Wendy Owens

Wendy serves as the Treasurer of C3 and supports C3 in its mission by lending her expertise in marketing, fundraising and communications.  Under Wendy’s experienced tutelage, C3 has been successful in winning a number of grants to fund its myriad of programs designed to foster and grow Richmond’s creative community.

Wendy Burtner Owens is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Comfort Zone Camp, the nation’s largest camp program for children who have experienced the death of a close loved one. Wendy is responsible for managing all functional areas of the organization and the successful national growth of the program.

Prior to joining Comfort Zone, Wendy was a consultant to nonprofit organizations and grant making institutions providing marketing, communications, and organizational development support. She specialized in working with new and emerging organizations. Before that she was the founding manager of the CarMax Corporate Foundation where she developed, implemented, and managed a number of corporate contributions programs. In this role, Wendy worked closely with national and local charities to further the CarMax Foundation’s mission of supporting the communities where their associates live and work.

Wendy spent five years at GuideStar, a nonprofit organization in Williamsburg, Virginia that gathers and publishes information about nonprofit organizations in the United States. There she managed the business development, product development, and marketing strategy for the private foundation and individual donor markets, as well as the development/fundraising strategy overall.

In her early career, Wendy worked with a number of charities serving children, youth and families, including two years as the Director of Operations for the Early Childhood Initiative (ECI) of Allegheny County. ECI was a $60 million initiative to increase the quality and quantity of early care and education services in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services Administration from Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has 20 years experience in the nonprofit sector. She currently serves as Treasurer of the Board of Directors of the Creative Change Center in Richmond, Virginia and Secretary of Board Member of Directors of Beyond Boobs!, a breast cancer survivor support organization. Prior community involvement includes board and/or committee positions with Youth Matters (Richmond, VA), Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists, Williamsburg Community Trust, Child Development Resources (Williamsburg, VA) and Stand for Children Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA).