Community Foundation hires Aaron Perri for VP role
SOUTH BEND — Aaron Perri, who’d left last spring as executive director of South Bend’s Venues Parks & Arts department for a job in consulting for communities around the U.S., has taken a job back home with the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County.
Starting March 18, the nonprofit foundation announced, he will begin as its vice president, community impact.
“At the end of the day, there’s no place like home,” Perri said in a press release. “I’m excited to plug back in and to help write the next chapter of our shared story.”
“Aaron’s optimism and deep love for the South Bend Mishawaka area are well known,” foundation President Rose Meissner likewise said in the release. “I am delighted the focus of his vision, talent and experience will return to St. Joseph County. The tremendous impact he has already on improving our community will continue in to thrive in this new role.”
Perri had taken a job last year with a private company in which he consulted with communities, universities and transit systems on strategic planning.
On Wednesday, Perri told The Tribune that he wasn’t looking to leave his job at Block by Block, a firm based in Louisville, that had taken him to 30 cities in 18 states while he remained living in South Bend. Rather, he said, a meeting to “catch up” with Meissner evolved into a conversation that turned into a job offer.
He said he’ll help with the Community Foundation’s engagement with regional efforts as it connects with the Lilly Endowment, the state’s READI 2.0 economic development grants and the city of South Bend’s downtown planning.
“These things speak to me,” the lifelong South Bend resident said. “It was too good to pass up.”
He’s been “in and out” of communities in his current job, but, he added, “There’s no substitute for being in the arena.”
Perri had served as VPA’s executive director for seven years through May 2023. In that time, the department went through major efforts to upgrade several parks and to transform Howard Park with an ice ribbon. And VPA marked the Morris Performing Arts Center’s 100th anniversary in 2022 by launching a fundraising campaign to expand and upgrade the Morris.
Before that, he was executive director of Downtown South Bend for five years.
After Perri’s departure from VPA, Jordan Gathers was promoted to serve as interim executive director, a role that he still holds. On Wednesday, a city spokeswoman said she didn’t have an expected date for when Mayor James Mueller would name a permanent director.