Meet Your Colleagues: Deena Lauver Scotti, Grants Manager, Missouri Foundation for Health

We’ve all heard the term “wearing many hats.”  Well, Deena Lauver Scotti could write the book.  A member of GMN for the past five years, Deena is one of three grants managers at the Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) in St. Louis.

Born and raised in St. Louis, this former legal assistant manages the Foundation’s largest funding program, Basic Support, which includes program development, project review, and contract negotiations.  Deena manages 495 of the 801 active MFH grant contracts that require coordinating with contractors; monitoring compliance against award terms and conditions; resolving financial issues; authorizing disbursements, and directing closure of completed projects. Other responsibilities include managing the $40.5 million in Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Initiative grants, which Deena also helped to develop, and coordinating the Mental Health and Substance Abuse and Health Interventions in Non-Traditional Setting grant programs.  Her organization’s cross-functional grants management team is responsible for reviewing and improving MFH’s grantmaking processes, including intake and budget mechanisms.

In addition to her grants management work, Deena coordinates the GIFTS Users Group in St. Louis and is a member of MFH’s Microedge GIFTS Committee, assisting others in the management and maintenance of the database, including data integrity and component management. 

Deena joined GMN when she was new to grants management work.  She credits GMN for its diverse professional development opportunities.  “I have found networking through the online discussion to be the most helpful tool,” she says.  Deena has attended many of the Midwest regional meetings and particularly enjoys the smaller setting and face-to-face interactions.  She appreciates the “breadth of knowledge within GMN.”

If you think Deena is all work and no play, you are wrong.  She and her husband, Anthony, who owns a deli and catering company, love to travel, particularly in Europe, and manage to visit Anthony’s family in Italy every couple of years. They also travel throughout the U.S. doing a lot of off-roading in their Hummer -- when they’re not involved in sports activities such as softball, kickball, and bowling. 

Deena is a perfect example of the grants manager does it all!