F
or a while, Kevin Hall had been thinking about leaving his 30-year career in advertising for the nonprofit sector. After a year, he landed on a position that seemed like a good fit. He was pretty confident he was going to receive an offer, and he was going to accept it. Around that time, he was eating lunch with Vanita Halliburton, the co-founder and executive chairperson of the Grant Halliburton Foundation. Halliburton started the organization after her son Grant died by suicide at age 19 after experiencing depression and bipolar disorder. She and Hall knew
each other, since he was a foundation board member. He began explaining his news to her. Halliburton was surprised to learn Hall wanted to work for a nonprofit. She asked him 20 questions, though Hall wasn’t sure why. And then it clicked. Halliburton revealed she had been quietly searching for someone who could take over the day-to-day operations of her foundation. And until that lunch with Hall, she’d been unsuccessful. “You’re it. You’re the guy,” Halliburton told him.
Story by RENEE UMSTED | Photography by GABRIEL CANO
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prestonhollow.advocatemag.com
JUNE 2021
