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About
Lela Agnew
Lela
Riis Usry Agnew is a successful businesswoman and social entrepreneur
with a wide range of corporate and philanthropic experience.
In
2004, Lela and her husband David founded Civic Square, LLC, a real
estate development and consulting firm that specializes in creating
and managing innovative public private partnerships. Based on David
and Lela's extraordinary track record creating partnerships between
the corporate, government, and non-profits worlds, Civic Square
works with organizations seeking to identify or strengthen their
partnership opportunities.
A park at
the planned Morris Square development in Charleston, S.C. |
Prior
to founding Civic Square, Lela served as the Executive Director
of Water Missions International. Water Missions International (WMI)
is a faith-based engineering nonprofit that serves the water and
sanitation needs of developing countries and disaster areas. WMI
uses low maintenance, culturally appropriate water technologies
to provide drinking water and sanitation and has programs in 10
countries, including Honduras and Iraq. WMI is headquartered in
Charleston, SC.
In
1999, Lela joined Access International, a 28-year-old software company
located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lela served on the executive
team as the General Manager for the Internet division of Access
International, DonateTo, developing web-based philanthropy solutions
for nonprofits and corporations. In 2000, while at Access, Lela
was selected to attend Fortune Magazine's Executive Summit for America's
leading businesswomen.
From
1991-1998, Lela served as Executive Director of Youth Service Charleston
(YSC), a nonprofit organization that builds stronger citizens and
communities through youth service. YSC designs, funds and coordinates
youth service initiatives for children ages 7-18 and their educators.
Lela's students were the first recipients of the "Silver Crescent
Award", the Governor's highest award for youth service, the
JC Penney Golden Rule Award, and the Hitachi Foundation's Yoshiyama
Award. While at YSC, Lela's honors included; Charleston Magazine's
1997 Philanthropy Award; Do Something's "Brick Award"
finalist honoring America's top 10 social entrepreneurs under the
age of 30; Charleston Regional Business Journal's "40 under
40" Award, and; the YWCA's Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN)
Award.
Lela
is an active community volunteer, donating both time and resources
to a number of humanitarian, arts, and educational organizations.
She serves as the Founder and President of the Peacewords Foundation,
a nonprofit that provides opportunities for young people to promote
peace through the arts. In 2003, Johnson & Johnson Consumer
Companies selected Lela as a winner of the Remarkable Women Awards
Program. Lela volunteered as a relief worker in Honduras after Hurricane
Mitch and returned to co-produce a mini-documentary highlighting
the extraordinary community development work of women missionaries.
She is a committed mentor to children in Charleston, South Carolina
and immigrants in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lela has previously
served on the boards of the Junior League of Charleston, the Mayor's
Commission on Children, Youth and Families, and the South Carolina
Governor's Commission on Service.
Lela
graduated in 1990 from Wake Forest University, where she received
a B.A. in History and specialized in Secondary Education. She lives
in Charleston, South Carolina with her husband David and their son
Dallas. They are members of Grace Episcopal Church.
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