Mark Kelleher

Mark Kelleher is an organizational development consultant, primarily associated with The Phoenix Philanthropy Group.  He works with staff, leadership and volunteers at community-based non-profit organizations, universities and other educational institutions, medical centers and health-focused organizations to strategically assess, plan and launch or expand their operations and staffing, governance and policies, community engagement and constituency relations, and funding development from public and private sources.

Prior to consulting, Kelleher was Associate Vice President of Development with San Francisco State University where he helped expand a successful new Advancement division focused on securing funding from individuals, foundations, companies and government sources to counter deep state budget cuts in recent years. Special areas of focus have included the development of community outreach programs, most targeting underserved individuals, such as the Family Acceptance Project which is designed to reduce suicide, HIV infection and other perils often faced by LGBTQ youth; Project Rebound boasting stellar graduation rates for previously incarcerated individuals; as well as initiatives to improve education access and success for at-risk youth including supporting foster youth through the Guardian Scholars Program.

Prior to SF State, Kelleher was with the University of California, San Francisco where he launched the first full-time development program for the AIDS Research Institute, managed fundraising for the School of Nursing, and served as corporate and foundation relations director. Highlights include the development of community outreach programs, most targeting underserved youth, including Valencia Health Service, LINC (child-focused domestic violence prevention), Women’s Global Health Imperative and Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education and its Smoke Free Movie.  He served on the CTCRE advisory board after leaving UCSF.

During this period, Kelleher helped launch Magnet/Strut, a uniquely combined community space and gay men’s health service, now an internationally recognized model.  He remains an active board member focused on advocacy concerning the integration of personal community engagement approaches as a pioneering wellness strategy, and centering health justice with marginalized communities. Similarly, he has been helping to lead the program-centered expansion of LYRIC, San Francisco’s LGBTQQ+ Youth Center, providing safe spaces for services and personal leadership development for the city’s most at-risk young people. He also has volunteered with the Alliance for Change, a learning and mentoring initiative with incarcerated individuals at San Quentin.  

Kelleher began his career at Harvard Law School, and Boston University where he helped expand a pioneering partnership to reform public schools in nearby Chelsea, at the time one of the nation’s most socioeconomically challenged urban communities.  Kelleher earned his M.S. at Boston University and B.A. at St. Anselm College. He and his husband, partners for nearly thirty years, reside in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district.