Kari Bonaro

she/her
Director of Administration & Community Engagement,
Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy
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Kari Bonaro is a strategic leader with a passion for building communities and advancing social change. As the Director of Administration & Community Engagement for the Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy, Kari oversees communications and community engagement work, and ensures the smooth functioning of administrative operations and the creation and implementation of systems that support organizational goals.

Prior to joining the RWPC team as a consultant in 2021, Kari worked with not-for-profit organizations, start-ups, and foundations in Buffalo, New York City, and Washington, DC, providing program leadership and project management for multi-stakeholder initiatives and grants; strategic communications direction; and organizational strategy and development. Previously, Kari helped to establish and build a multi-disciplinary team at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc., leading the organization’s strategic communications and branding, programming and external affairs, and collaborative grants and Campus-wide initiatives for 12 years.

Kari is a graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. She is on the Board of Trustees at Elmwood Franklin School; on the Board of Directors for Girls Education Collaborative; and the past president of the Advisory Board of the Women’s Business Center at Canisius University. She also volunteers for her children’s schools, sports teams and clubs. Kari and her family live in Elmwood Village in Buffalo, NY.

Presenter: Inspiration from the Field