Board of Directors
Robert Bennett
Chairman of the Board
rbennett@resourcedevelopment.net
Robert Bennett has nearly 30 years of experience as a leader in the research and development of social services and public policy initiatives. He is a nationally known expert in program development and evaluation, planning and grant writing, and software, data warehousing, and mapping applications.
Bob founded Resource Development Associates, Inc. (RDA) in 1984, and for the next 20 years led the development of major initiatives in public health, urban revitalization, juvenile justice, infant mortality, perinatal substance abuse, school-linked family support services, homelessness, mental health, children systems of care, and independent living services. He has been a frequent consultant to Federal and State agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, and Center for Substance Abuse Prevention; the National Institute of Mental Health; the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the State of California Department of Health Services; and the State of California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. Today, RDA is one of the nation's premier strategic consulting and research firms specializing in strengthening public and nonprofit efforts to promote social and economic justice for vulnerable populations. In addition, over the past ten years, the firm has raised more than $400 million in funds from State, Federal and private funding sources.
In 2003, Bob left his position as Principal of RDA to become President and CEO of Family Service Agency of San Francisco, San Francisco's oldest and largest outpatient social services and mental health treatment organization. He continues to serve RDA as Chairman of the Board. Prior to forming RDA, Bob was Executive Director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled, a consumer-driven, community based, services and advocacy organization whose mission is to increase social, educational, and economic participation of persons with disabilities.
Bob is the author of several dozen major evaluations and published papers, as well as numerous invited conference presentations. He is also the co-author of Vision/Reality, HUD's guide to comprehensive community planning. Bob holds a B.A. in philosophy, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and an M.A. in history, with highest honors, from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in organizational development from the Fielding Graduate Institute.
Patricia Marrone Bennett, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
pbennett@resourcedevelopment.net
Dr. Patricia Marrone Bennett has an extensive background as an advocate, administrator, planner, and organizer. With more than 35 years of experience in the nonprofit and public sectors, she has consistently sought to develop the capacity of organizations to fulfill their missions and better serve their communities. Her work has helped her to develop a comprehensive understanding of government funding streams, contracts, and policies regarding allocation of resources. Throughout her career, Pat has participated in several of the largest and most innovative projects in the nation in the areas of youth violence prevention, juvenile justice reform, substance abuse, homelessness and child welfare reform. She has conducted research on the impact of family violence on the incidence of youth violence as well as research on youth gangs in Oakland, Richmond, San Jose and San Francisco.
As President and Chief Executive Officer of Resource Development Associates, Inc. (RDA) since 2004, Pat leads one of the nation's premier strategic consulting and research firms specializing in strengthening public and nonprofit efforts to promote social and economic justice for vulnerable populations. In partnership with others, she currently leads RDA's multiyear evaluation of the After School for All (A4A) collaborative, an ongoing evaluation and planning project involving five school districts and 36 schools in the East Bay. Pat is also the lead consultant to the San Francisco Proposition 63 (Mental Health Services Act) mental health transformation planning effort. She led the planning process for the State of Washington's mental health transformation effort and continues to provide services to the State now that it has been chosen by the federal government as one of seven sites for funding. In addition, she has been the project lead on numerous efforts including a state funded multiyear grant to address chronic truancy in West Contra Costa County, a planning effort to examine the occurrence of youth and family violence in specific neighborhoods, and a variety of planning and research efforts on youth homelessness in the San Francisco East Bay area.
Prior to joining RDA in 1995 as a Principal and member of the firm's Board of Directors, Pat spent 25 years working in the nonprofit sector as an Executive Director of several multi-service organizations providing prevention and intervention services to low income youth and their families, including The CENTER - Counseling, Education and Crises Services; Allied Fellowship Service; and the California Public Interest Research Group. She also served as the Chief Lobbyist for the Friends Committee on Legislation, a nonprofit advocacy group (established by Quakers in 1952), where she addressed juvenile and criminal justice, and mental health civil liberties on a daily basis before policy makers. Pat was the first Executive of the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Commission. She has worked as a community organizer and has been a lecturer at several universities. She is currently an Adjunct Professor at Capella University and teaches graduate students on "The Role of the Board and CEO in Nonprofit Organizations."
Pat is the primary author of numerous governmental and foundation grant applications including applications to the National Funding Collaborative on Violence Prevention, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the California Endowment Foundation. She served as a Commissioner of both the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Inmate Population Management, and the Contra Costa County Housing and Community Development Commission. In addition, she is past Chair of INTERACT, a coalition of health and human service organizations, as well as past Chair of the Alameda County Grants Management Commission. Pat holds a B.A. in speech communication from San Francisco State University, and an M.A. in human and organizational systems and a Ph.D. in human and organizational development from the Fielding Graduate Institute. She is currently researching and writing on the topic of creating mindful organizations within the nonprofit sector.
