Photo by Collin Richie
Hometown: New Orleans
Age: 50
Family: Married to Harold Mack since 1999; three children, Carson, 16, Christian, 15 and Olivia, 14
Profession: Executive director, Big Buddy
Years with company: 32
It comes as no surprise to anyone who knows Gaylynne Mack that her career at Big Buddy started with a basic selfless act: playing with kids.
Mack was an LSU student volunteering for the organization, which matches disadvantaged children with long-term mentors and conducts after-school enrichment programs.
“We’d get on vans and go into the Oklahoma Street housing development,” recalls Mack with a broad smile. “We’d blow the horn, and the kids would load up and we’d take them to Big Buddy game night.”
It was never Mack’s intention to work for a nonprofit—her plan was to go to law school. But it was clear she had the talent for leadership. The organization’s then-executive director, Jim Geiser, asked her to come aboard over the summer, and continue working part time while finishing her degree at LSU.
“Everything just kind of happened,” she says. “I loved working with the kids. It was divine order.”
Mack worked in several different positions at Big Buddy, then left the organization to work for Campfire and Boys Hope Girls Hope. Geiser recruited her back to serve as assistant director, then executive director in 2001 when he left to start a charter school.
Under Mack’s leadership, the organization has grown to serve 500 children at 10 different Baton Rouge schools daily. Big Buddy’s one-to-one mentoring program is a national model because adult mentors are guided and supported in their first few months of volunteering. Helping mentors serve consistently is key to Big Buddy’s success, and it has enabled the organization become a thought leader among youth programs across the country.
“We tell mentors, if you show up, this program will work,” says Mack. “We need you to commit to six hours a month and we’ll hold your hand in the beginning.”
Mack has also broadened Big Buddy’s financial support, securing more than $15 million in federal, state and local funding over her tenure. The program completed a capital campaign ahead of schedule, enabling it to purchase permanent office space on Main Street. She and her team have continued to win a federal 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant for operations year after year.
“That gives us a strong base, and it’s allowed us to be able to show other funders our results,” she says, “and helped us leverage resources.”
Mack has also expanded high profile fundraising events that bring attention and financial support to the organization. Dancing with Big Buddy, modeled after Dancing with the Stars, features local dance professionals paired with familiar community members who raise money through votes. The performance is held every spring at LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Big Buddy also holds the Crawfish King Cookoff with Junior Achievement, at which 37 teams boiled 11,000 pounds of crawfish this year. It attracts around 2,000 patrons.
Holding these and other back-to-back fundraisers doesn’t scare Mack.
“We’re worker bees,” says Mack. “You’re not going to outwork us. And anyway, it’s fun for me—it’s not like work.”
Milestones
1986: First volunteered with Big Buddy
1990: Graduated with a degree in Business Administration from LSU
1994: Received the YWCA Young Woman of Achievement Award
2001: Became Big Buddy’s executive director
2010: Earned the Baton Rouge Area Foundation John W. Barton Award for Outstanding Nonprofit Leadership
2012: Awarded the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana Angel Award
2016: Earned the United Way Women’s Executive Council Legacy Award
Q&A
First leadership experience
I honestly think I have always been a leader. Thinking about it, I cannot remember a time when I have not been in a leadership position (at least in my mind). I go into every initiative asking myself, “Why have I been directed to this initiative? What can I do to help?” Once I decide to help, I give it my all. As my husband explained to me, I get laser focused and I don’t stop until it is done.
Hardest lesson learned
Learning everyone is not on my side. Dealing with people who have not yet found passion and peace in their lives, and who use their anguish to take away the joy of others was definitely a life lesson I was not prepared to mitigate.
Advice for young women
Don’t focus on being influential, that is too narrow of a goal. You will sell yourself short if you only stop there. Focus on being the best you by developing supportive relationships, monitoring your daily behavior and seeking out opportunities to help others.
Meet the other 9 members of this year’s Influential Women in Business class
