Welcoming CFR’s Chief Innovation Officer!
Please join us in welcoming CFR's newest team member!
We are thrilled to introduce our new Chief Innovation Officer, Christine Sadowski, who will be joining us this spring to play a pivotal role in achieving CFR’s ambitious impact goals!
Christine will be instrumental in developing strategic partnerships, expanding our financial products, ensuring the success of our partners and constituents, and leading our organization into its next growth phase. Meet Christine below!
Christine Sadowski is a nonprofit executive with expertise in organizational management, coalition-building, and program/policy development. Throughout her career, the advancement of women and communities of color have been at the core of her work.
Christine was most recently the Executive Deputy Director of External Affairs at the NYS Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. In this role, she was part of the executive team responsible for updating and transforming the statewide response to gender-based violence. Christine reorganized the external affairs functions (public policy, professional education, communications, community outreach) from three uncoordinated units into a cohesive, high producing team. She also led an initiative to improve the partnership between state and local providers, and developed a program to provide financial assistance more directly to survivors.
Prior to working for NYS, Christine served as the Executive Director of the YWCA Orange County (NY) for over 20 years where she built her deep understanding of how to effectively fund, staff, and evaluate a progressive social justice organization. While in this role, Christine expanded the agency programming into racial justice training and community development, voter education and registration, college access for DREAMERS, and women of color leadership development. She also diversified the funding portfolio, including the purchase and operation of a social enterprise to provide job training for single moms while producing income for the YWCA. Christine is a community thought leader and has published a number of opinion pieces about gender equity.
Christine has also led county and statewide coalitions, and consulted with a wide array of equity-centered organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, The Alliance for National Renewal, and the National Assembly of Voluntary Health and Social Welfare Organizations. She is a past Chair of the Orange County Human Rights Commission and local Chamber of Commerce Minority and Women’s Business Committee. She led the statewide advocacy coalition of YWCAs in NYS for over 10 years, and was appointed by the NYS Governor to serve on the steering committee of the NYS Women’s Equality Coalition. She has a BA Communications from SUNY Oswego, MA Cultural Anthropology from Hunter College, and resides in the Hudson Valley and NYC with her husband and three children.
