Leadership

The Planning Council staff includes expertise in the human services needs in everything from quality childcare to homelessness prevention best practices, from nutrition and obesity prevention training to community assessments and programs, from grant writing services to connecting landlords to qualified families in need of housing.

Jo Ann Short serves as the President and CEO of the Planning Council. Her top priorities since joining the dedicated team in 2022 are Board Development, Program Expansion, and Fund Advancement.

Ms. Short has three decades of leadership experience with the YMCA Movement where she served as CEO for 14 years. Jo Ann’s achievements include leading strategic growth, mergers, governance advancement, fund development, financial turnaround, and program innovation. Then, as founder and principal consultant of Simplify Nonprofit since 2017, Ms. Short has provided consulting services to nonprofit organizations such as the Girl Scouts of the USA and other for-profit and nonprofit startups.

Ms. Short is a graduate of Springfield College with a BS in Community Leadership & Development and her MS in Organizational Management & Leadership. She is originally from the Northeast and moved to Virginia Beach in the spring of 2022.

Kimberly Malone serves as the Chief Financial Officer of The Planning Council. Initially hired as a Fiscal Assistant, she began in 2005 and was promoted to CFO in 2011.

Throughout her tenure in various financial positions at The Planning Council, she remains committed to identifying efficiencies and initiating innovative tactics to lead the organization’s financial efforts. She has advocated successfully for a paperless work environment and manages all the IT complexities for our various Maryland, DC, and Virginia offices, including those team members who work from home.

With a wealth of experience in federal compliance, Ms. Malone balances varying grant guidelines to ensure The Planning Council remains in line with Office of Management and Budget guidelines.

She is a graduate of Old Dominion University with a BS in Accounting, and she holds her MBA from Strayer University.  She was born in Brooklyn, NY and relocated to Hampton Roads with her family at the age of ten.

Julie Dixon serves as the Senior Director of Planning and Program Development for The Planning Council. In this capacity, she oversees a variety of community planning, assessments, and evaluation work, as well as the coordination of several coalitions across Hampton Roads.

Since 2002, Ms. Dixon has held positions with progressing responsibilities, beginning as a Community Planner/Continuum of Care Coordinator, then as Program Administrator, and now over the entire Community Planning Division.

Prior to joining The Planning Council, Ms. Dixon worked for five years in Washington, DC, and eight years in Moscow, Russia, in various positions for AIDS Foundation East-West, the American International Health Alliance, and New York University’s Center for War, Peace, and News Media.

Ms. Dixon received her bachelor’s degrees in International Relations and Russian language from California State University at Sacramento, and a Master’s in Public Health from George Washington University. In 2010, she also received a certification from UNC-Chapel Hill for Business Planning in Public Health.