Kim Cook
Kim Cook is a dedicated nonprofit leader, mentor, and project management professional whose career has been defined by service, collaboration, and community impact. As Executive Director of the Oak Creek Community Center in Wisconsin, she oversees day-to-day operations for a vibrant community hub that hosts events, fundraisers, job fairs, special needs dances, and free concerts for local residents among other events. With a hands-on leadership style and a passion for helping others, Kim has built a reputation for fostering strong relationships, mentoring teams, and creating welcoming spaces where people feel connected and supported. Before entering the nonprofit sector, Kim built a diverse professional background in project management, operations, training, and process improvement through roles with organizations including Northwestern Mutual, Pixologie, and Ethic Indoor Sports Complex. Her experience managing projects, improving workflows, and coaching employees gave her the tools to modernize operations at the Oak Creek Community Center. Upon joining the organization, she led efforts to streamline outdated manual systems, replacing paper-based scheduling processes with more efficient and collaborative solutions that improved communication, accessibility, and overall organizational effectiveness. Kim’s passion for community service is deeply personal and rooted in a lifelong commitment to giving back. Inspired by years of involvement in local fundraising initiatives and shaped by the loss of a close friend to cancer, she has devoted herself to building programs and partnerships that strengthen her community. Under her leadership, the Oak Creek Community Center earned the 2024 Community Impact Award from the South Suburban Chamber of Commerce, recognizing the organization’s role in fostering meaningful connections and opportunities throughout the region. Guided by the belief that “it takes a village,” Kim continues to champion teamwork, mentorship, and community-driven progress in everything she does.
• Grant Seeking Essentials Certificate
• SAFe 4.0 Practitioner
• Design Thinking: Understanding the Process
• Certified Trainer
• University of Phoenix
• 2024 Community Impact Award from South Suburban Chamber
• Cancer fundraising and benefits
• Support for Ryman Center cancer center
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to a lifelong passion for helping others and a willingness to step in and create meaningful change where it’s needed most. I also believe my ability to modernize processes, build strong community relationships, and lead with open communication, teamwork, and a hands-on approach has helped me make a lasting impact in the nonprofit space.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The greatest advice I've received is that it takes a village - you can't do it all yourself. You have to be able to rely on others. Communication is important, follow-through is important. We have to work well as a team in order to achieve the goals that we have in front of us.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice would be to make sure you are surrounding yourself with the support needed in order to make sure you have that balance in your life. It can be overwhelming, there's sometimes more negative than positive, and you have to keep your eye on the prize. You have to make sure that you know why you got into it, and you revisit that. There will be people you meet you don't have as much faith in you as you have in yourself. Use that to strive for bigger and better.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges are funding and maintenance issues. I'd like to start a volunteer program just for the community center, because everybody here is part-time staff, and it makes it difficult. The building itself is 30 years old, so I'm running into various issues within the building that need to be maintained, because there was never a separate fund for maintenance here. The overhead has been an issue. A lot of people think we're city-funded, and we are not - we're a self-funded nonprofit. So just making sure that we have what we need in order to operate every day is a challenge.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I admire the women that I work with and have mentors that I rely on. There are a number of nonprofit networks out there that are now supporting nonprofits, which I so appreciate, because I've helped with nonprofits professionally but I've never been in the forefront of nonprofits, so that's been helpful to help me navigate some of the more difficult challenges. Communication is important - I have a very open-door policy. The women that work here work very well together. Also being the best role model I can be to my daughters is extremely important to me.