C06 Workshop: Interim Executive Directors

Interim Executive Directors: A Call to Arms

Wednesday, August 2, 9:00am - 3:30pm

Price:  $135 Members; $180 Non-Members

Presenters

Denise Perez, Support Center for Nonprofit Management (NY); John Corwin, Corwin Consulting, LLC

Description

An interim executive director can be a powerful resource and the perfect solution for an agency's temporary leadership needs during a transition, thereby giving the board the time to conduct a comprehensive search.  Many of the skills and techniques required of the interim leader are different from those of the permanent executive.  This workshop will provide training for consultants looking to understand the role of the interim executive director and develop skills required to serve as an interim executive director.

As baby boomers retire, the loss of leadership in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector is expanding exponentially.  A survey of more than 200 Chief Executives in the Greater New York Metropolitan area conducted by the Support Center for Nonprofit Management, and sponsored by the J.P. Morgan Chase and the Annie E. Casey Foundations, acknowledged that within the next five years a plethora of nonprofit organizations will experience leadership change.  In fact, it is expected that 70% of executive directors will transition out of the sector within the next seven years, while the leadership mantle becomes more difficult to fulfill as a smaller workforce and fewer managers groomed for nonprofit service are ready to assume leadership roles.

Within Executive Transition Management it is recognized that the availability of an interim executive versed in the ways of temporary leadership is often essential to the successful management of a transition.  Interim executive directors are drawn from a pool of former executive directors, yet their roles are significantly different from that of a full-time executive director.

The Executive Transition Management Services program at the Support Center has worked with numerous agencies in transition.  Through this work and the work of CompassPoint (San Francisco), TransitionGuides (Maryland), and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, we have come to the conclusion that those agencies employing an interim executive director experience the following:

• The greatest levels of success with their transitions
• No loss of traction with funders
• Greater levels of capacity building during the transition period
• Higher levels of success for new permanent executives, as monitored 12 months after their start dates

Workshop content will include:

• Theoretical underpinnings for Interim Executive Director and Transition Management
• The role of the Interim Executive Director
• Recruitment, resume development, interviewing, and hiring techniques
• Setting up successful contracts with the Board
• Assessing the finances and other records/systems/procedures
• Working with the Transition Committee and the Transition Consultant
• Dealing with staff and board anxiety, conflicts, and other dynamics, and how to encourage constructive conversations
• Boundaries, self-care and staying focused
• Initiating closure and supporting the newly hired Executive Director

About the Presenters

John Corwin, Corwin Consulting, LLC

Through Corwin Consulting, LLC, Mr. Corwin serves as interim CEO for nonprofits undergoing leadership transition. He is currently serving in this role for the fifth time, as the interim CEO at Learning Leaders, Inc. He has previously been Interim CEO at The Valley, Inc. in Harlem, New York, the Community Health Care Association of New York State (CHCANYS), the US Committee for the UN Population Fund (now called Americans for UNFPA), and the African Medical & Research Foundation (USA). Earlier, he was Executive Director of The Glaucoma Foundation. Previously, Mr. Corwin practiced public interest law, at The Legal Aid Society, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the New York Attorney General's office, where he was Chief of the Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau. Mr. Corwin is on the GNYAFP Chapter's Board of Directors and on the Public Service Network Committee of the NYC Bar Association, and is a member of Governance Matters and of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management. Mr. Corwin graduated from M.I.T. and Harvard Law School.

Denise Perez, Support Center for Nonprofit Management

Denise Perez brings more than ten years of administration and management experience to her position as the Program Manager of Executive Leadership Services. Denise oversees the outplacement of all interim executive directors. Prior to working with the Support Center, she served as VP of Operations for Precious Time, Inc., a national childcare provider, Director of Product Development and Marketing at Tesh Media Group, Marketing Manager at Scoreprep, and PR & Resource Development Special Projects Coordinator with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta. In 2001, Denise founded the Teens 4 Change Foundation, a non-profit project committed to providing positive resources to teens, where she currently serves as a volunteer project director. Denise received her B.A. in Sociology from Princeton University.