Moschell Coffey

Moschell (Mo) Coffey is the director of the Fellowship for Emerging Leaders in Public Service.  She has worked with FELPS since 2008. Mo oversees all outreach, recruitment, and selection; program and curriculum development; alumni engagement; and evaluation.

As the founder and principal of Challenges and Solutions LLC, Mo works with organizations and individuals benefiting the public good to use her passion for developing the leadership capabilities of both to strengthen mission-driven organizations. Through effective relationship and talent management, organizational review, and strategic planning, she helps public service organizations identify challenges and formulate solutions to achieve organizational efficiency, strengthen board and staff relationships, enable strategic growth, and define program outcomes. She also enjoys helping leaders in public service explore their professional passions, chart career paths, and search for meaningful opportunities.

From 2011 to 2015, Mo worked as the managing director for The Good Dog Foundation, the national leader in therapy dog training, certification, visit coordination, research, and awareness.  There she used her background in relationship and nonprofit management to help the organization through its growing pains after it rapidly expanded its services to meet growing demand. As managing director, she stewarded the organization toward financial self-sufficiency, and helped turn Good Dog into a high-functioning nonprofit with an engaged Board of Directors and discerning donors. Under her leadership, the organization began its strategic planning process and grew from one paid staff member to a staff of nine, all while refining its best-in-class therapy dog certification and visit programming services. Mo was responsible for the management, program operations, and development activities of the organization, including planning and executing its major events and working with the media to secure different opportunities to promote the organization’s work.

Previously, Mo served as the program coordinator at the National Center on Philanthropy and the Law (NCPL) at NYU School of Law. There she managed the operations, budget, and activities of the center, which explores a broad range of legal issues affecting the nation's nonprofit sector.  Before joining the NCPL, Mo served as the summer project assistant in the Office of the Dean at NYU Wagner.  There she conducted research regarding student debt and public service education funding.  She also helped NYU Wagner strengthen its commitment to diversity initiatives. 

A graduate of Rollins College in Winter Park, FL, Mo earned an honors BA summa cum laude in International Relations with a minor in Spanish. She holds a Master of Public Administration in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy with an International Policy and Management specialization from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.