UNCF names Badon vice president of development

Two New Orleans wo­men are the rising stars of fundraising efforts for minority scholarships this year. Therese Badon and LaJuana Chenier are blazing trails as they work to raise funds to help support students from economically-challenged communities pay for college.

Therese Badon, who’s been on staff with the organization since 2005 and has served in a variety of roles including regional development director, now serves as the organization’s vice president of development, a recent promotion based on her high success in fundraising.

In her new position, she oversees the fundraising operations for half of the United States and is fiscally responsible for generating and managing over $19 million a year for the nation’s largest private provider of scholarships and educational support for minority and low-income students.

BADON

Before coming to UNCF, Badon served as the Executive Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving at UNCF-member institution Dillard University in New Orleans. She also served as a Banking Officer at Capital One Bank, formerly Hibernia National Bank, where she worked twelve years in the industry.

In addition, after one of the most devastating hurricanes to hit U.S. soil, Hurricane Katrina, Badon had the privilege of working with two former United States presidents, President Bill Clinton and President George H.W. Bush on the Wave of Hope campaign in 2005 that generated over $4 million to support seven damaged colleges and universities along the gulf coast.

Badon was formerly elected to the Orleans Parish Democratic Executive Committee representing District E. She’s a member of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and served on the Alumni Relations Commission for CASE. Badon has been rated as a Faculty Star for her presentation skills during the CASE/Kresge HBCU Learning Institute and she is a Kresge Advancement Fellow. She is published and acknowledged in the book, Changing the Odds: Lessons learned from the Kresge HBCU Initiative.

Badon holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from Dillard University in New Orleans. She is a Notary Public in New Orleans and the wife of Louisiana State Representative Austin Badon.

Badon’s promotion opened the doors of opportunity for another to lend her fundraising expertise to the cause. On July 30, LaJuana Chenier joined the staff of UNCF in the New Orleans office as the regional development director which means she is responsible for the yearly fundraising initiatives totaling $4.7 million in the states of Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Chenier, who holds a Bache­lor’s of Arts in Com­mun­ications from Xavier University of Louisi­ana, comes to the UNCF after serving as the Associate Vice President of Development and Chief of Staff for her alma mater Xavier University. She is a Kres­ge Found­ation Advancement Fellow and has twenty plus years of experience in higher education advancement and fundraising. She served as the Director of Alum­ni Relations and Coor­dinator of Alumni and Profes­sional Affairs for the Col­lege of Pharmacy at Xavier.

Chenier also worked as the Associate producer for WVUE Television in New Orleans and is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. She is a recipient of the CASE Faculty Star Award and has done numerous fundraising sessions as well as a contributing writer and served on the editorial review committee for Changing the Odds: Lessons learned from the Kresge HBCU Initiative. Che­nier serves on the board of trustees for Xavier University of Preparatory High School and is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority She is the mother of one, Cierra, and the wife of Kenny Chenier.

This article was originally published in the October 8, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper