Hartford’s Camp Courant has named a veteran nonprofit organizer in Connecticut as its new Executive Director and CEO.
The free summer day camp says Corrianne Gagliardi, who recently served as a community relations officer for the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, began leading the organization this week after a nationwide search.
McKinley Albert departed the CEO post earlier this year after leading the group since 2014. Garrett Kenny, a longtime board member and advocate for the organization, served as interim CEO while Camp Courant’s board of directors searched for Albert’s successor.
Board President Adam McLaughlin said Gagliardi was chosen out of a field of numerous candidates because she has extensive development and fundraising experience in Connecticut.
“She has spent many years working in the nonprofit realm in Connecticut and clearly has a passion for working to help make people’s lives better, and she will be a wonderful ambassador for the children and families whom we serve,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
Prior to spending the last two-plus years at Fidelco, Gagliardi served as assistant director for alumni relations and annual giving at Xavier High School in Middletown. From 2011 to 2016, she was also the director of development and communications for Connecticut’s chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America. She also had a brief stint as an associate of development at the American Lung Association of New England, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Gagliardi, a graduate of Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, said her initial focus will be to grow Camp Courant’s donor portfolio and program offerings for Hartford youth.
“This is a fascinating time to join Hartford’s Camp Courant, and it is such an honor to be chosen to lead one of the most respected and venerable community-based institutions in the Hartford area,” she said.
Camp Courant, which recently completed its 126th consecutive season, was unable to operate its 36-acre Farmington campus this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the organization was forced to hold many of its annual programs online.
Founded in 1894, Camp Courant says it’s the largest and oldest free summer day camp in the nation serving hundreds of youths a year.