A Letter from Our Board of Directors

Nova Newcomer at the first Full Count Camp held in partnership with Jefferson High School Baseball in 2015

After a successful 7+ year tenure at Friends of Baseball, during which she delivered a 10x increase of revenue and oversaw exponential growth in community impact, we are announcing that Nova Newcomer will be making a transition out of her role as Executive Director. Nova came to this leadership role as the first staff person at Friends of Baseball and has helped secure the legacy of the organization as an enduring community institution. We want to thank her for her dedicated service, which involved many significant accomplishments: 
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• Co-Founded the award-winning Full Count RBI program growing it from a 1 week program with Jefferson High School Baseball into a program serving 24 school and non profit partners in 5 school districts and 3 counties
• Assembled a diverse staff of baseball and softball youth development experts and emerging young leaders to provide culturally responsive programming
• Developed financial and strategic partnerships with Major League Baseball, the Seattle Mariners, Portland Diamond Project, the Hillsboro Hops, Positive Coaching Alliance, and Portland Interscholastics League
• Secured multiple large grants from funders such as The Oregon Community Foundation, NIKE Employee Impact Fund, adidas Social Purpose, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Juan Young Trust, and Multnomah Athletic Foundation​
• Received the 2017 Impact Award from Multnomah Athletic Foundation
• Presented to the MLB RBI Institute in 2019 and 2021 on FOB’s leading edge programming and community outreach work
• Led the organization through the challenges of a global pandemic and supported staff in the creation of a COVID-safe virtual Full Count RBI Academy and Play Catch With a Coach program
• Launched the Play Ball Everywhere campaign to engage youth in active recreation statewide, securing funding from Oregon Community Foundation and being chosen as a BIPOC Caucus American Rescue Plan Act funding priority

Nova will be transitioning from her day-to-day role in late November, however she will be consulting with our team to support a successful hire and transition to a new Executive Director. The Executive Director position will be posted next week and we encourage you to share within your networks. If you have any questions or concerns during this process, please do not hesitate to reach out directly at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Jason Dailey
President, Board of Directors of Friends of Baseball

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Click here to read a letter from our Executive Director.