From Finance and IT to Nonprofit Leadership: Loretta Kryshak on Building a Life of Purpose

If you'd asked Loretta Kryshak in her early twenties what she pictured for her career, she would have described spreadsheets, network architectures, and writing code, not warehouses full of donated bikes, or press appearances to announce million-mask milestones, or spending an afternoon photographing children at a park in Milwaukee receive their first bicycle.

Life has a way of taking your skills somewhere you never expected to need them and Loretta has spent a lot of years being grateful for that.

A Foundation Built on Finance, Technology, and Design

I graduated from UWM, where I earned two bachelor's degrees. One in Finance, one in Management Information Systems both landing me on the Dean's Honor List. I started out using my financial skills as a computer programmer, customizing financial programs focused on basic MRP to manage inventory control, production planning, and scheduling for manufacturing industries. Over time, I was a pioneer when barcoding became available to help make inventory control easier.

I also hold an Associate of Arts in Graphic Design and Photography from Milwaukee Area Technical College, where I earned Dean's Honor Roll recognition as well.

That combination; financial literacy, systems thinking, and visual design sounds eclectic, but it has turned out to be exactly the toolkit that nonprofit leadership demands.

Running Rebel Reform is not a lax job.  It requires understanding how money moves, where it should go, and how to make a case for specific allocations when resources are limited. It requires systems thinking: how do you coordinate 22 partner agencies to distribute 4 million masks during a public health crisis? How do you organize a warehouse, a volunteer team, a logistics chain, and a community outreach campaign simultaneously? Effective organizational communication requires a strategic blend of clear, compelling, and mission-true messaging, where both visual and verbal elements are aligned.

Finance. Systems. Design. I use all three, every single day.

The Corporate Path That Preceded the Nonprofit One

Before Rebel Reform, I worked in the corporate world as a consultant, project manager, and systems analyst. These weren't glamorous titles, but the work was intellectually rigorous and taught me skills that I don't think any amount of nonprofit-specific training could have replicated.

As a consultant, I learned to enter unfamiliar organizations, quickly understand how they actually function (as opposed to how they say they function), identify inefficiencies, and recommend solutions that could survive implementation. As a project manager, I learned to hold timelines and people accountable without destroying relationships. As a systems analyst, I learned to think in processes to see not just what's happening now, but what happens next, and next after that.

All of this became the architecture of how I lead Rebel Reform. When we partnered with Just One More Ministry to renovate their 24,000-square-foot warehouse, I wasn't just writing a check, I was managing a project. When we designed the #MaskUpMKE campaign, I wasn't just organizing volunteers, I was architecting a system that had to scale across county lines and health department relationships and manufacturing logistics simultaneously.

I am proud of what Rebel Reform has accomplished. I am equally proud of the professional foundation that made those accomplishments possible.

What Loretta Kryshak Believes About Women in Leadership

I am careful not to overclaim about my own experience, but I do think there's something worth saying about the path that led me here.

I came of age in fields of finance, information technology, systems engineering where women were present but not common. Where being taken seriously required a certain kind of persistent, unflappable competence. Where you learned quickly that you did not get the benefit of the doubt; you demonstrated it, every time, and then you moved forward.

The women I admire most in leadership share knowing that  confidence comes from knowing your worth and refusing to compromise it. I try to model that at Rebel Reform, and I try to model it for the young people in our community of both, boys and girls who are watching how adults show up when things are hard.

The Junior Women's Club and Community Roots

Before Rebel Reform, when I became a mother , I joined the Junior Women's Club of Mequon an organization that exemplifies exactly the kind of community-level relationship building that I believe underpins all meaningful civic work. Volunteering and organizing through organizations like the Junior Women's Club has kept me connected to the fabric of everyday life in southeastern Wisconsin in a way that a nonprofit executive role alone never could.

Local organizations matter. Neighborhood relationships matter. The woman you serve alongside at a community event is the person who calls when she hears about a family that needs bikes or backpacks or a warm meal. That network is irreplaceable and it doesn't build itself.

A Career That Keeps Evolving

I'm often asked whether I miss corporate life. The honest answer is: As a Graphic Artist I am still very much involved with our company and everyday chaos at Rebel Converting.

But, what I also have — leading an organization that directly changes the material conditions of people's lives, while also pursuing photography, and traveling with my family, and staying connected to the community where I've built my life — is richer than anything I pictured in those early years of spreadsheets and network diagrams.

The skills are the same. The purpose is larger. And the work, even on its hardest days, is worth it.

Loretta Kryshak is the Executive Director of Rebel Reform, the social outreach arm of Rebel Converting. She holds degrees in Finance, Management Information Systems, and Graphic Design & Photography and has spent over a decade leading community impact programs in southeastern Wisconsin. Follow her work at lorettakryshak.com.