Putting our Skills to Work for Nonprofits
Q&A with Arthur Skelskie, Moody's Senior Vice President of Corporate Services
We support our employees who share their expertise with the organizations and causes they’re passionate about. One of these employees is Arthur Skelskie, our Senior Vice President of Corporate Services, who has been a longtime volunteer and board member for the Cooke School & Institute, an organization that serves children with special needs in grades K–12.
Q: When did you begin volunteering for the Cooke School & Institute?
ARTHUR: In 2011, I took a group there to volunteer. We set up the space to look like a grocery store. The kids were cashiers. We’d pick things up and give them money, all to teach them about personal finance. I remember going home that night and saying to my wife, “This school is unbelievable. The level of enthusiasm and excitement is so impressive.” It was a place where I really wanted to do more. The next day, I came into the office and asked the then President of Moody’s Foundation to help me explore the possibility of serving on the board.
Q: How have you helped them further their mission?
ARTHUR: The Cooke School & Institute is all about helping these kids to live independent lives. A couple of years ago, some of the administrators were worried that their state-of-the-art curriculum wasn’t supported by state-of-the-art facilities. They were in dreary hundred-year-old buildings with barely working heating and air conditioning. It wasn’t a setup for solid learning. I’m a real estate guy by background. That’s what I know about in the world. So I’m helping them build a new consolidated school, figuring out how to fund and design the facility.
Q: What motivates you to share your time and skills?
ARTHUR: People always ask me why I’m involved with the Cooke School & Institute. I don’t have kids or relatives with learning disabilities. It’s just what I do. I have these skills in real estate and finance, and not everyone has them. If I can share them with a school to support these kids’ learning, that’s a powerful way to extend Moody’s expertise to benefit the community. The administrators always thank me. And I always say, “It’s nothing special. This is what I do for a living — I know how to help.”
