Melissa Spicer, chief executive officer of Clear Path for Veterans in Chittenango, has been named the 2016 recipient of 2016 Kathy Goldfarb-Findling Leadership Award, jointly awarded by the Allyn Family Foundation and the Gifford Foundation.
“The Kathy” is awarded to nonprofit leaders who are creative, collaborative and embrace change. Named in honor of the late executive director of Gifford, who also served as director of strategic initiatives at the Allyn Foundation, the award provides a $3,000 honorarium for the recipient’s personal use — whether for professional development or personal growth opportunities.
Spicer received the award at a Nov. 3 ceremony at the Marriott Hotel Syracuse Downtown.
“With commitment, personal resources, creativity and collaboration, Melissa founded an organization, developed programs and created partnerships,” said Dirk Sonneborn, Gifford Foundation executive director. “Clear Path for Veterans has no precedent — there was no model she could copy. But Melissa has a phenomenal ability to listen; to gather together others; and to collectively chart a path forward.”
Spicer, a businesswoman and entrepreneur, is a co-founder of Clear Path for Veterans, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to serving military members, veterans and their families by helping them make a successful transition from a military culture into their communities. Today, Clear Path serves more than 23 counties and offers a broad spectrum of programs and services.
A graduate of Ithaca College, Spicer joined Campus Hill Apartments — an off-campus student housing and real estate business created by her father in 1971 — where she worked for 20 years. In 2003, Spicer created the first canine daycare and positive reinforcement training center in Syracuse. In December 2010, a retired Air Force veteran introduced her to the concept of an “owner/trainer” service dog model and a journey into social entrepreneurship was born: namely Clear Path for Veterans. Spicer recognized the need to create a one-stop facility for military members, veterans and their families to identify what they need and how best to provide it to them.
Today, Spicer works with a staff of 32, 18 of whom are veterans with a combined 46 deployments and 206 years of military service.
The Kathy award was created in 2011 at the time of Goldfarb-Findling’s retirement from the Gifford Foundation. The goal is to recognize her special approach to leadership: to be nimble and creative; to encourage lifelong learning; to embrace leaps of faith and not fear failure; to work “with” not do “for”; to fully engage in collaborative approaches and to at all times believe passionately in the power of change and personal growth.
A selection team made up of previous “Kathy” recipients and representatives from the two foundations reviewed the seventeen nominations that were received for this honor. Nominees ranged from across the Central New York region.
“This is the sixth year we have honored a unique leader in our community,” said Meg O’Connell, Allyn Family Foundation executive director. “The award’s significance is becoming increasingly well-known. Our selection committee has grown to include all previous recipients and some community representation, which not only enriches our discussions but enables us to expand our thinking about leadership.”
Previous recipients of “The Kathy” are Catholic Charities executive director Michael Melara (2011), Mary Ellen Clausen, founding director of Ophelia’s Place (2012), Randi Bregman of Vera House and Mary Beth Frey of Samaritan Center (both 2013), Kerry Quaglia of Home HeadQuarters (2014) and Sharon Owens of Southwest Community Center (2015).
