Brenda Sharpe

Brenda Sharpe is the President and CEO of the REACH Healthcare Foundation. As the Foundation’s first CEO, Sharpe worked closely with the Board of Directors to define and establish an effective and transparent governance structure for the organization. Prior to joining REACH, Sharpe worked in the non-profit service sector for nearly 15 years. She is the former President and CEO of Sunflower House, where she led the organization for 10 years.

Sharpe serves on the steering committee for the Kansas Health Insurance Exchange implementation effort. She has long been a United Way supporter, and serves on the Board of Directors of the United Way of Greater Kansas City, chairing the Community Impact Committee. Sharpe was previously a Governor’s appointee to the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, the state regulatory agency for 21 medical and allied health professions. She was also a Governor’s appointee and Chair of the Kansas Strategic Prevention Framework Advisory Council, and served as a member of the Kansas Attorney General’s Crime Victim Assistance Fund Grant Review Committee for many years, keeping her connected to her roots as a victim advocate. She is a member of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Health Council.

Sharpe was an inaugural member of the Oral Health Kansas Dental Champions leadership team and a founding member and president of the Kansas Chapter of Children’s Advocacy Centers. In 2007, she was named “Nonprofit Professional of the Year” by the Greater Kansas City Council on Philanthropy. She is a graduate of the Leadership Kansas Class of 2006 and was included in Ingram’s Magazine Forty Under Forty Class of 2003.

A native of rural Western Kansas, Sharpe received her bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies and completed a master's degree in Student Counseling and Personnel Services at Kansas State University. She thinks of Kansas City as a “big, small town” and enjoys getting lost in her travels throughout the Foundation’s service area. She and her husband have two children and reside in Johnson County, Kansas.

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