About Chris Brodnan

Chris Brodnan is a nonprofit leader, philanthropic advisor, community strategist, and dedicated advocate. She firmly believes that we have a responsibility to act to improve our community to ensure all children and families have the opportunities they need to be successful and thrive. 

Through her years of professional experience and volunteer leadership, Chris has a proven track record building coalitions, as well as a history of evaluating and creating assessment strategies, developing and leading trainings, providing program coaching and motivating others. A natural connector and convener, Chris is driven by utilizing data to inform decision making and improve program quality and performance. 

Chris has more than 15 years of professional nonprofit experience in the education and youth development field in Atlanta. Most recently, Chris served as President of the Junior League of Atlanta, leading a 2,000+ member organization through transformational change - from launching a citywide literacy strategy to exceeding fundraising goals and rebranding the community presence. 

She has a track record of successfully turning around complex organizations. At Horizons Atlanta, she expanded programmatic reach, built a region-wide Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) system, and became a nationally certified program quality assessor. As Site Director at Horizons at Holy Innocents' Episcopal School, she raised critical funding, deepened partnerships, and led a thriving summer program. Her early work at the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Atlanta Civic Site helped launch the Georgia Campaign for Grade-Level Reading and cemented her focus on early childhood success. 

An active community volunteer leader, Chris serves on the boards of Voices for Georgia's Children, the Atlanta Children's Day Shelter, Neighborhood Nexus, and the Alliance Theatre. and is deeply engaged in her community through her church and children's schools. 

Chris earned a Bachelor of Arts from Emory University, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Spanish and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Georgia, focusing in Nonprofit Administration, where she was named MPA Student of the Year. 

She and her husband live in Atlanta with their son and daughter.