Executive Team

Ms. Judith N. Vredenburgh
President and Chief Executive Officer

Judith (Judy) Vredenburgh became president and chief executive officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America in 1999. Under her leadership, Big Brothers Big Sisters has more than doubled the number of children served from 118,000 in 2000 to more than a quarter million. Big Brothers Big Sisters has been making a measurable difference in the lives of American children for more than 100 years through positive mentoring relationships that have a direct and lasting impact.

Ms. Vredenburgh places major emphasis on increasing measurable impacts resulting from Big Brothers Big Sisters relationships. She initiated the development and implementation of a service delivery model supported by a technology system that enables measurement of every aspect of Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring programs. Ms. Vredenburgh commissioned the first nationwide study of school-based mentoring, which found an array of positive academic outcomes for children with Big Brothers and Big Sisters in the first year of mentoring. She responded to the study by setting goals for how to extend those positive outcomes.

Ms. Vredenburgh came to Big Brothers Big Sisters with 29 years of management experience, in both for-profit and non-profit organizations, including the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, where she served as senior vice president responsible for revenue development and marketing. Ms. Vredenburgh started her career in the retail industry, rising from buyer to executive management positions for several major corporations. She was president & chief executive officer for Chess King, a division of Melville Corporation, and prior to that, executive vice president for Sizes Unlimited/Lerner Woman.

Vredenburgh holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a MBA degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is married to Donald Vredenburgh, mother to Cynthia Vredenburgh and mother-in-law to David Krichavsky.

Mack Koonce
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Mack Koonce joined Big Brothers Big Sisters as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in June 2002. Prior to joining the organization, Koonce served on the boards of directors of both national and local Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies. Koonce brings more than 30 years of experience in the private sector to his position.

While on the BBBS national board, Koonce led innovations in branding, volunteer recruitment, and service delivery.  As COO, Koonce re-launched the Big Brothers Big Sisters brand in its Centennial year and is implementing marketing and operating initiatives.

Immediately prior to his position at BBBS, Koonce was President and CEO of Venue Ticket Exchange, a new sports-ticketing business venture. He has also served as chairman of AIVIA, a software and web development company.

Koonce spent 12 years as a partner and Executive Vice President for Wyndham Hotels in the 1980s. Under his leadership, Wyndham became a major, new, upscale hotel brand.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, Koonce was Vice President of American Express, where he developed the first direct marketing travel service.  He also served as President of CUC International, launching a new direct-marketed travel business and growing the company to $200 million in revenue.

Koonce holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Nick Booth
Vice President, Philanthropy

Nick Booth joined Big Brothers Big Sisters in March 2008 as Vice President of Philanthropy. As the leader of the fund development department, he is responsible for the nationwide fundraising strategy for Big Brothers Big Sisters. He leads a team to develop the fund development operation and strengthen and sustain relationships with donors in order to maximize the mentoring programs of the organization.

Before coming to Big Brothers Big Sisters, Booth was campaign director for the largest social service organization in Great Britain, The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children where he worked with many of the U.K.’s most senior business leaders, politicians and philanthropists. From 1996-2007 Booth led its Full Stop Appeal, aimed at putting an end to child cruelty, and raised over $540 million in support of the campaign.

Booth is also a board volunteer for the World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child, a worldwide communication project that works to strengthen the voices of young people and fights for the rights of children around the globe.  

He is a graduate of Swavesey Village College and Long Road Sixth Form College, both in Cambridge, U.K. In addition, he received an Honors Degree in Business Administration and German at Loughborough University of Technology, where he also earned a Diploma of Industrial Studies. 

He is married with two children.

Kay Keenan
Vice President, Marketing and Communications

Kay Keenan became the Vice President, Marketing and Communications, at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America in 2007. In this position, Keenan is leading a broad-based marketing effort aimed at significantly increasing donor and volunteer support for Big Brothers Big Sisters nationwide. She is also spearheading an initiative to recruit more men, particularly African-American and Hispanic men, to be Big Brothers for the many boys who wait.

