Barbara Newhouse

Barbara Newhouse has over 35 years of success in leading strategic initiatives resulting in operation growth and market strength. Her specialties are aligning the needs of a varied group of constituents with the overall mission and working with a grassroots chapter and volunteer network while maintaining a strategic business operations focus.

In 1985, Newhouse joined the American Cancer Society, becoming Vice President of Development and Marketing for the entire state of Nebraska and western Iowa. She succeeded in pulling the Nebraska Division out of a million-dollar deficit within 18 months, instituted major gifts and planned giving programs, and reached out to non-traditional partners (such as Nebraska beef producers) to develop partnerships for major fundraising events. She later became Vice President of Development for the American Cancer Society’s San Gabriel Valley area (Pasadena and outer Los Angeles area) supervising a revenue budget of $3.5 million.

Newhouse returned home in 1992 to accept a position as Executive Director of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Big Sioux Chapter. During the next eight years, the chapter’s operating budget grew more than tenfold through implementation of a comprehensive annual fundraising plan. At the center of this plan was the annual Wine and Roses Festival, which grew into one of Siouxland’s largest and most prestigious special events grossing over $200,000 in a market area of 100,000 people. She secured grant funding from the national Alzheimer’s Association and matched it locally to develop new and innovative programming for local families living with Alzheimer’s and dementia—including adult day care, music and art therapy, care consultation, and the development of a community organizing and service delivery model for individuals with dementia living alone.

In 2001, she became a member of the national Alzheimer’s Association’s senior leadership team and Vice President of the Chapter Relations Division. Newhouse supervised the design and implementation of a shared fundraising model and governance structure for Association chapters, consolidation of 227 local and area chapters to some 77 chapters in order to standardize consistent high quality service delivery and operations, and an Association-wide team which provided emergency support to affected chapters and their populations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, gaining national recognition for the Association. Additionally, she facilitated the completion of the Alzheimer’s Association’s first nationwide strategic planning effort.

After 16 years with the Alzheimer’s Association, Newhouse left to become CEO of the Autism Society of America. There, she worked with the National Board of Directors and chapters across the country to develop and implement a plan for revising the national bylaws to modernize membership status while consolidating the network of chapters into a professionally run network of self-sustaining non-profits with a consistent service mission and identity.

Newhouse also served as Region CEO of the Arthritis Foundation, Mid Atlantic Region, where she created a new culture breaking down silos and empowering both staff and volunteers to lead in a unified way. Newhouse worked with the Foundation for four-plus years.

Most notably, Newhouse held the position of CEO and President of the ALS Association for over four years. While there, she worked collaboratively with ALS Chapters to deliver on the mission of leading the fight to cure and treat ALS through research, care and support for individuals with ALS and their families.

Currently, Newhouse is the CEO of the Children’s Heart Foundation, where she specializes in organizational change management and strategic planning facilitation

Newhouse holds a bachelor degree in social work and a master’s degree in health care administration. Throughout her career, she has served on numerous non-profit boards of directors including chairing both a community mental health center as well as the Governor’s Conference on Alzheimer’s disease for the state of Iowa.