Kinnear Brings Non-Profit Board Expertise to CEW Leadership Council

Contance Kinnear, CEW Leadership Council Local community members may recognize Connie Kinnear, one of CEW's newest Leadership Council members, in conjunction with the Ann Arbor Summer Festival. Connie is a decade-long Festival board member and, as treasurer for the past eight years, responsible for financial aspects of the annual event. With an undergraduate degree in economics/secondary education and an MBA, both from the University of Michigan, Connie lends her marketing and accounting skills to one of Ann Arbor's most popular traditions.

"The number one, crucial issue in this country today is education. By supporting people who seek education as the way to become more productive and fulfilled, CEW is making a difference in individuals' lives. And, in the wake of the Michigan's current economic problems and shifting employment trends, CEW is helping people to adjust and retool."\

Connie earned her MBA over several years' time, taking one course a semester while also raising two children: Daughter Maggie is a legal aid attorney in Atlanta, and son Jamie is a senior marketing manager at General Mills in Minneapolis. Jamie and wife Nina's son Ethan is the first Kinnear grandchild.

While her children were young, Connie worked as a marketing specialist, but in the past several years she has devoted herself primarily to community service. In addition to the Summer Festival, Connie has volunteered for several years at Neighborhood Senior Services and the Family Learning Institute, where she currently tutors a reading student one afternoon a week.
Connie was born in Grosse Pointe, but she and her husband Tom – who met as students in an undergraduate economics course – have lived in Ann Arbor for over 37 years. Tom Kinnear is a professor of marketing at the Ross School of Business and director of the Samuel Zell and Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies.

The Kinnears also contribute their time and energy to Greenhills School, where both Maggie and Jamie were students. For the past 12 years, Connie and Tom have co-taught an AP economics course every fall semester. Over time, Connie has assumed a majority of the teaching responsibilities, which currently means that she teaches two classes at Greenhills every day of the week.

CEW is delighted that Connie has become one of our partners and supporters. "I guess I was always aware of the Center's existence," she explains, "primarily because director Carol Hollenshead and I were dorm mates. So I've followed CEW's activities out of the corner of my eye.Ó Then, a few years ago, after encouragement from Leadership Council member Molly Dobson, Connie agreed to serve on a committee to select finalists for the Center's annual scholarship program, something she's done for two years now. That involvement in turn led her to accept the invitation to join the Leadership Council in Fall, 2006.

Why is Connie committed to CEW? She believes "the number one, crucial issue in this country today is education. By supporting people who seek education as the way to become more productive and fulfilled, CEW is making a difference in individuals' lives.

And, in the wake of the Michigan's current economic problems and shifting employment trends, CEW is helping people to adjust and retool." Connie also knows that "one of the very best things a student can hear is 'I believe in you.' The Center's scholarships and other outreach programs are visible, heart-warming examples of how recognition and support change lives."

Connie was the first person to pledge money for the new Riecker Research Challenge. She did so, she says, because "research is the endowment for the future. The kind of practical, policy-oriented research that CEW conducts prepares people – especially women – to be in the right places at the right times. The Riecker Fund will ensure future generations of scholars the opportunity to enhance their research skills and contribute to the world."
"CEW is so lucky to have Connie's expertise, friendship and support," says Carol Hollenshead. "On behalf of the many students who will benefit from her generosity, I especially thank Connie for responding to Ranny Riecker's challenge and moving us closer to our research fundraising goal."