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Dan Prater becomes a senior managing consultant for a Springfield certified public accounting and advisory firm.
Photo provided by BKD LLP
Dan Prater becomes a senior managing consultant for a Springfield certified public accounting and advisory firm.

BKD hires Drury nonprofit leader

Posted online

BKD LLP hired Dan Prater, the founding executive director of Drury University’s Center for Nonprofit Leadership.

Prater is scheduled to start in mid-January at BKD as senior managing consultant for the certified public accounting and advisory firm’s Springfield office, said Gary Schafer, BKD’s managing partner in southwest Missouri.

“Dan will share his expertise in nonprofit board governance and strategic planning with nonprofit clients of BKD,” Schafer said via email. “Dan will collaborate with other professionals on BKD’s national nonprofit team to help organizations of all sizes enhance their effectiveness and efficiency. This will involve synthesizing data and developing analysis, providing education and delivering consulting services.”

Drury spokesman Mike Brothers said Prater’s last day at the school is today, though he’ll continue to teach master’s level nonprofit and civic leadership courses as an adjunct professor in the spring.

“We wish Dan well in his new endeavor, and we are grateful for his contributions to Drury and the nonprofit sector in Springfield,” Brothers said via email.

Brothers said Carrie Henry, office coordinator for the Center for Nonprofit Leadership, will lead the day-to-day operations as the college searches for a new director with hopes of hiring Prater’s successor “in the coming months.” Brothers added Charles Taylor will continue to lead the school’s Master of Nonprofit and Civic Leadership program.

Prater broke the news with a tweet on Monday: “I had 8 great years @DruryUniversity, but now excited to start in 2019 with @BKDLLP. It's going to be great - still working with awesome #Nonprofits.”

Prater partnered with area leaders in 2011 to start the center that trains undergraduate and graduate students and nonprofit professionals on marketing, social media, social enterprise and leadership. The center also has completed extensive research, such as a 2016 study that found volunteer work by nearly 55,000 people had a $43.5 million value in Greene and Christian counties over a two-year period. The center also leads the annual Nonprofit Communication Conference and the Nonprofit Excellence Awards.

Prater was a 2013 Men of the Year honoree by Springfield Business Journal, and he also delivered an economic outlook on the nonprofit industry for SBJ in 2016.

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