It is our sincere pleasure to introduce our community to Saskia Westhof, a new SVP Partner member who joined in October 2023.
Volunteering and community service have always been a part of Saskia Westhof’s life and part of her family’s ethos. After moving to Boulder in 2013, Saskia shares, “within 3 months of moving to Boulder County I began volunteering. Volunteering not only feels good because it is meaningful and fulfilling, but it also allows me to be more connected to my wider community and be more aware of what is happening and trending.”
After putting a pause on volunteering during the COVID pandemic, Saskia was ready to re-engage and reached out to SVP Boulder County to learn more about the local nonprofit landscape. “After becoming a mother and finding more balance in my life, I was eagerly looking to add volunteering time back in. I reached out to SVP to get a lay of the land of nonprofits in our community, not knowing it was the organization I would end up wanting to commit my time to. I love SVP’s philosophy, the value it brings to our community, and the broad focus,” said Saskia.
With a background in strategy and operations, Saskia has been a welcome addition to SVP’s Strategic Planning Resource Team. “The strategic planning team is particularly interesting to me because it looks at organizational problem solving – helping organizations identify their big hairy problem, and honing in on their big question. It’s also very process oriented, which is how my brain works. We take them through different methodologies or reflective exercises to have a better understanding of what is the core problem and how do we move forward in this, how do we make sure we have a good plan and good strategy in place, and how do we bring people on board,” explains Saskia. She will also be working with a team of Partners to conduct Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCAT) in SVP’s partnership with the City of Boulder’s Community, Culture, Resilience and Safety Tax Grant Program. This team will be helping four organizations to define areas of capacity building support needed to assist with organizational challenges and with growth goals.
Professionally, Saskia began her career conducting child policy and other research in 15 countries. After moving away from international development, she transitioned her career into the social entrepreneurship and impact investing sector. Saskia now serves as a strategy and business operations leader and is the Managing Director, PMO & Optimization for Noodle, a higher education technology company. She has served on several boards and has been an active volunteer locally for TEDxBoulder, Community Foundation Boulder County, Boulder Rotary Club, Watson Institute, and The Coaching Fellowship.
Saskia has lived all over the world and has 3 citizenships (she is Dutch Costa-Rican American). The 2013 floods brought Saskia to Boulder as her husband was working for FEMA at the time and assisted with the relief efforts. Boulder has been her home for the past 10 years. In her free time, Saskia enjoys climbing, running, white water rafting, reading, and traveling.
Please join us in welcoming Saskia Westhof to SVP Boulder County!
