Greater Cincinnati Foundation appoints VP for marketing and integration to elevate brand and improve operations
The Greater Cincinnati Foundation has promoted Felicity Tao to vice president of marketing and integration, a new role that includes both brand building and improving operations.
Tao, a prominent Asian leader in Greater Cincinnati, surprised many in making the move from the for-profit sector to the foundation less than a year ago in taking the foundation’s role of senior director of marketing.
“Felicity has proven to be an extremely valuable asset to GCF,” said Ellen Katz, the foundation’s president and chief executive officer. “Her leadership, knowledge and skills will be critical to fulfilling our transformative growth and community strategies. Moreover, Felicity has brought tremendous expertise and experience in digital marketing, data analytics and best practices that will position GCF for future.”
Prior to joining GCF, Tao served as the senior marketing communications manager at Cincinnati Bell for nine years before transitioning to a senior brand strategist role in 2019. She is the founder of the Greater Cincinnati Chinese Cultural Exchange Association.
After completing their undergraduate work in their native China, Tao and her husband came to the U.S. for graduate studies in 1999. She became an American citizen in 2016.
As part of the leadership team, she will oversee GCF’s branding, marketing and communications strategies to elevate the organization’s standing as a leading community foundation in the nation. GCF ranks among the nation’s 25 largest community foundations in terms of historic grantmaking.
Part of her focus will be to build on the GCF story in ways that connect and inspire a wide range of audiences, and advance GCF’s mission by designing bold programs and campaigns through analytics and storytelling.
Additionally, Tao will help implement the Entrepreneurial Operating System to ensure effectiveness for the organization. With over 16 years of history and more than 142,000 companies currently using its tools, EOS is a system that helps organizations achieve more revenue, growth and results while delivering a better balance of life to its leaders and employees. Tao will work with Katz and other GCF leaders to integrate all major functions of the organization, develop and implement systems and processes to streamline operations and manage day-to-day cross functional collaboration.
“I’m very excited to lead the efforts to inspire generosity and deepen our impact to build a region where everyone belongs and thrives,” she said. “I look forward to taking the GCF brand to the next level through optimized marketing and operational excellence.”