Season One Finale: A Season of Transition

It’s the season one finale of The Catholic Leaders Podcast! As we wrap up an amazing season, Kim and Kerry sit down to reflect on this incredible first season of the podcast and what’s to come. Both hosts share about recent personal experiences of discernment and transition, from Kim’s recent pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago to Kerry taking on the role of President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA.Kim Smolik, Ed.D, serves as an Executive Partner of Leadership Roundtable. Kim founded the Nonprofit Servant Leadership Program that offers Catholic young adults the opportunity to develop their leadership and nonprofit management skills during one year of full-time service in Washington, DC. She also developed international service programs for Franciscan Mission Service in Kenya, Zambia, South Africa, Guatemala, and Jamaica. She has been a guest speaker and facilitator at various Catholic gatherings in the United States and abroad. Kim received her Doctorate of Education from the University of St. Thomas. She has an MA in Curriculum Development and Cross-Cultural Education from the University of Alabama, and a BA in History and Education from Bethel University. Kim is an experienced facilitator in diversity and racial justice trainings. Kim has extensive cross-cultural expertise, having taught high school, college, and adult social justice advocacy programs in Cuba, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Mexico.Kerry Alys Robinson is the President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA and a former Executive Partner at Leadership Roundtable. Kerry is a member of the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities and FADICA (Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities). Kerry is the director of the Opus Prize Foundation, responsible for an annual international million dollar prize honoring people of faith whose ministry is dedicated to the alleviation of human suffering. She has been an advisor to and trustee of more than 25 national and international grant-making foundations and charitable nonprofits. Prior to Leadership Roundtable, Kerry served as the Director of Development for Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale University where she led a successful $75 million capital campaign to expand and endow the Chapel’s intellectual and spiritual ministry and to construct a Catholic student center. A frequent writer and international speaker, Kerry is the prize-winning author of “Imagining Abundance: Fundraising, Philanthropy and a Spiritual Call to Service.” Kerry has been a columnist for Chicago Catholic since 2017. She is a graduate of Georgetown and Yale. You can follow Kerry on Twitter @KerryAlys. The Catholic Leaders Podcast is a space where we host conversations with inspirational leaders to talk about their leadership and how faith informs it. The Catholic Leaders Podcast is hosted by Kim Smolik and Kerry Robinson, CEO and President of Catholic Charities USA.