Stephanie Young

about stephanie

Stephanie Young is the Founder and President of SLY Consulting, a firm specializing in helping healthcare leaders, philanthropists, policymakers, government and community officials, organizations, academic medical centers and private and public companies in their efforts to prevent disease and save lives. Stephanie has devoted much of her life and professional career in healthcare. For the last several years, she has been actively engaged with several innovative global healthcare initiatives as well as both startup and established biotech companies and family foundations. She currently serves as the Senior Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Baylor College of Medicine.

Extensive experience in diverse healthcare settings has provided Stephanie with a unique vantage point of seeing up close and personal how diseases, and especially preventable ones, can take a physical, emotional and mental toll on patients and their families. For Stephanie, there is no higher calling than to use her time, talents and energy to empower patients with knowledge, inspire philanthropy to find better treatments for all people, and protect the future health of children and the next generation. She dreams of a day when we can end unnecessary suffering, and diseases like cancer, can be put in the history books once and for all.

Experience

Stephanie’s 25 year career spans experience in philanthropy and fundraising, securing significant funds from diverse sources worldwide; strategic partnerships, bringing together diverse stakeholders such as global healthcare leaders, organizations, corporations, philanthropists, and government leaders to deliver innovative solutions for population-level impact; leadership, building and managing large diverse teams, developing and helping to implement strategic business plans, and empowering volunteer groups to take action; stakeholder engagement, facilitating work groups and advising Boards, building investor, employee and community relationships; and marketing communications, developing and executing targeted communication strategies and integrated marketing plans, social media engagement, brand development, website development, content management, crisis management, and media relations and promotions.

Recent Noteworthy Projects

Since launching her consulting firm in 2017, Stephanie’s unique experience and capabilities were put to work for one of the largest private foundations in Australia. Retained as their interim Chief Philanthropy and Communications Officer, she worked closely with healthcare executives, global cancer foundations, research groups, academic medical institutions, and philanthropists to launch and build their cancer initiative. One of her many accomplishments included the planning and successful launch of round table summits in four countries bringing prominent world leaders from different sectors together (academia, government, industry, philanthropy, patients) to identify ways to harness resources and share knowledge to eliminate brain cancer. Significant dollars were raised, aggressive plans were developed, and measurable results occurred including the design and funding of a new data platform.

Early Career

Stephanie spent 16 years at MD Anderson Cancer Center starting in an entry level fundraising position that rapidly progressed to her role as Associate Vice President of Development. She led a 30 member team who secured over $330 million in gifts (personally raising over $100 million) from grateful patients, board members, high-net worth individuals, international philanthropists, corporate executives and foundation leaders. Together with senior leaders, Stephanie took the lead in creating a five-year business plan to expand and solidify the donor base across different markets. She partnered with the institution’s President, executive leadership, faculty and board members to position the complex and large organization for enhanced success. She created the first of several successful corporate alliances, which became a model for corporate giving. Working with diverse stakeholders including key leaders in Mexico (Secretary of Health, INCan, philanthropists), top prevention faculty, MD Anderson President, and others, Stephanie spearheaded the initiative for all parties to sign a joint agreement to develop prevention and control programs to reduce tobacco use among youth. Early in her career, Stephanie worked for National Instruments, a Fortune 100 Company, where she led an international marketing communications program for the Americas, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts where she planned and managed special events.

Organizations, Speaking, Honors and Education

Stephanie is active in many professional organizations including CASE, AFP, and AHP where over the years she has been a speaker on a variety of topics. She also taught a course at the University of Houston for the American Humanics Program on Major Gifts. Throughout her career, Stephanie has received numerous honors, awards and recognition for her many accomplishments. As a young woman, she was named a Rotary Club International Ambassadorial Scholar and soon after joining MD Anderson, was selected to participate in the institution’s Harvard Advanced Management Pilot Program. Stephanie is fluent in Spanish and volunteers with several healthcare organizations including serving in a Board member capacity. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Communications with a concentration in Business and Spanish from The University of Texas at Austin. She also graduated from a one year advanced study program in Mexico attending classes at the University of Guadalajara.