Here’s something I’ve learned about leadership: there’s the version of it that stops at the P&L, and then there’s the version that shows up on a Tuesday evening, unpaid, to help a theater company develop its strategic plan for the next five years, or to help a college evolve its curriculum.
I’ve spent most of my career building that second version alongside the first – serving in leadership roles on boards and sitting in the room for some of the hardest conversations nonprofit leaders have to face. This experience isn’t optional; it’s an imperative. And for an agency like VVK, whose clients are largely public institutions including foundations and nonprofits, it has become one of the most valuable aspects of the counsel we provide.
Corporate citizenship isn’t a line item. It’s a relationship.
VVK has grown nationally from Detroit. We draw the majority of our team and clients from our region, and we do our best work when Detroit thrives, both economically and culturally. Board service is where that relationship becomes reciprocal.
As board chair at Detroit Public Theatre and formerly at Detroit Artists Market, and in leadership roles on the boards of Wayne State University’s College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts and the University’s Foundation, I’m helping translate the stability of those institutions into the stability of the city around us.
It’s also the best leadership school I’ve found.
Engaging in boards, particularly at the leadership level, demands oversight and accountability by committee. You are a fiduciary for budgets under real constraints – the kind where a missed grant cycle means a program doesn’t run. It means recognizing that governance is best managed by understanding that operations and culture carry equal value.
And, most importantly, you understand how to lead while respecting others’ roles and perspectives. Those are fundamentals I use to lead VVK. They’re also fundamentals I now recognize instantly in a client’s organization.
And that’s the part that matters most for our clients.
Because VVK works so heavily in the foundation and nonprofit space, understanding how those organizations actually function isn’t a nice-to-have for us – it’s the job. Leading and serving on boards means I’m not observing nonprofit governance from the outside; I’m at the table for the hard conversations – the executive transition, the budget shortfall, the funder who wants to see measurable impact. I know what it feels like to bring a fractured board back to consensus or help a non-profit leader manage through community demand and resource constraints. That’s not something you can fully understand solely from the agency side of the table.
When VVK is talking to a nonprofit client about their board dynamics, we’re not guessing at what that pressure feels like. We’ve felt it – as a chair, as a fiduciary, as the person who understands the delicate balance an organization must strike between funders, grantees, board members and community members, to carry a mission forward.
The imperative is simple.
Business leaders don’t operate apart from their communities; they operate because of them. Whether you run an agency, a manufacturing company, a bank or a firm of any kind, your business depends on a healthy, stable community to hire from, sell to and grow within. Board leadership is one of the most direct ways to invest in that stability, and one of the fastest ways to become a better leader in the process.
For those of us who serve foundations and nonprofits professionally, that understanding becomes a professional advantage, too. But the imperative holds regardless of who your clients are: sitting on a board makes you a better leader, a better citizen and a better business owner.
Peter Van Dyke is CEO and a founding partner of VVK, where he oversees business strategy and growth and remains actively engaged in the agency’s public relations services. Under Peter’s leadership, VVK has grown to nearly 30 team members and expanded its reach from a strong Michigan base to a national footprint. This growth includes leading the acquisition of Stern Strategy Group’s public relations division, establishing VVK as a nationally recognized PR firm with a presence on the East Coast. The agency serves a diverse roster of clients ranging from local nonprofits to global corporations.
Under Peter’s leadership, VVK has earned multiple honors, including recognition as one of Michigan’s 50 Companies to Watch by Michigan Celebrates Small Business, designation as a Corps! Diversity-Focused Company, and selection as a Best of Michigan Business honoree for marketing and public relations.
Prior to forming VVK, Peter served as CEO of Van Dyke Horn Public Relations for six years. He acquired the firm—then known as Berg Muirhead Associates—from its founders after eight years of working at the agency. During Peter’s tenure, Van Dyke Horn doubled its staff size, tripled its revenues, and expanded operations with the opening of a Lansing office. Earlier in his career, Peter held communications roles at the Detroit Institute of Arts and Marx Layne & Co.
A Detroit resident, Peter is deeply committed to supporting and investing in his local community. He serves as chair of the Board of Visitors for Wayne State University’s College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, chair of the board for Detroit Public Theatre, and a member of the board of directors for the Wayne State University Foundation. He also serves on the executive committee of PRSA’s Counselors Academy section and is chairing its 2027 national conference. Peter previously served as chair of the Detroit Artists Market board and has held leadership roles with Michigan Humane, Michigan Community Resources, and MOCAD.
Peter is especially proud of the two scholarships he has established at his alma mater, Wayne State University, supporting the advancement of disadvantaged students pursuing careers in public relations and marketing.
His leadership and community impact have been widely recognized. Peter has received Wayne State University’s Alumni Achievement in Public Relations award and was honored as the university’s Distinguished Volunteer at the 2024 National Philanthropy Day Awards Dinner, hosted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Greater Detroit Chapter. Additional honors include Crain’s Detroit Business’s 40 Under 40 and 20 in Their Twenties, DBusiness Magazine’s 30 in Their Thirties, and Detroit Young Professionals’ Vanguard Award. In 2022, Peter was selected as one of nine business and community leaders nationwide for the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Young American Leaders Program at Harvard Business School.