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Our May smorgasBoard features "The First 100 Days," a new series of reflections by nonprofit leaders on their own transitions; "Great Expectations," the often-unstated contract between board members & the organizations they serve; a senior placement at Presbyterian Church (USA), our newest BoardChampion of the month, four new client engagements and a new colleague at BoardWalk. May 25, 2006
Building Strong Foundations:
The First 100 Days --Our new series on leadership and transitions The first 100 days in a new leader's tenure are
critical. Everything is new: challenges,
relationships, priorities, pressures. In fact, for
better or worse, everything that new leaders do
during their first weeks on the job either
contributes to or detracts from their own foundation
of leadership.
Because we are party to so many such transitions in
our work with nonprofit leaders, we are
excited to launch a new feature, Building
Strong Foundations: The First 100 Days.
Each month or so, we will ask leaders we work with to
speak to their own transitions: How they got
started, who they turned to, what they might have
done differently, what they learned about themselves
in the process.
To kick off the series, we interviewed Handy
Lindsey (pictured above), whom two years ago we had
the privilege of recruiting as Executive Director of
The Cameron Foundation, based in Petersburg, VA. Formerly head of The Field Foundation of Illinois and a nationally prominent leader in philanthropy, Handy reflects on his early weeks at Cameron and speaks with refreshing candor about his transition there. Great Expectations:
What's a board member to do? Whether you are a board member or a senior staffer,
the quandary is universal: "If only he/she
would take a certain action, make a certain decision
or exhibit a certain behavior, my life would be
much easier!"
Usually, the problem does not reflect a gap in
performance or even one of intentions. The real
issue at hand is often one of expectations.
These disconnects are particularly prevalent when a
newcomer joins a board or a long-serving board is
being challenged to new levels of involvement.
To help close the expectations gap for board
members, we recommend that every board craft - and
every board member require - an explicit commitment
letter detailing what each party expects from the
other. Such a document, updated annually, can help
clarify goals, avoid misunderstanding (and even
embarrassment), and contribute substantially to a
more productive partnership between a board and the
entity it governs.
Note: You may also find useful a template we
developed on shared
roles and responsibilities, which can help boards &
CEOs ascertain just who is reponsible for what.
Linda Valentine elected to head Presbyterian Church's
General Assembly Council The Presbyterian Church (USA) has selected Linda
Valentine as Executive Director of the General
Assembly Council (GAC), the national mission program
arm of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The executive director is the senior administrative executive of the Presbyterian Church nationally. BoardWalk Consulting was privileged to have advised the church's search committee throughout the process. A lifelong Presbyterian and corporate lawyer, Linda
served for the past two years as fund manager and
general counsel for Opportunity
International, one
of the largest micro-finance networks in the world.
Last year the network, composed of 45 organizations,
made over a million loans, most of $150 or less, to
poor people in 28 countries. For the previous 18
years, Linda rose through the ranks of Motorola to the
post of senior vice president--coincidentally
becoming the second-highest-ranking woman in the
company with
145,000 employees.
"We thank God for Linda Valentine’s openness to this
call,” said search committee chair Karen Dimon. “She
brings legal and financial experience as well as
leadership experience in church and business — a
beautiful and unique blend — as well as vision,
commitment and hope for the future of the denomination.”
Marjy Stagmeier named BoardWalk's BoardChampion for May
BoardWalk Consulting is pleased to announce the
selection of Marjy Stagmeier, Chair of the Board of
the Atlanta Community
Food Bank, as our BoardChampion for May 2006.
Although Margaret (Marjy) Stagmeier’s initial
involvement with the Atlanta Community Food Bank was
purely by chance, her tenure and accomplishments
exemplify her deep commitment and extraordinary
leadership. "Any non-profit organization would be
fortunate to have someone like Marjy on their
board,” remarked Bill Bolling, the Food Bank's
highly regarded CEO.
As her friends are quick to point out, Marjy
exemplifies our selection
criteria for BoardChampions: "board members who
labor out of the
limelight but who themselves are magnets for talent,
sparks for imagination, and centers of excellence in
their support of an organization and its mission."
Cynthia Gentry joins
BoardWalk's research team The newest member of the BoardWalk team, Cynthia
Gentry, tackles solutions for our clients with the
savvy of a researcher and the heart of
an artist. By turns a producer, painter,
television writer, project administrator, knowledge
manager and public activist, Cynthia is a true
social entrepreneur.
For the past 20 years, she has alternated
research work in the consulting world (Booz Allen
Hamilton, Egon Zehnder International) with her
passion for the arts. She has created murals for
children's hospitals ranging from Atlanta to
Sarajevo), and she has
designed and launched several disease-specific
websites for children, among them CancerKid.org
and SickleCellKids.org.
In her spare time, Cynthia can be found leading the
development of playspaces for KaBOOM (for whom she
is a certified Professor of Play--really),
advocating on behalf of victims of genocide or
wrapping up the dual degree in Journalism and Film
that got put on the back burner years ago. She
enjoys movies, collecting art, and stacking up books
that she doesn’t have time to read.
New engagements at BoardWalk
We are pleased to have launched four new engagements since our April smorgasBoard. Several are too new to have Leadership Profiles ready for distribution, so please let us know if you'd like to learn more by dropping us a line, referencing the relevant assignment. Literacy Action, Inc., Atlanta Search Mandate: President Status: Search just launched; write-up pending. Obici Healthcare Foundation, Suffolk, VA
Search Mandate: Chief Executive Officer Status: Search just launched; write-up pending. Regional Atlanta Civic League, Atlanta Search Mandate: Executive Director Status: Prospects being developed; inquiries welcomed. (view Leadership Profile) Robert Pattillo Enterprises, Atlanta
Search Mandate: Chief Financial Officer Status: Search just launched; write-up pending. Ongoing engagements at BoardWalk
 Alabama Historical Commission, Montgomery, AL Search Mandate: Executive Director Status: Prospects being developed; inquiries welcomed. (view Leadership Profile)
Habitat for Humanity International, Atlanta & Americus, GA Search Mandate: Senior Vice President, US & Canada Operations Status: Client is interviewing candidates or is scheduled to do so. Search Mandate: Vice President of Organizational Learning Status: Client is interviewing candidates or is scheduled to do so. (view Leadership Profile)  Harvest Foundation, Martinsville, VA Search mandate: Executive Director Status: Client is interviewing candidates or is scheduled to do so. (view Leadership Profile)  Southern Education Foundation, Atlanta Search mandate: Senior Program Officer Status: BoardWalk is interviewing candidates; inquiries still welcomed. The BoardWalk Consulting Team
Please click on the pictures below to learn more
about the consultants at BoardWalk.
smorgasBoardSM is the mostly-monthly
enewsletter of BoardWalk Consulting. Contents ©
2006 by BoardWalk Consulting LLC. Dissemination and
reproduction permitted with attribution to
BoardWalk; all other rights reserved.
E-mail: sam@boardwalkconsulting.com
Telephone: 404-BoardWalk (404-262-7392) On the Web: http://www.BoardWalkConsulting.com |
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