Board & Staff

Michelle Speas, MA, CFRE

mspeas@familyservicesforsyth.org

Michelle Speas joined Family Services in 2011 after serving on the board of directors for two years. Her great-grandmother, Katherine Broughton Fletcher, was a founding board member of the agency in 1905.

In 2021, she was named the inaugural executive director of the Family Services Foundation. She has known and worked with four Family Services’ CEOs, – Sarah Austin, Al Renna, Bob Feikema and currently Traci Ross.

With over twenty-five years of domestic and international experience in philanthropy, communications and public relations, she has served as the founding Chief Executive Officer of one of North Carolina’s largest private family foundations. In addition, while at Old Salem Museums & Gardens as Vice President of Development and External Relations she was selected National Fundraiser of the Year by Fundraising Success magazine as well as Fundraising Professional of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) NC Triad Chapter. Michelle has also served as a member of staff at United Way of Greater High Point, a private secondary school in Greensboro, and National Partnership Director of Africa Renewal Ministries.

Michelle is a frequent speaker, locally and nationally, on fundraising, strategic planning, communications, team building, board development, ethics and governance. She also teaches nonprofit operations, revenue generation, communications, & leadership development and has served as an adjunct instructor at Wake Forest University, UNC School of the Arts, Salem College, and High Point University. A member of Association of Fundraising Professionals Triad Chapter since 1997, she has twice chaired the state-wide NC Philanthropy Conference. She has served on several national and Triad nonprofit boards including Smart Start, Family Services, Second Harvest Food Bank, Alliance for Strong Families and Children, United Way, Winston-Salem Youth Chorus and the Chamber of Commerce.  She is currently a board member of Riverwood Therapeutic Riding Center.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Mississippi, Michelle holds a bachelor of arts and master of arts in history. She is a graduate of Duke University’s Certificate in Nonprofit Management program, the Center for Creative Leadership’s Leadership Development Program and earned her CFRE certification in 2009. Michelle is a native of Winston-Salem.

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