Laila Dreidame
Executive Director
2024-present
“I've dedicated my life, career, and volunteer service to humanitarian work and social justice initiatives. Heart to Heart feels like coming home, as it embodies everything I care about: health, equity, and sustainability. I am thrilled to head an organization that always puts people and the mission first, above all else, and does so with great compassion and integrity.”
Laila E. Dreidame brings to Heart to Heart 15 years of nonprofit professional experience and passions remarkably aligned with our organization’s values and approach.
Most recently, Laila was the Senior Director of Institutional Partnerships at United Way Bay Area (UWBA). She was motivated and awed by the commitment of her colleagues and partners in “doing what is right for our neighbors by breaking through systemic barriers to yield equitable prosperity for all.” The fundraising portfolio she directed exceeded the organization’s goals in both 2023 and 2024, and expanded UWBA’s programming to include a Guaranteed Basic Income pilot program. Laila also increased capacity for UWBA’s youth career development program and its SparkPoint Basic Needs Centers.
Previously, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Laila served as Associate Director of Foundation and Government Partnerships, responsible for developing and managing internal and external communications as well as portfolio strategies. Among other accomplishments, her work resulted in an ongoing Community Day underwritten by the Walter & Elise Haas Fund in honor of Elise S. Haas.
Her diverse expertise within the nonprofit sector also includes program development and impact reporting; refining metric-driven program assessments to support organizational sustainability; and overseeing a wide range of philanthropic communications.
Early in her career, she served in the Peace Corps for two years in Africa. Highlights for Laila included establishing a community library in Zambia and serving as an interpreter in an operating room in Madagascar for a surgical delegation from Spain.
Laila is profoundly aware of global health inequity and “the privilege we have living in the U.S., with ready access to life-saving medical care.” In 2021, she and her husband fostered an infant born more than two months prematurely at Harlem Hospital. Elijah—named by the nurses in the NICU for how beloved he was—had several medical conditions, including an atrial septal congenital heart defect. Elijah is now four years old and living joyfully with cerebral palsy. He loves the Oakland A’s and being in the water—and is learning to drive a powered wheelchair.
Laila earned dual undergraduate degrees in International Studies and Spanish at the University of Scranton. While earning her graduate degree in Professional Writing from New York University, she honed her skills in proposal writing, digital media communications, and brand management. In 2019, she received NYU’s Writing Impact Award. Laila’s recent professional certifications include Nonprofit Financial Stewardship (Harvard University, 2021) and Building Company Culture (Stanford University, 2024).