Longtime volunteer Jo Jennings West recently joined the Crossroads for Women Board of Directors. We’re so excited to have Jo deepen her connection with Crossroads and lend her great marketing expertise to our development efforts.
A Crossroads volunteer since 2017, Jo has contributed significantly as a key member of our fundraising & events committee. Learn more about Jo in her bio below.
Jo Jennings West
Jo Jennings West attended the College of Notre Dame (now Notre Dame University of Maryland) where she majored in Theatre and Education. She received her MA in Liberal Arts from The Johns Hopkins University. In addition to teaching Drama and English for more than 20 years, she founded an educational enrichment program that offered after school classes to children in Baltimore-area public and private schools. Her theatre background led her to the role of Artistic Director of the Children’s Theatre Association and a performer of voice-overs and character roles on a Baltimore radio show.
In the early 2000s, she assisted in the launch of Carroll Magazine, a lifestyle publication focusing on people, places, events, and businesses in Carroll County, Maryland. Jo is an experienced sales and marketing professional with proven success in client-based development for small businesses.
In 2015, Jo relocated to Albuquerque and decided to look for ways to contribute to her new community. She volunteered for Hospice Compassus writing Life Journals for dying patients. She found this work not only personally rewarding, but also greatly appreciated by patients, families, and colleagues at Hospice Compassus. Jo was recognized for her outstanding volunteerism in May 2016.
In January 2017, she began her volunteer work with Crossroads for Women by writing for the newsletter and the Annual Report. Her duties soon expanded to fundraising and board membership.
Jo lives in the McDuffie/Twin Parks neighborhood of Albuquerque with her husband Neal O’Callaghan. She has been blessed with a daughter, a son, and six grandchildren.
Check back next month to meet program alumna and new board member Queva Hubbard!