Kristy Benefield joins Federation staff

Jewish Federation of Louisville Vice President and CDO Stew Bromberg announced that Kristy Benefield has joined the development team as a development associate. “She brings a lot of experience in office management and is a strong addition to our staff,” he said.

“This place is exciting to me,” she said. “There is a buzz of activity all the time.” She’s already getting started and is looking forward to getting to know the Campaign donors and helping them with Campaign.

Benefield has her work cut out for her. She is coming into the position in the middle of the 2014 Federation Campaign just in time for several events, including the Uniquely Jewish event, Bourbon & Jewish Louisville: A Shared Spirit, on January 7; The Lost Tribe event on January 25 for people age 40-64, the Annual Super Sunday Telethon on January 26 and the YAD Casino Event on February 8.

If that were not enough, the entire Federation is moving to a new database that will serve the community better than the old one did, so not only does Benefield have to learn a system that is new to her, the entire department has to learn a new system.

Benefield is up to the task. An Army veteran, Benefield achieved the rank of Sergeant/E5 where she served as a linguist and worked in intelligence gathering before being honorably discharged. She also gained extensive experience as an office manager, director of administration and facilities coordinator with larger corporations and with the American Cancer Society.

“The Cancer Society provided me a great foundation,” she said. “It is where I got my administrative chops and learned how to work in a professional environment. I still use the lessons I learned there today.”

“I enjoy the nonprofit field,” she added, “people working for other people and not necessarily for personal wealth. The ultimate goal, to me, should be to help one another because we’re all human beings and sometimes we all need help.”

“My goal,” Benefield said, “is to make the Development Department succeed in all its endeavors efficiently and seamlessly. I want to make my job seem easy to everyone else.”

Benefield grew up in New England in a community where “the cultures are all mixed together. I had friends of all different religions – Catholic, Jewish and Muslim.” She identifies that same kind of cultural mix in Louisville and enjoys it.

She is married to Craig Gosselin, a colleague she met at the Army’s Defense Language Institute. She also has a 24-year-old son, Casey Benefield, who recently announced his engagement to Allyssa Carter.

She has several dogs and enjoys riding recumbent bicycles with her husband.

 

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