Our Team: Stephen K. Orr - Managing Partner

Managing Partner OAI Team Member Since:1991 Years of Experience: 33 General Info Phone: 202-338-6100 ext. 101 Fax: 202-338-8182 sorr@oai-usa.com

Biography

Steve Orr is the Managing Partner and co-founder of OAI along with Carol Orr. Prior to founding the company, Steve was an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co. In 1991, he combined his 12 years on Wall Street with his social conscience to create strategic partnerships between profit and nonprofit organizations. His wife and partner, Carol Orr, co-founded OAI bringing her extensive event management experience to create a leading production capability that for 19 years has produced some of the largest and most effective nonprofit events in the country.

OAI has expanded its services to include strategic planning, board development, development management, campaign management and nonprofit management, in addition to its very successful event management focus. Examples include:

• Steve helped establish the National Mentoring Partnership in 1991 while at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and subsequently helped raise a cumulative $30 million for the organization over the next decade.
• In 1994, Steve founded Youth, I.N.C. (Improving Non-profits for Children) and currently serves as the Executive Director. Through Steve’s leadership over the last 14 years, the organization has built partnerships with 75 youth programs in New York City and raised over $15 million for these youth programs. In October 2007, Steve appeared on CNBC’s “Fast Money” to help promote the powerful work of Youth, I.N.C. which serves 100,000 kids in New York City.
• In November 2008, Don Graham, Chairman of the Board of the Washington Post Company, selected OAI and Steve Orr to serve as the Director of Development for DC College Access Program and manage a $15 million capital campaign.  Mr. Graham is the founder of the DC College Access Program, an organization that provides counseling and financial assistance to students who might otherwise never have gone to college.  
• Joe Robert, of J.E. Robert Companies, tapped Steve, Carol and OAI to create School Night, a premier Washington, DC event that has raised several million dollars to fund scholarships for local youth.
• Joe Piscopo and friend Raymond Chambers turned to OAI to manage Joe's nonprofit, the Positive Impact Foundation (PIF). Steve serves as Executive Director and holds a position on its board. PIF secured a $1 million grant from Enterasys to network schools and nonprofits, helping thousands of kids in New Jersey, in addition to providing many other services for youth. PIF routinely hosts entertainment events in Atlantic City and elsewhere in New Jersey and New York City.
• The Deafness Research Foundation (DRF), established in 1958, retained OAI and Steve as Executive Director to manage the entire enterprise, from fundraising, research grants administration to financial and database management. DRF is the leading research grant-making nonprofit organization in the country supporting deafness issues.
• Mrs. Ethel Kennedy asked Steve and Carol to manage the RFK Memorial's development efforts in New York and Washington, DC. To date, OAI has assisted in raising over $5 million for the RFK Memorial.
• Steve worked with numerous health charities including the National Sleep Foundation, Lupus Foundation, National Osteoporosis Foundation, Alzheimer's Foundation, American Red Cross, Operation Smile, American Geriatrics Society and United Cerebral Palsy, among others.
• Deutsche Bank North America (DBNA) tapped Steve to formalize and create a strategic plan for the DBNA Foundation.
• OAI regularly works with senior executives from many of the large pharmaceutical companies, Wall Street firms, Washington, DC think tanks, entertainment conglomerates and consumer companies across the country; however, Steve is particularly focused on New York City, Washington, DC and Los Angeles.
• OAI's international focus has expanded considerably as Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan retained OAI to organize and form a strategic plan and build both the international and domestic boards for the King Hussein Foundation International. Both the American Friends of the Czech Republic and the American Bar Association for the Europe and Eurasia Program retained OAI to manage multiple fundraising campaigns and organizational matters. Operation Smile involved OAI with the World Journey of Hope campaign and OAI managed their Washington, DC office. United Way International hired Steve to restructure and rebuild its Board of Directors and the US-India Institute for Strategic Policy was managed in its entirety by OAI. And finally, Prince Khaled bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia and the Living Oceans Foundation hired OAI to manage their development issues internationally.

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

EDUCATION

M.B.A., The American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird)

B.S. Business, Michigan State University

Culver Military Academy

WORK EXPERIENCE

Nonprofit Sector

Orr Associates, Inc., Managing Partner and Founder, 1991-Present
      •    Youth, I.N.C. (Improving Non-profits for Children), Executive Director and Founder,         1994-Present
      •    Youth, I.N.C. (Improving Non-profits for Children), Member, Board of Directors,
        1994-Present
      •    DC College Access Program, Director of Development, 2008-Present
      •    Positive Impact Foundation, Executive Director, 2000-2008
      •    Positive Impact Foundation, Member, Board of Directors, 2000-2008
      •    Deafness Research Foundation, Executive Director, 2005-2007
      •    Seaword, Executive Director, 2003-2004

Financial Sector

Goldman, Sachs & Co., Investment Banker, Financial Services Industry, 1986-1991

Paine Webber, Senior Vice President, Capital Markets Desk Head, 1984-1986

Citibank, Vice President, Foreign Exchange Sales, 1980-1984

SERVICE

Conferences and Workshops

•    The American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird)African •    •    American Nonprofit Network
•    Association of Fundraising Professionals
•    George Washington University
•    Leadership Greater Washington
•    National Volunteer Health Associations
•    Tiger 21, LLC

Professional Memberships

•    Chairman, The American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird)   Alumni Association
•    Member, The American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird)   Board of Trustees
•    Co-Chair, National Cathedral School’s Capital Campaign