Patricia Sasse is a Howard County resident of 20 years who relocated from Buffalo NY to work as a staff member at the Social Security Administration headquarters in Woodlawn MD. While there she was selected to participate in one of the agency’s leadership development programs, learning about various parts of the organization during the term of the program. As a long-term employee of SSA, she served in several increasingly responsible management positions until she retired from her final position as the Deputy Director of SSA’s Call Center in Baltimore.
Shortly after her retirement, Pat began volunteering at various nonprofits in Howard County and began to expand her knowledge about nonprofit management. In 2009, she was hired to be the charter Executive Director of the Bright Minds Foundation, which is the HCPSS Educational Foundation, just newly formed at that time, where she served for nine years. Under Pat’s leadership, the Foundation grew from a startup nonprofit to one widely recognized for promoting equity for Howard County public school students via many programs developed together with the Board of Directors.
After this most recent retirement, Pat continued to engage with local community organizations performing philanthropic work. Because of her experience in leading a start up nonprofit, Pat was drawn to the idea of creating a new nonprofit dedicated to helping her peers navigate the various options and opportunities available to them at this exciting stage of life.
Pat is the co-founder and Executive Director of This Point Forward and is happy to be working on the organization and creating meaningful programs along with Mary and the current Board of Directors. Pat feels that her truly relevant experiences benefit the team as they strive to develop programs that are most helpful to others seeking to determine what’s next for them.
Pat is a graduate of the Leadership Howard County Premier Class of 2010. She has served as Chair of several Leadership Premier training committees, as well as a member of their Recruitment and Selection Committees, and has been a member of the Association of Community Services Education and Training Committee. She has also served on the Community Foundation of Howard County’s Grants Review Team and Scholarship Review Team. She is currently a member of the Women’s Giving Circle Diversity Education and Inclusion Committee.
Pat has one son who teaches in Montgomery County and two small grandsons that she loves to spend as much time with as possible.
