SUE PENNER: BIOGRAPHICALSKETCH
As a person that was not only born in New Mexico, but a product of the educational system in New Mexico (New Mexico State University in Las Cruces), Ms. (Jackson) Penner is one of the New Mexico women that are listed in the Who’s Who of American Women. She has been an entrepreneur in the business world and knows first hand the difficulties of being a business owner.
Along with running her own business, Ms. Penner has been active in local government. She served as a town Trustee and then was appointed mayor. She then ran for a term as Mayor of her home- town, serving a total of 7+ years in that position. While mayor, she became aware of the need for additional funding for local projects. She started attending Grant Writing Seminars and attending schools to better lead her community. She successfully wrote many grants for her municipality, among them improvements for their local park, building additions to city hall, a new fire truck for the municipality and a building addition for the fire department.
Along with the title of Mayor, Ms Penner served 2 years as vice-chairman of the Joint Powers Commission, owners of the local hospital, and then served 6 years as Chairman of the Board leading the hospital to become a viable business. Ms. Penner also served her community by serving on the South Central Council of Government Board for 6 years with 4 years on the Executive Board of the South Central Council of Governments. In addition to the SCCOG board, she served on the Regional Planning Organization Board for 2 years. Among her other accomplishments, Ms. Penner served for 2 years on the Sierra County Economic Development Board that worked diligently to get the Spaceport located in Sierra County. The area Workforce Investment Act Board also had her serving on the CEO Board for 6 years and on the Public Board as a business owner for 2 years. She served on the Keep America Beautiful, Inc board for 2 years and also the Regional Dispatch Authority Board for 2 years. She is a founding board member and past the Financial Director for the Veterans Memorial Park and Museum, a non-profit organization.
Ms Penner is a graduate of the Zochlein and Associates Grantwriting Institute, The Richard Marchese Grant Writing Seminars and The Grantsmanship Institute. She is among the graduates of The Foundation Center, Inc for Non Profit Management and the New Mexico Municipal League Leadership Training. For 8 years, she attended the workshops put on by the New Mexico Department of Finance for Municipalities and attended the New Mexico Infrastructure Capital Improvement Project workshops.
Upon retirement from local government, she found that there was a growing need for professional grant writing services around the country. She has been in great demand as a professional grant writer in the Southwest since her retirement from the political arena and has written, reviewed, implemented and been a reader in the grant writing process. She soon found that she has been turning down writing many grants because of time constraints, thus the grant writing seminars came about. QBCS has put together a ONE DAY intensive grant writing seminar that is a step by step “How To” for everyone from a novice grant writer to a seasoned professional. She feels that if she can teach organizations to write a good comprehensive grants, and can accomplish more for the organizations that have a real need for assistance in funding to carry out so many worthwhile programs.
As well as putting on seminars, Ms Penner has been writing books that are available thru Lulu Publishing and are available thru her website www.qbcsconsunting.com. She has also been working to set up several New Mexico nonprofits as well as businesses and organizations interested in grant funding.