Forty Under 40: Emily Ironside

Emily Ironside is a model of collaboration, encouragement, mentorship and proficiency as the director of development at Crystal Bridges.

While securing major gifts to support, expand and endow both Crystal Bridges and the Momentary, she has grown her team from three people to 14.

Ironside’s responsibilities are diverse, from strategic planning, research and writing to international donor travel and community outreach.

Ironside is a Rogers native. She studied mass communications/public relations at Lindenwood University and earned a master’s degree in communication from the University of Arkansas. She undertook a Spanish immersion program and worked in international mentoring and recruiting before joining the Walton Arts Center as annual giving manager.

In 2013, she joined Crystal Bridges as membership program manager and quickly advanced.

“I don’t think I could have dreamed such a rewarding career,” Ironside said.

The fundraising field is traditionally not racially or ethnically diverse, so Ironside is striving to diversify staff, as the work should serve all communities.

“We’re recruiting for skill sets, not necessarily experience,” she said.

The pandemic has proved one of the most challenging but rewarding phases of her career. The degree to which she values watching her team succeed and develop individual strengths became more apparent in the crisis, she said.

Ironside has a younger sister with a disability, which she said deeply impacts her choices.

“My career path, everything I’ve done, including the spouse I chose, I credit it all to the experiences I learned from being her sister — to seeing someone with a disability’s reality in this world, the gaps where people get pushed.”