Nicole Suydam - President & CEO of Goodwill of Orange County

Nicole Suydam is an inspiring leader in our community - driving forward a huge organization that meaningfully impacts thousands of people here every year, whether they work for Goodwill or are served by them.  She is currently President and CEO of Goodwill of Orange County, a role she’s been in for the last couple years.  She had previously served for nearly a decade as Goodwill of OC’s vice president of Development. Nicole was most recently CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank, where she expanded its scale to over 25 million meals in a year and a top rating with Charity Navigator.

She has more than 20 years of management and leadership experience working with local and national nonprofits dedicated to meeting human service needs.

Nicole has done an amazing job of raising awareness, and empathy, about broad needs in our community, and working to provide hope to everyone here, including potential paths to self-sufficiency and independence, and purpose. Never is that more needed in our community than right now!

She was named one of 6 Women of Coast by Coast Magazine last year, was a 2018 Woman of the Year award winner by OCBJ, and one of the Top 100 Most Influential by OC Register multiple times. Nicole is a graduate from Vanguard University in Costa Mesa here, and is the past president of its Alumni Association Board and is a member of the university’s Board of Trustees. Enjoy our Accelerate OC conversation.