Adrienne Wilhoite

I began my work in nonprofits in a volunteer capacity with New Hope for Kids, which focuses on providing kids with resources post-loss, if they had a family member who passed or someone important in their life. I fell in love with the nonprofit world and working towards a mission that's greater than solely revenue. I started my career moving into work with the local animal shelter, and it eventually grew into what I do now, which is nonprofit association work at the American Academy of Optometry. As the Corporate Support Director for all of our programs, my work has evolved into corporate partnerships. My main area of expertise is strategizing new streams of revenue for nonprofits, for organizations that don't have a true product they're selling, but more of a base they're trying to reach. In my position, I'm responsible for corporate support development and grants, as well as our exhibits programs and major events. Every year, we host a conference that sees over 8,000 attendees, and I'm responsible for many aspects within that meeting, servicing over 170 companies and over 60 corporate partners, most of which are Fortune 500 companies. Every day looks like working to build partnerships and sponsorship packages with our partners that really speak to their needs and help our mission as well, looking for things that are mutually beneficial not only to our organizations, but also the profession at large that we serve, which is optometry.