School Booster

After 15 years as president of the Education Foundation of Collier County, Susan McManus is recognized as a community leader who makes things happen. So given the school district’s financial challenges and public political dust-ups of late, how is she using her influence to help improve the situation?

That’s a trick question, as anyone who knows her can attest. McManus has built her reputation, and that of the foundation, by staying out of the funding, policy, human resources and other matters that are the responsibility of administrators and elected officials.

"We’ve always maintained quite a neutral relationship and have built tremendous trust with teachers and principals and district leadership teams," she says. "I very rarely offer opinions. I wouldn’t want someone to do that to me or my staff."

Make no mistake, though, she’s committed to the schools, consistently focusing her efforts on the nonprofit organization’s mission "to enhance learning for Collier County children and their teachers by engaging community support."

That outreach has yielded such successful programs as the Golden Apple teaching awards, student mentoring and mini-grants for teachers. And she continues to develop ways to serve her constituency, including a new initiative that promises to help unite the community.

"She’s an advocate for a cause, and she can do that without being political," says district Superintendent Dennis Thompson. "She has great interpersonal skills. She’s perhaps the perfect leader for an education foundation."

McManus’ association with the foundation began in 1990 when she joined as a founding member. In 1993, the previous president retired and McManus promptly stepped into the position. She had recently divorced and wanted the employment, so the move made sense. "It was the easiest executive director search ever made," says Don Barber, another founding board member and former board president. "She jumped in and did a whale of a job."