People You Should Know: Darin Preis

Executive Director, Central Missouri Community Action

AGE: 39 YEARS LIVED IN MID-MISSOURI: 10
JOB DESCRIPTION: Oversee all operations, staffing and management for eight-county Community Action agency. Communicate mission, priorities, fiscal responsibility and programmatic initiatives to 21-member board of directors. Lead the development of Central Missouri Community Action. Manage contract compliance, program development, staff development and resource mobilization.
ORIGINAL HOMETOWN: St. Louis (Go Cardinals!)
EDUCATION: University of Missouri, Truman School of Public Affairs, master of public administration, August 2005. Southwest Missouri State University, bachelor of arts degree in English, minor in communications, May 1994.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Since I have been in Columbia, I have attached my own success to that of our community. I served on the Columbia Public Schools Board of Education from 2005 to 2008. Currently, I am the treasurer of the PedNet Coalition, a board advisor to First Chance for Children and am working on the Columbians for Continued Excellence in Columbia Public Schools campaign to get the school bond issue passed on April 6. I am also on the steering committee for the Healthy Environment Policy Initiative. I am a board member of the Missouri Association for Community Action, a member of the downtown Rotary and co-chair of the Education Committee for the Columbia Chamber of Commerce.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND: I started my career as a grant writer for a large Community Action agency in Springfield, Mo. After a few years, I moved to Columbia to be the assistant director of the Missouri Head Start State Collaboration Office, a quasi-governmental organization charged with creating a link between local Head Start programs throughout the state and state government departments. In 2003 I was promoted to director. In 2005, I was hired as the executive director of Central Missouri Community Action.
A COLUMBIA BUSINESSPERSON I ADMIRE AND WHY: Richard King, The Blue Note. I don’t know Mr. King very well, but I’ve always admired the fact that he runs a successful business doing something that he appears to love and that is such an integral part of the entertainment fabric of our community.
WHY I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT MY JOB: I love going home every day feeling like I did everything I could do to make our community stronger and improve people’s lives. CMCA’s mission is to empower individuals and families to achieve self-reliance. We do this every day by offering a variety of programs and services designed to move people out of crises and give them the opportunity to set goals and reach them. With an engaged community, we can facilitate personal development and success so our entire community is stronger.
IF I WEREN’T DOING THIS FOR A LIVING, I WOULD: I’ve always wanted to run a restaurant/movie theater. I went to one in Washington, D.C. many years ago and always thought it was a fun idea. Fortunately, Ragtag has the market tied up, so I can enjoy the concept without all the work. Other than that, I’d like to publish a novel. I used to write a lot until I got busy with a career and family, but I still think I’ve got a book in me somewhere.
BIGGEST CAREER OBSTACLE I’VE OVERCOME AND HOW: Early in my tenure with CMCA and while I was on the school board, I found it hard to say “no” to anything and was heavily overcommitted. Having too many obligations decreased my ability to do anything as well as I would have liked, and I felt like the more I did, the less effective I was as a father, husband and community leader. When my school board service ended, it gave me the opportunity to reprioritize my family and other obligations. Although I continue to work hard and support community initiatives, learning to accept that I can’t do everything has allowed me to focus on the things that are most important to me.
A FAVORITE RECENT PROJECT: CMCA has received several million dollars of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds during the past six months. The planning and development to expand existing programs and start new ones has been exhilarating, stressful and extremely rewarding. Because we have a “living” strategic plan, we already had the framework in place for applying new resources. CMCA is poised to help many people in mid-Missouri who are struggling to make ends meet and will be implementing innovative approaches to an old problem.
WHAT PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS PROFESSION: People in the non-profit community work extremely hard to make Columbia and mid-Missouri strong. Our collective work has an enormous impact on the quality of life in Columbia, and the dollars we use to serve our community have a multiplier effect that means hundreds of millions of dollars circulated through our local economy.
WHAT I DO FOR FUN: There are few things I enjoy more than hiking in the woods with my family and dogs or riding bikes on the MKT. I also enjoy time with friends, chasing my son around the yard and a good game of Super Mario Brothers. I love MU sports, and I am a big St. Louis Cardinals fan.
FAMILY: Stacey and I have been married for 10 years, and we have an 8-year-old son, Hayden, who is in second grade at Mill Creek Elementary. Stacey is the executive director of the Joint Committee on Education for the Missouri General Assembly and recently completed her Ph.D. in education policy at MU. Hayden has decided that tennis is his favorite sport and wants to be an explorer/zoologist/archaeologist/park ranger/teacher. Not a bad plan if you ask me. We also have a Black Labrador named Boo Radley and a Border Collie mix named Shelby (after my favorite car), both adopted from shelters, who might enjoy the outdoors even more than me.
FAVORITE PLACE IN COLUMBIA: Rock Bridge State Park.
MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THAT I: I served in the U.S. Army Reserves for 11 years. Half of that time was in a field artillery unit, and the other half was in a transportation company.