Welcoming Beth Elders, SDI’s First Chief Program Officer
Author:
Starkloff Staff
Reading time:
3 minutes
Date:
August 31, 2026
As Starkloff Disability Institute keeps growing, our programs need someone who can pull every team toward one shared goal.
That’s why we created a new role this year, Chief Program Officer, and asked Beth Elders to fill it.
Beth Elders joined SDI this month as our first-ever Chief Program Officer. She brings 25 years of experience leading nonprofit programs, most recently as Executive Director of the Missouri Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association, and before that, several roles at the American Red Cross.
This new role means more than one more name on our staff page. It means we can plan further ahead, connect our teams more closely, and show donors and partners exactly what our work is accomplishing.
Built on What Came Before
Beth doesn’t see herself as starting from scratch. “Being the first person in this role doesn’t mean starting from scratch. It means building on something really meaningful that already exists,” she said. She’s spending her first months listening to the disability community SDI serves and learning from the program team already in place.
That approach comes from lessons she’s carried across her career. “Some of my best work happened when I had a program team with genuinely different strengths at the table, outreach, education, direct service, data, all pulling in the same direction toward one shared goal,” she said. She learned a similar lesson about partners outside SDI’s walls. At the American Red Cross, she saw that “you cannot meet the needs of a community recovering from a disaster on your own.”
She carries SDI’s history with her, too. “I’m here because of the many people who came before me, especially Max and Colleen Starkloff, whose vision and passion built the foundation SDI stands on today,” she said.
Katie Fields, who led SDI’s programs on an interim basis while we searched for our first Chief Program Officer, is returning to lead the Employer Education team full time as Disability Inclusion Manager. She’s one of four team leads who now report to Beth, alongside the Associate Director of Career Services, the Universal Design Program Coordinator, and a future Director of Policy.
Data and Stories, Together
Elders wants donors to see exactly what their gift makes possible, not just how many people SDI served, but what changed for them. “I want our data to consistently answer that deeper impact question, not just track activity,” she said.
She’s already planning how to make that story visible. She plans to build dashboards in Power BI and use GIS story maps to show donors and partners where SDI is reaching people and where the need is greatest.
For her, that’s about more than numbers. “When a donor supports Starkloff, I want them to know it’s not just funding a program. It’s becoming part of a shared effort,” she said.
As Starkloff keeps growing, Beth is helping us stay grounded in the same community-centered approach that has shaped this work since 2003.
Together, we are building a future where disabled people don’t just access opportunity—we shape it.
