Rena Henderson Mason

Rena Henderson Mason leads Bold Agenda and is a trusted advisor to mission-driven board and staff leaders, helping them shape their boards for high performance and tell their unique stories. She trains boards and leaders on high performance teams, governance, fundraising, recruitment and retention, diversity and inclusion, and succession planning. Her specialty is empowering board and staff leaders to embrace change, push bold ideas and build great teams. She has coached board chairs, executive directors, and CEOs through a range of organizational challenges including growth, leadership transitions, strategic alliances, restructuring, turnaround and crisis.  She helps facilitate the critical discussions, processes, and decisions that advance an organization with a focus on better governance, courageous leadership, and strategic planning. 

Some of Rena’s board work resulted in her winning the Business Volunteer of the Year Award from the Arts & Business Council. Currently, Rena serves on the board of Arts Alliance Illinois and as a Regional Leader with the National Association of Women Business Owners–Chicago Chapter. She brings broad knowledge of housing, social services, and community development through her 10 years of board service with a leading supportive housing provider. 

Prior to launching Bold Agenda, Rena spent over 20 years helping scale businesses through new product development, strategic planning, and capital raising in the food, commercial real estate, publishing, and investment banking industries. Rena has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s in finance/international management from Georgetown University. She is a ICF-Certified coach and BoardSource Certified Governance Trainer with extensive training in high performance coaching, board development, and group process facilitation. She views storytelling as one of the gifts that she developed further through Second City’s Comedy Writing Program and writing numerous comedic sketches, plays, and screenplays.