Honoree: Alexandra Kathryn Nichols

VP
Investments Wells Fargo Advisors

The common thread of Alex Nichols’ career and community journey is the donation of time and treasure she’s provided to numerous organizations. Her dedication to helping others locally and nationally comes from a personal feeling of responsibility to pay it forward the gifts she’s received and help others along the way. Her approach to connecting others and exciting a team around a cause has resulted in an energy of enthusiasm that those who have volunteered alongside her now carry it forward as well, expanding the reach of philanthropy. Nichols’ involvement with nonprofit organizations started at age 16 with the Youth Science Center in Hacienda Heights to make STEM education exciting for young children. After graduating from Duke University, she moved to Boston where she fell in love with the Girls on the Run organization. Girls on the Run encourages young girls to be healthy, joyful, and confident through exercise and provides as many scholarships as possible to girls who can’t afford to pay for the program on their own. From July 2011 to June 2013, she served as a team coach and in 2017 raised over $7,000 for the organization by running the Boston Marathon. When Nichols relocated to Southern California in 2013, she wanted to stay connected to the Girls on the Run organization and worked with the local Los Angeles chapter to launch a Friends on the Run fundraising group. She helped the organization launch two new school programs in the Walnut Valley School District by bringing together the executive director and a former school board member to expand the program offerings to over 80 girls per year. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nichols, as treasurer of the Lyons-Smith Family Foundation, was integral in identifying, evaluating, and implementing a $1 million donation to support food insecurity programs in Orange County. The two organizations selected, which each received $500,000 from the foundation, were Orange County Food Bank and United Way Orange County. The Lyons-Smith Family Foundation impacted thousands of lives of local residents by providing food and basic necessities during a significant time of need. RISING STAR