AiLun & Sarah – Class of 2024
AiLun Ku and Sarah Pfuhl – Class of 2024 – came into Greater NY as leaders with a shared appetite for candid, fast-moving leadership conversations. Ku, then President and CEO of the Opportunity Network, was leading her organization through questions of scale, governance, and executive clarity. Pfuhl, Global General Counsel at HSBC, brought decades of experience navigating complex institutions and advising senior leaders under pressure. Their Partnership was grounded in directness, transparency, and mutual respect.
The Opportunity Network supports high-achieving students from under-resourced communities as they prepare for and succeed in college and early careers. The organization works closely with students, families, schools, and employers, helping young people translate academic success into long-term opportunity. Its various programs serve thousands of New Yorkers annually.
In conversation, Ku and Pfuhl were matched in Greater NY via Zoom during COVID and began discussing management and leadership tactics that emphasized transparency and directness.
“We clicked right away,” says Pfuhl. “We knew that the most valuable part of Greater NY would be each other. I didn’t feel like I needed to be operating from the position of being global head of this or that. As soon as we started talking, I knew AiLun was my type of person. Thoughtful brainstorming conversations about whatever is on your mind with someone who is a peer – that’s a rare opportunity to have.”
Ku says, “It is rare for nonprofit leaders to have a conversation that is so candid. Nonprofit leaders are given a lot of advice. People tend to wrap what they want to say in niceness. Sarah was always to the point. Talking to Sarah, I always felt I was looking across at a peer, but up into new ways of thinking. It was a fantastic shift in perspective.”
Greater NY Partners discover parallels in their management roles. For Ku and Pfuhl, one of the parallels was Board management.
“All Boards are in many ways the same at the end of the day,” says Pfuhl. “One of the Board management techniques we talked about a lot was something I call the ‘Placemat.’ The idea is to create a document with all the key points you want to make sure you convey to the Board on one page— like a placemat.”
“It’s a simple but powerful idea,” Ku says. “We spent a lot of time talking about how to streamline information and choose the two or three things I wanted the Board to take away. That tactic was a game-changer for me.”
Greater NY connects leaders in strategic service to the people of New York City. Ku and Pfuhl’s conversations centered on clarity and directness in communication— essential leadership traits that not only serve them as leaders but also strengthen their teams, Boards, and the missions of the organizations they lead.
“Working with AiLun gave me a completely different sense of nonprofit leadership,” says Pfuhl. “Nonprofit leaders need to be good at fundraising, operations, navigating the Board, and managing the budget—in addition to a deep understanding of purpose and outcomes. It’s a diverse role and requires a comprehensive skill set. I don’t think I’d realized this before I worked with AiLun.”