We're looking to grow. Are you?

dena sue potestio, CAP

Founding Principal and Philanthropic Advisor

Dena is a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP®) and the founding principal of VincentViktoria Philanthropy Advisors (VVPA). She founded the company to honor her parents, whose first names comprise the company’s namesake. Dena envisions a world with less suffering and has committed her life to advancing this vision through strategic philanthropy, values-based leadership, and community-building. She is building VVPA to be a force for that change.

As part of that mission, Dena has launched the VincentViktoria KaffeeKlatsches—a national movement of weekly virtual gatherings for nonprofit professionals and donors to ask questions, connect, reflect, and rise together. Created as a space for shared strength, learning, and purpose-driven dialogue, the KaffeeKlatsches aim to strengthen the nonprofit sector from the inside out through professional development, empowering those who empower others. Dena believes that institutions that build human resilience must begin with the wellbeing and clarity of those who serve them.

Dena navigates the world with a deep sense of responsibility—part fundraiser, part marketer, part philosopher, part strategist. She pursues deeper meaning and tangible impact, especially through storytelling. Dena is committed to justice, human flourishing, and truth—not just in theory, but in how systems operate, how organizations lead, and how people show up for each other. Dena holds a deep belief that love and purpose—when paired with grit and generosity—can lift our world.

Her leadership philosophy includes building productive, high-performance, and disciplined teams and systems; inspiring a philanthropic culture of giving, creativity, innovation, and excellence; and intentionally centering all activities around a set of core values, embracing best practices. She is passionate about the transformative power of health and education—and how philanthropy accelerates change in the lives of individuals, families, and communities.

Dena was previously the Vice President for Advancement at Touro University Nevada, the largest medical school in Nevada, and the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Emporia State University (ESU) Foundation in Kansas and the Colorado State University–Pueblo (CSUP) Foundation. She served in dual roles at both institutions, including Vice President for University Advancement at ESU and Executive Director of University Development at CSUP.

At Touro, Dena worked closely with the CEO and Senior Provost and campus teammates—believing that fundraising is a team sport—to facilitate two seven-figure grants to advance biomedical and human performance research and medical training for local first responders. And arm-in-arm with the president, board of trustees, faculty, and stakeholder community at ESU, she led the most comprehensive and successful fundraising campaign in the university’s history—laying the foundation for the next 150 years of impact.

Before entering higher education advancement, Dena was a Series 7/63 financial advisor with Merrill Lynch and Charles Schwab in Colorado and began her career at Arthur Andersen in Chicago as a financial consultant. Her diverse background also includes serving as a senior policy specialist with the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), a nonpartisan policy organization, where she raised public and private support from the Engineering Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and others to strengthen science and technology policy at the state level.

Dena holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Denver. She also earned both a Master of Arts and a Master of Sacred Theology from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, an affiliate of Columbia University and a partner to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Contact Dena at denasue@vincentviktoria.com or (702) 900-4775.

VIKI "VIKTORIA" POTESTIO

President, Find Enlivenment

Coach, Mentor, Trainer

Viki is an avid lifelong learner. She believes our lives are a journey filled with a kaleidoscope of people and events that pass through our days—some good, some bad, some neutral—and if we’re perceptive enough to notice them, many of these interactions present us with choices and opportunities to learn. But here's the question: Do we take in these lessons so that we grow and develop into the human beings we’re meant to be, or do we instead listen to those ‘little voices’ inside our heads that whisper into our hearts that we’re not good enough, not smart enough, not educated enough, or not handsome or pretty enough to accomplish great things? These negative voices have a terrible knack at convincing us that we don’t have enough money, enough time, enough support, and any number of other “not enough’s” keeping us from reaching our goals and believing in ourselves. Even worse, these voices often tell us that everyone is against us and to not even bother trying.

Viki recognizes that these negative and destructive voices in every head are lies, and she’s skilled at recognizing them. These lies destroy self-confidence. They diminish self-esteem. They lock us into a mindset that constricts our spirits, like trimming the root of a bonsai tree prevents it from growing to its full potential. Unconscious brains aren’t able to tell the difference between fact and fiction, they only know and learn what we tell them. As a coach and mentor, Viki helps her clients to gain the tools and learn personal and emotional skills they need to conquer their negative inner voices, and instead grow their spirit as large and secure as an old oak tree.

Viki has had her share of twists and turns along her life's journey.  She had the privilege of being a stay-at-home mom in her 20s, 30s and early 40s. She used those years to earn her business degree at Colorado State University-Pueblo and build two successful small businesses as an entrepreneur, including Personally Yours, an interior design, drapery, and furniture upholstery company, and The Connoisseur’s Collection, a custom candy company. She remembers being ‘scared to death’ on her first solo drive to Colorado Springs from her hometown of Pueblo, Colo., in the early 1980s. Her destination was The Broadmoor Hotel, where she landed a contract to supply the hotel’s first monogrammed chocolate mints. “She was blessed,” she recounts. Through firsthand experience, Viki knows the challenges of front-line sales teammates as well as those charged with exceptional customer service.

May 18, 2014, presented Viki with the biggest twist and turn of her lifetime when her husband passed away unexpectedly leaving her alone and in shock. She continued to work as a corporate trainer with the Kroger Corporation, a job she held for many years. She came to realize however that she was facing a monumental moment of choice in her life, and understood what the outcome would be if she listened to those ‘little voices’ in her head claiming she was “too old, too sad, too depressed, too much of this or too much of that.” She recognized the negative voices in her head were all lies and instead pushed through them. 

Viki founded IntuitiveGroup in 2015. She’s pleased to be affiliated with VincentViktoria as a coach, mentor, and trainer. Viki has the skills, knowledge and ability to help her clients quiet those oh so convincing lying voices in their heads that are holding them back from accomplishing their goals and dreams. Together with Viki, you’ll identify the who, what, where, why, and how for you to grow into the human spirit you’re meant to be.

Per Dr. Stephen R Covey, “Coaches are neither born nor made. Great coaches choose to be great coaches.” I choose to be a great coach for you. Will you choose me?

***

Viki's philosophy and scope of practice for personal coaching and mentoring:

I’ll move mountains to move your team forward on at least one performance level, ideally two or more.

I believe that coaches and mentors for fundraising teammates must embody a skill set that aligns with the mission of the client. You’ve probably heard from other coaches that they don’t need to know anything about your profession to be an effective coach or mentor. I disagree. The coach you hire should know the thrill of success and the angst of defeat in fundraising. IntuitiveGroup coaches and mentors understand the principles of consultative selling. We're expertly prepared to raise the bar for your fundraising team. 

We’ll help a discouraged teammate who has been rejected to pick up the phone and make the next call.

We’ll help a teammate elevate the stakes and overcome the fears associated with the ‘ask.’

We’ll help a top producer raise the bar to reach new heights.

IntuitiveGroup coaches and mentors have experience overcoming objections. We’ll counsel your teammates on ways to handle rejection and develop communication skills that enable them to listen more effectively and ask probing and thoughtful questions.

Sessions with an IntuitiveGroup coach and mentor will help your teammates to:

• Overcome fear and rejection

• Not take rejection personally

• Challenge paradigms

• Identify personal filters

• Name blind spots and obstacles

• Develop tenacity

• Learn to step out of their comfort zones

• Appreciate the rewards of success

• Identify how trust affects human relationships

• Execute learned skills flawlessly

Contact Viki at viki@talk2viki.com or (702) 900-4775.