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Tara McMullen-King

President

Tara McMullen-King is Director of Research & Consulting at The Helen Brown Group, where she leads a team of consultants providing prospect research, prospect management consulting, fundraising analytics, training, and due diligence services to nonprofit organizations across the country. She began her career in development at Simmons College and has spent more than two decades in senior fundraising intelligence roles, including positions at MIT, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Combined Jewish Philanthropies. A longtime leader and educator in the prospect development profession, Tara is a former director of the New England Development Research Association (NEDRA) and has served on the faculty for NEDRA's High Finance program and Research Basics Bootcamp. She has also worked with Apra International, serving on its Membership Committee, Chapters Committee, and Bylaws Task Force. In 2022, she was the 20th recipient of NEDRA's Ann Castle Award, an annual honor recognizing outstanding achievement and service among development research professionals across New England. Beyond the nonprofit sector, Tara is also a professional wedding officiant and the founder and creatrix of Witchy Woman Weddings, creating and officiating bespoke ceremonies throughout New England. She is an ordained minister of American Marriage Ministries, a member of the International Association of Professional Wedding Officiants, and has been featured in national and international media for her work in the wedding industry. Tara grew up in Connecticut, earned a B.A. in Studio Art from Smith College in 2001, moved to Boston after graduation, and settled in Salem in 2015. A lifelong artist and creative, she has explored many forms of artistic expression, including painting, printmaking, dance, singing, and classical violin, performing with concert orchestras and in musical theater productions. She still happily jumps at opportunities to create, perform, and connect through the arts, never says no to karaoke, and is a former wrestler and performer with the Boston League of Women Wrestlers. Tara is also a founding board member and executive board secretary of the Sisterhood of Salem, a membership-based community and networking organization for women and non-binary individuals on the North Shore. In 2024, she joined the board of the Salem Playhouse, where she currently serves as Board President. She is deeply committed to the arts and to nurturing creative communities and believes that making and experiencing art together can foster connection, strengthen communities, and bring a little more magic into the world. She and her husband, Steve, a barber at Salem's Badabing Barber Shop & Shave Parlor, live in a very old home near the Salem Playhouse with their two black cats, Pugsley Addams and Darth Vader, and a few benevolent spirits.

Tara McMullen-King is Director of Research & Consulting at The Helen Brown Group, where she leads a team of consultants providing prospect research, prospect management consulting, fundraising analytics, training, and due diligence services to nonprofit organizations across the country.

She began her career in development at Simmons College and has spent more than two decades in senior fundraising intelligence roles, including positions at MIT, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Combined Jewish Philanthropies.

A longtime leader and educator in the prospect development profession, Tara is a former director of the New England Development Research Association (NEDRA) and has served on the faculty for NEDRA's High Finance program and Research Basics Bootcamp. She has also worked with Apra International, serving on its Membership Committee, Chapters Committee, and Bylaws Task Force. In 2022, she was the 20th recipient of NEDRA's Ann Castle Award, an annual honor recognizing outstanding achievement and service among development research professionals across New England.

Beyond the nonprofit sector, Tara is also a professional wedding officiant and the founder and creatrix of Witchy Woman Weddings, creating and officiating bespoke ceremonies throughout New England. She is an ordained minister of American Marriage Ministries, a member of the International Association of Professional Wedding Officiants, and has been featured in national and international media for her work in the wedding industry.

Tara grew up in Connecticut, earned a B.A. in Studio Art from Smith College in 2001, moved to Boston after graduation, and settled in Salem in 2015. A lifelong artist and creative, she has explored many forms of artistic expression, including painting, printmaking, dance, singing, and classical violin, performing with concert orchestras and in musical theater productions. She still happily jumps at opportunities to create, perform, and connect through the arts, never says no to karaoke, and is a former wrestler and performer with the Boston League of Women Wrestlers.

Tara is also a founding board member and executive board secretary of the Sisterhood of Salem, a membership-based community and networking organization for women and non-binary individuals on the North Shore. In 2024, she joined the board of the Salem Playhouse, where she currently serves as Board President.

She is deeply committed to the arts and to nurturing creative communities and believes that making and experiencing art together can foster connection, strengthen communities, and bring a little more magic into the world.

She and her husband, Steve, a barber at Salem's Badabing Barber Shop & Shave Parlor, live in a very old home near the Salem Playhouse with their two black cats, Pugsley Addams and Darth Vader, and a few benevolent spirits.

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