Kayem Dunn has made a name for herself in Grand Rapids as an innovator, a leader, and a facilitator, largely with not-for-profit organizations. After almost 30 years of working for others, she started her own consulting business in mid-2006. She recently spoke with me about her career; here are excerpts from that conversation.
How did your career begin?
My career path has been a long, winding road and somewhat non-traditional. I moved to Grand Rapids in 1973 when my two children were young and got my first work here in the late ‘70s. The Grand Rapids Public Schools hired me to put together and run an after-school and summertime program for elementary students called Lighthouse. It was a wonderful opportunity because I was able to hire experts from the community to teach the various classes. I hired Bill Steffen, for example, to teach the first meteorology class for children.
Later, I became involved in public television, primarily as a volunteer. Then I became the executive director of the Friends of WGVU and eventually the publisher of West Michigan Magazine. I served in that capacity for seven or eight years. At that time I was also a member of the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce Board.
In the late ‘80s I began working for the Council for Interior Design Accreditation, the international accrediting agency, as its executive director. The organization set quality standards and made evaluations of college and university interior design programs, schools like Kendall School of Design. It was a very interesting job and involved a fair amount of travel. I was there for 18 years before two things brought about a change. I had a very talented second-in-command who was to be my successor and he was ready to move up or out. The other consideration was my involvement in downtown improvement efforts. I wanted the flexibility to be able to continue that volunteer work. I had been saying for a long time that I wanted to start my own consulting business and the time was right for me to move on.
How did you get your business, Kayem Dunn LLC, started?
I’ve been constantly busy since I launched my consulting business, so busy that I haven’t had time to get my website up and running. My jobs come from word-of-mouth, people-to-people references.
First, I was immediately hired back by the Council for Interior Design to do development work on a major project called Future Vision. We assembled a group of about 20 people from all over the country to participate in the strategic planning process.
I was also hired to work as the interim executive director of the West Michigan Environmental Action Council, which was exactly the type of thing I was interested in doing – working with a group in transition. They needed someone to serve in the leadership capacity while they made their organizational transformation. Once they found their new executive director, Rachel Hood, I continued on to develop a work plan based on their strategic plan, working closely with the new director.
Other clients were Urban Institute for Contemporary Art and the Council of Michigan Foundations. Then, too, I was the local publisher of Rapid Growth for a year ending last fall, working to promote the advertising and secure sponsors. It’s an incredibly popular website – I believe the ideas that inform it are right on.
What are you working on now?
One of my major commitments now is working with a not-for-profit that is going through a transition. Two groups merged, but neither had a strong culture or institutional structure as a not-for-profit organization. I’m working on organizational development with them.
What is the common thread or focus of the consulting jobs you tackle?
I’m interested in change and playing a supportive role to change efforts. It intrigues me and also provides a certain amount of variety and a significant amount of challenge. To me it’s like working your way through a big puzzle. I like the problem solving aspect of it. I like the opportunity to work with a variety of people. Also, a big piece of what invigorates me is the learning. There’s not a model you can plunk down to solve a particular problem. I like working through the process and learning from it. I’ve been working in this community for a very long time and know a lot of people. I try to assemble resources and bring good minds together to solve problems. I am the facilitator; I match people up with problems.
What serves me well is all my years of experience as executive director of a small not-for-profit. The combination of my professional experience and life experience has prepared me to respond effectively to various situations and needs.
People know I’m involved in this community. They say things to me like, “What organization are you saving now?” or “What sort of innovative thing are you working on?” Those are nice compliments to hear.
Talk about your involvement in downtown Grand Rapids.
I’m on the Board of the Downtown Alliance which administers the assessment to the downtown property owners. Specifically, I was on the Maintenance and Beautification Committee for a number of years and, as such, I’ve been very involved with the installation and upkeep of the downtown planters and flower beds.
I also chair the Board of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA). We channel tax monies into specific downtown projects that help with the ongoing revitalization of the area. You can stand anywhere in downtown Grand Rapids and see projects that the DDA has helped support. Often what the Authority does is put a little piece of money in the pot to help the larger pot of money work for an individual project. It might be a grant for $50,000 or it might be a $5 million commitment, as was the case with the VanAndel Arena or the Convention Center. Then again it might be an agreement to reimburse a developer for a major project. We use different mechanisms. It’s a combination of being strategic and being responsive to opportunities that arise. It’s exciting for me to watch as development happens.
Deb Moore, a Grand Rapids resident, is a freelance writer, personal historian and contributor to Rapid Growth. She mostly recently has written for Rapid Growth about the publication's Development News Editor Deborah Johnson Wood and Accents Gallery owner Patti Wisniewski.
Kayem Dunn at her Heritage Hill home
Photographs by Brian Kelly - All Rights Reserved
Brian Kelly is a commercial photographer, filmmaker and Rapid Growth's managing photographer. You can follow his photography adventures
here on his blog.
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