Kerri Forrest

Kerri Forrest is a senior-level philanthropy director and non-profit manager with more than two decades of management and organizational systems expertise. A proven senior manager, Kerri specializing in cultivating strategic partnerships, resource allocation, economic development, advocacy, and project management. A Charleston native, Kerri returned to the Holy City in 2010 after a 16-year career covering politics with national broadcast outlets MSNBC, NBC NEWS and CBS NEWS. For four years, she was the Director of Institutional Advancement with the American College of the Building Arts, the only institution of higher education in the U.S. offering a liberal arts degree in traditional building crafts. There she was responsible for all fundraising, marketing and alumni relations for the College as well as creating community partnerships. Kerri is heavily involved in the arts and civic communities and has served with a number of local and regional organizations including the Friends of the Lowcountry Lowline; TEDxCharleston; the South Carolina Arts Commission Leo Twigg Scholars. In addition, she has been an adjunct professor of professional communications and public speaking at the Art Institute of Charleston and of fundraising at the College of Charleston. She is a former board member of the YWCA Greater Charleston and current a member of the One Region Executive Committee. Kerri graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences from Clemson University in 1994, a Masters of Arts in Interactive Journalism from American University in 2001, became a DLI Riley Fellow in 2013 and is a member of the Liberty Fellowship Class of 2018.