Our Team: Richard Gelula - Senior Consultant

Senior Consultant OAI Team Member Since: 2008 Years of Experience: 31 General Info Phone: 202-338-6100 ext. 167 Fax: 202-338-8182 rgelula@oai-usa.com

Biography

Richard Gelula has partnered with OAI as a Senior Consultant since 2009, after previously serving in the Managing Director role from 1995-1998 and more recently from 2008-2009.  As a Senior Consultant, Richard utilizes his wealth of knowledge in the healthcare field to better serve our clients in the areas of strategy, board development, fundraising and development, communications, and nonprofit management.  During his time at OAI, Richard has worked with a number of clients including, the Friends of the National Library of Medicine, Stanford University Center for Health Policy and Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research, Institute for Democracy in South Africa, Us TOO and the Rome Foundation.

Richard is the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Sleep Foundation, a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC. Founded in 1990, the Foundation is dedicated to improving public health and safety by achieving greater awareness of the need for sleep and of the effects of sleep disorders, and by supporting sleep-related research and policies. Richard held the position for nine years and led a staff of sixteen.

Richard has served as a local and national executive in social welfare and health causes, including the Travelers Aid Association of America, Chicago Hearing Society, the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Osteoporosis Foundation. He has also worked as a consultant to several health charities for strategic planning, development and executive recruitment efforts.

Richard’s major focus has been to integrate key nonprofit organizational components such as Board and staff functions, fundraising, communications, affiliate services, research and public policy initiatives with community outreach, inter-organizational relations and patient services. He has assisted organizations in identifying and employing their core competencies to effectively advance their missions. A skilled fundraiser, Richard has developed multi-million dollar and ongoing fundraising programs. He has served on the boards of the National Health Council, the Association for Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs and the Public Advisory Roundtable of the American Thoracic Society.

A native of Atlantic City, New Jersey, Richard completed his undergraduate work at the State University of New York at Buffalo where he majored in psychology. He then completed a master’s degree in social work at the State University of New York at Albany where his concentrations were in management of human service organizations, public policy and social service planning. He has also participated in several post-graduate training programs for management and organizational development.

Richard has served on the boards of several professional and nonprofit organizations.  He is married to Ellen C. Singer, a licensed clinical social worker, and they are the parents of two children.