Having a title like chief executive officer is an appropriate one for the individual tasked with running a multi-million dollar budget as well as overseeing a vast physical campus but Irma Toce never sees her job through the lens of a traditional business leader. Her decades of experience in leading residential retirement communities had told her well before she took on the CEO role at Londonderry at Tred Avon in 2014 that her job was building a unique sense of place there.

For Irma, that rebuilding started with the staff. With morale suffering from the impact of the 2008 recession and high occupancy rates, that sense of place (and purpose) was the missing ingredient. In fact, she still recalls visiting Londonderry during the interview process and was bewildered that such a beautiful place with such wonder residents was having any problems at all.

And that personal mission has been very much in evidence at Londonderry for almost ten years. With full occupancy, healthy financials, and a culture of authentic community, Irma not only helped steady the ship but clearly had a great time doing it.

The Spy continues with our ongoing series of exit interviews with some of the Mid-Shore’s most talented individuals as they come to the close of long-term impactful leaders of our leading community organizations and businesses, of which Irma is at the top of the list.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about Londonderry on the Tred Avon please go here.

For Jeanne Yeager, one of the original leaders of the Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence, 40 years of service to women and their children suffering domestic violence seems like yesterday. The brainchild of a few brave women in Caroline County who were growing concerned about the increase of violence in area homes, the Mid-Shore began offering services to victims that no federal, state or local government could provide at the time.

Over the last four decades, the Mid-Shore’s portfolio grew from finding safe shelters for families in need but began to diversity by dramatically increasing its mental health care and support groups and, more recently, bringing in volunteer lawyers to help with divorce and child custody matters, the creation of food pantries in all five the counties, and improving internet-based programs to reach more families in need.

In the Spy’s ongoing series celebrating 20 years of grantmaking by the Women & Girls Fund, we talk to Jeanne about this unique program. We also ask WGF board member and attorney Karen Kaludis, one of those early pioneers in the field of domestic violence, to talk about her long-term relationship Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence.

This video is approximately 6 minutes in length. For information about the Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence please go here.  For the Women & Girls Fund please go here.