Inspiring Success: Culture, Resilience & AI for Social Good with DeVone Holt

The Switch by Nonprofit HR

Join Lisa Brown Alexander as she sits down with DeVone Holt, President & CEO of the Muhammad Ali Center. In this lively episode, DeVone shares his inspiring journey from the private sector to the heart of social impact, highlighting the experiences that shaped his leadership philosophy. He discusses the vital role of cultivating a healthy organizational culture in sustaining high-performing teams and offers insights into how resilience can inspire and empower staff.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• His journey from private sector to the social impact sector and how those experiences led him to the Ali Center

• His simple, unique and effective leadership philosophy

• Why a healthy culture is key to a sustainably high-performing team

• How to be resilient in the way you inspire staff

• His perspective on a “can-do” exercise of how learning new things can lead to continually greater success

• Ways to leverage AI to better focus on the people-aspects of the work

About the Muhammad Ali Center

The Muhammad Ali Center is much more than a museum. As an athlete, a humanitarian, a global voice and man guided by faith, Muhammad Ali embodied a pursuit and belief in the greatness found in all people. Founded in 2005 by Lonnie and Muhammad Ali in his hometown of Louisville, the Center is dedicated to honoring Ali and continuing work based on his core principles. Our mission is to mobilize Muhammad Ali’s legacy to foster respect, inspire generations of changemakers, and advance social justice. To learn more, visit alicenter.org.

About DeVone Holt

DeVone Holt is a multi-talented executive who combines nearly 30 years of experience as an institutional brand manager, culture creator, strategic communicator and people convener. In 2024, Holt was named president and CEO of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The museum is a 96,000 square-foot cultural center that showcases the life and legacy of Muhammad Ali, and carries forward his legacy of service to others and fighting for justice for all. Learn more about DeVone.

About Lisa

Driven to serve the often-overlooked people management needs for the social impact sector, Lisa set out to build a market where one didn’t exist. She founded Nonprofit HR, the leading talent management firm in the country that works exclusively with the nonprofit sector. Read Lisa’s full bio.

About the Switch

The Switch offers access to Nonprofit HR’s talent management knowledge presented by our expert consultants, media partners, and guests from across the social impact sector. For over 20 years, Nonprofit HR has produced content that illuminates critical, timely and insightful knowledge for leaders of social impact organizations. Insights from this podcast shine light on the full talent management lifecycle, from employee attraction to organizational culture, engagement, performance management and retention.