About Us - Dena C. Jenson

Vice President and Director of the Center for Nonprofit Leadership Email: Dena C. Jenson Phone: (805) 988-0196, Ext. 128 Fax: (805) 485-5537

Dena is charged with the overall direction of the Center for Nonprofit Leadership and drives institutional fundraising on behalf of VCCF.

As the director for the Center for Nonprofit Leadership, Dena develops the curriculum for the center in response to the growing needs of the community and the nonprofit sector. Dena coordinates with over 75 volunteer faculty and 10 members of the Center Advisory Committee to host more than 100 nonprofit management and professional development workshops for the center.

Before Dena joined VCCF in 2005, she was the Program and Public Policy Director of the Perinatal Advisory Council of Los Angeles County, a mother-and-child nonprofit health organization that provides education, technical assistance and support to hospitals and health-care organizations in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Dena also worked as a research consultant for several other nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles County, including the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the city of Santa Clarita’s Community Service Department and the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women.

Dena serves as co-faculty at Pepperdine University and California Lutheran University, fostering intergenerational learning between students and nonprofit professionals.

An alumna of Anaheim High School, Dena graduated from California State University, Long Beach, with her bachelor’s degree in political science and then from University of Southern California with her master’s in public policy.

Dena says of her job: “My greatest joy is working with nonprofit leaders in Ventura County, strengthening their ability to achieve their important missions.”

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