thrilled to work with nonprofit organizations on the front lines of the most complex social issues in identifying ways we can apply the rich ecosystem of resources and talent in Boston to work together in helping them achieve their missions.”

Building Impact’s current partners consist of 22 leading organizations including its founding real estate firms National Development, The Davis Companies, Paradigm Properties and The Bulfinch Companies, and most recently, MIT’s Executive MBA (EMBA) program.

Building Impact’s highly-anticipated Annual Non-Gala celebrating volunteerism and community is tonight, May 11, 2017. The event recognizes the organization’s most socially responsible partnerships through the Impact Awards, while also raising funds for Building Impact’s volunteer programming and nonprofit outreach.

Akinc brings a wealth of experience in strategic marketing, education, and nonprofit work to her role at Building Impact. She is a Senior Lecturer of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management and teaches courses on digital marketing strategy in the Digital Excellence Program for Minority Entrepreneurs with Google and Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth. As a business leader, Akinc has led teams focused on technology enablement and go-to-market strategy, for both high-growth Silicon-Valley based software companies like BEA Systems, and for nonprofits like The New Teacher Project. She holds a bachelor’s degree in education policy from Princeton University, and an Executive MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Today, Building Impact is helping more than 550 companies and engaging 20,000 people to volunteer, donate, and connect to the community. 100 percent of the resulting goodwill, volunteerism, product donations, and interest is given to Building Impact’s nonprofit network of around 100 partners to address issues such as Youth & Education, Hunger & Housing, Refugee Outreach, Environment, Job training, Literacy, and Community Health. Learn more about Building Impact at www.buildingimpact.org and the NonGala at http://buildingimpact.org/nongala/.