Prior to joining Big Brothers Big Sisters, Keenan worked at Scott Paper Company for 18 years, leaving as the Director of Marketing to assume a position at Delmarva Power, a Fortune 500 utility. She subsequently became the Director of Marketing at Conectiv (a subsidiary of Delmarva Power). In 2000, she created Growth Consulting, Inc., a strategic marketing firm.

Keenan and co-author, Steven Smolinsky, have published a well-received book, Conversation on Networking: finding, developing and maintaining relationships for business and life, that synthesizes their ideas on effective networking.

Keenan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Franklin and Marshall College and a Master in Business Administration from Syracuse University.

Michael Lewis
Vice President, Finance and Operations

Michael Lewis became the Vice President of Finance and Operations at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America in 2001. In this position, Lewis brings superior financial leadership and a strong background in strategic planning, fiscal analysis and reporting to the organization.

He came to Big Brothers Big Sisters after dedicating more than 20 years to the world of corporate finance. He spent 15 years at CIGNA Corporation, the oldest stock insurance company in the United States and currently one of the top health insurers in the country. As Controller of CIGNA’s Group insurance Division, Lewis had a significant impact, as net income nearly doubled in six years.

Prior to that, Lewis spent four years at Coopers and Lybrand, CPAs.

Lewis earned his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Accounting from Penn State University and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Pennsylvania.

Diane M. Maguire
Vice President of Human Resources

Diane M. Maguire became the Vice President of Human Resources for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America in 2006.  In this role, she is creating systems of accountability, building leadership capacity and facilitating partnerships throughout the network of Big Brothers Big Sisters’ agencies.

Maguire has dedicated her career to managing, developing, motivating and retaining organizational talent. Prior to her present position, she served as the Vice President of Human Resources and Marketing for Comcast; Vice President of Human Resources for Holy Redeemer Hospital; and participated in the development of AT & T’s Strategic Plan during the divestiture of the Bell Operating companies.

Maguire earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Albertus Magnus College, a Masters in Business Administration from Pace University, and a Master of Arts in Spirituality from Chestnut Hill College.

Cindy Mesko
Vice President, Agency Development

Cindy Mesko has served as Vice-President of Agency Development for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America since September 2007. In this capacity, she is responsible for leading the nationwide support and services to over 400 agencies through Agency Development staff, the Agency Resource Center, and Program Performance Management staff. The Agency Development department serves as the linkage between our local affiliates and the national office.

Ms. Mesko joined Big Brothers Big Sisters of America in 2003 as Director of Service Delivery Systems, where she led the development and implementation of an integrated service delivery system that included the AIM technology, a Service Delivery Model, and performance management systems. Prior to joining Big Brother Big Sisters of America, Ms. Mesko served for eighteen years as the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Idaho, leading the agency in sustained double digit growth in children served and revenue.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Idaho State University.

Joseph R. Radelet
Vice President, Mentoring Programs

Since 1999, Joseph Radelet has served as Big Brothers Big Sisters of America’s Vice President of Mentoring Programs. In this position, he manages program development, agency development for Big Brothers Big Sisters’ national network, research and evaluation, Hispanic mentoring, recruitment, and community/ corporate partnerships.

Before joining Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Radelet, served as the President and CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit, where he oversaw a dramatic growth of annual matches and developed measures to increase the quality of mentoring and volunteer services.

Prior to that, Radelet held positions with the Metropolitan Detroit Youth Foundation, Detroit Public School system, and the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Radelet earned his Doctorate in Education from the University of Michigan, a Masters Degree is Business Administration and Urban Planning from Wayne State University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit.

Stu Zeiger
Vice President, Information Technology

Stu Zeiger is the Vice President of Information Technology at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Since joining the national team in September, 2000, he has brought vision, experience, creativity and energy to the mission of leveraging technology throughout the entire Big Brothers Big Sisters network.

Zeiger has more than 33 years of IT experience and has managed operations, development, service, support and planning organizations.

Prior to joining BBBSA, he worked for Bridge Information Systems and ADP Brokerage Services where he was Senior Director of Product Management. In this capacity, he was responsible for determining the content of all new Financial Services software releases and for assuring that all parts of the organization were prepared to support these changes (e.g. training, help desk, documentation, etc.).

Zeiger is a graduate of Harvard College.