A Firsthand Account of the 2025 National Mentoring Summit: Meet MENTOR Board Member Rob Acton
April 9, 2025
MENTOR is proud to welcome Rob Acton as one of the newest members of our national board of directors. Rob brings decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, youth development, and board development. He is the Founder & CEO of Cause Strategy Partners and author of a book entitled, Becoming a Causie: Champion Your Cause Through Nonprofit Board Leadership, published by ForbesBooks, a #1 Amazon best seller in the charity and philanthropy category. Through his firm’s signature program BoardLead, Cause Strategy Partners has placed nearly 3,000 professionals in the United States and the United Kingdom on nonprofit boards, while training tens-of-thousands more in high-impact nonprofit board service.
Rob has long been a passionate advocate for mentorship, and his insights and expertise will be invaluable to our mission. Recently, MENTOR’s Chief Development Officer, Nicki Ruiz de Luzuriaga, had the opportunity to sit down with Rob to discuss his personal mentoring journey and what inspired him to join MENTOR’s board. Today, we’re excited to introduce Rob’s story and his vision for how mentorship can help unlock opportunities for young people across the country.
What inspired you to join the board at MENTOR?
It’s a return to my roots. The first 10 years of my career I spent working with young people in various low-resourced neighborhoods in cities like Camden, New Jersey; in Jackson, Michigan; and Harlem and Brooklyn in New York City. Through that work, I had the opportunity to directly invest in the lives of hundreds and hundreds of young people. I also represented children in family court who were affected by abuse and neglect. It was devastating to me when my clients would be emancipated as young adults without the safety net of biological or adoptive parents. In such circumstances, what could be more powerful than a caring adult prepared to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with a young person?
I also have a deep passion for building the capacity of nonprofit organizations. These are services MENTOR offers in a high-quality way. I believe in the critical importance of capacity building for the sector and recognize that a great deal can be accomplished when we strengthen nonprofits with necessary services and support.
What are you most looking forward to as one of the newest members of MENTOR National board of directors?
MENTOR is the first organization I’ve been a part of that engages in policy and advocacy at a national level. I jumped at the opportunity to serve – not only because I’m passionate about the cause – but also because I was so inspired by the work MENTOR does at a systems level. MENTOR’s annual day of advocacy, Capitol Hill Day, was particularly motivating. I believe this proactive mentoring advocacy work will be so important over the next few years.
I have been actively involved in mentoring over the years, but with MENTOR, I am looking forward to taking a more macro-level approach and learning best practices in the field. At the National Mentoring Summit I saw firsthand how so many small mentoring organizations rely on new evidence-based learnings from MENTOR to strengthen their core work.
I also look forward to working alongside MENTOR CEO Jermaine Myrie and the team as a resource. I hope to leverage my experience in nonprofit leadership, social impact, and board governance to help continue to strengthen this outstanding organization.
What role do you feel that MENTOR as an organization plays in advancing opportunity for young people?
At the National Mentoring Summit I was struck by how small so many of these nonprofit mentoring organizations are, juxtaposed against the outsized impact they are able to make. Mentoring is happening at the grassroots level, yet so many of these organizations and individuals don’t access to best-in-class resources, learning, and training. MENTOR provides structure to these organizations and has access to valuable data and research that we can all learn from.
How do you feel that mentorship has played a role in your own personal or professional journey?
Mentorship has been deeply impactful in my life. In fact, I thanked a number of key mentors in the acknowledgements section of my book. So many mentors have impacted me along my journey at various stages of my life including Rod Matthews, my youth pastor who invested in me and strengthened my journey in the tumultuous teenage years. There was also Dwight Robertson, the speaker at a camp I attended in Michigan called Covenant Hills Camp. Because I was the camp director’s son, I had unusual access to Dwight during the week. He sort of took me under his wing and invested his time and energy in me over many, many years. Thirty years later, I still get texts and phone calls from Dwight – encouraging me, lifting me up, inspiring me.
In my early years as a nonprofit chief executive, I met Dr. Charles Middleton, at the time President of Roosevelt University in Chicago. Recognizing that he had immense wisdom and experience that I could learn from, I pestered him until he agreed to become my mentor. Chuck’s investment in me was transformative to my career trajectory.
As I look back, I realize that the key thing my mentors gave me was their time – their most valuable asset. My mentors believed that I could go further than I ever imagined possible.
How have you acted as a mentor to others?
I’ve very much endeavored to invest in a number of younger friends and employees in the same way I experienced from my mentors. Only they can say if I’ve been helpful, but I’ve tried to carve out time, offer advice, ask questions, challenge assumptions when appropriate, and raise their sites on what is possible for their lives, supporting them in their journey. I learned from the best. I hope I’ve been able to share some of those learnings with others.
We once again welcome Rob Acton to the MENTOR Board of Directors.