Managing Director, Human Services - United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey

United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey

Managing Director, Human Services

Sybille Damas

As Managing Director, Human Resources, Sybille is responsible for leading and implementing the vision, strategy, development, and execution of United Way’s talent and culture management. Sybille will oversee multiple facets of human resources including payroll and benefits, compliance, recruitment, retention and training, and leadership and talent management. 

As a nonprofit professional for over 20 years, Sybille has experience leading complex, integrated programs and a strong ability to build cohesive and collaborative teams. Sybille served as Chief Operations Officer at Congreso de Latinos Unidos where she oversaw the organization’s operations, risk management, and human resources matters. Most recently, Sybille was the Director of Operations at Ballinger, an integrated firm consisting of architects, engineers, planners, and interior designers. Her responsibilities included human resources, facilities management, and all business vendor relations.

Sybille holds a Masters in Social Work (concentration in administration and planning) from Temple University and a Bachelors in Social Work (concentration in sociology) from the University of Pittsburgh. Sybille is on the boards of the Community Design Collaborative and the Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation and is a member of the Forum of Executive Women.   

In her spare time, Sybille enjoys spending time with her family, enjoys going to concerts, and is on a local women’s dragon boat team. 

Sybille is the recipient of the Philadelphia Business Journal 2019 Woman of Distinction Award and Metro Philadelphia Philly Power Woman 2021. 

United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey’s (United Way) mission is to end poverty and expand opportunity for all. We are focused on new approaches to harnessing the collective power of our region to help individuals and families break the cycle of poverty, and new ways of engaging and investing in the communities we serve. We deploy several tools to that end, including:

  • Convening local and national leaders to build and execute high-impact strategies to reduce economic insecurity in the region.

  • Motivating individual, corporate, and institutional philanthropy.

  • Investing in evidence-based programming to increase opportunity and employment, ensure financial empowerment for families, and resource high quality early education.

  • Measuring progress and strengthening the nonprofit sector in data/evaluation, leadership, and organizational effectiveness