Founder Transitions Transitioning from a Founder or Founder-like leader (15+ years) is unlike a typical role change or turnover. It requires a deliberate approach that is different than a normal executive search. The incoming leader must honor the organization’s history, culture, relationships, and legacy while also having the authority and support to lead its next chapter.
Founder & Founder-Like Leadership Transitions
KEES brings deep experience advising nonprofit Boards in these pivotal moments, combining executive search with thoughtful transition planning, governance and role clarity, stakeholder engagement, and leadership integration, which is unparalleled. We help Boards define success before recruitment begins, clarify the departing leader’s future role, and identify a successor prepared to preserve what makes the organization special while confidently moving it forward.
Founder & Founder-Like Leadership Transitions Success Stories
Concordia Place
President & CEO
KEES conducted the national search to succeed the organization’s founding President and CEO, who had led Concordia Place for more than two decades. The organization selected Grace Araya to honor its founding legacy while leading continued growth. Concordia Place subsequently retained KEES for two additional executive searches and executive compensation benchmarking.
DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform
Executive Director
KEES partnered with the Federation when its founding Executive Director announced her retirement after more than 23 years. Seven years later, the Federation turned to KEES again for another Executive Director search, demonstrating continuity well beyond the initial Founder transition.
Hotel Metropolitan
Executive Director, First-Ever Staff Leadership Role
KEES helped create and recruit the organization’s first Executive Director, enabling Betty Dobson, Founder since 1991, to step back. The engagement included working with the Founder, the Board, the Mayor, and Council leadership.
Louisiana Policy Institute for Children
Chief Executive Officer
KEES initially partnered with the organization to create a COO role that could eventually succeed the Founder. During the planning process, KEES and the organization determined that a direct transition to a new CEO would better position the organization for future success. KEES guided the Founder and Executive Committee through the change and ultimately placed the organization’s second-ever CEO, who has led the organization since 2018.
Naper Settlement / Naperville Heritage Society
President & CEO
When the organization’s first-ever employee and leader of more than three decades retired, KEES led a national search for its next chief executive. KEES partnered with an eight-member Board search team and incorporated staff and community perspectives throughout the process. The organization selected its second-ever CEO in 2014, and that leader remains at the helm today.
Off the Street Club
Executive Director
In this Founder-like transition, KEES recruited the 6th leader in the organization’s 125-year history, upon the retirement of the Executive Director after nearly 45 years with OTSC. Working with a deeply tenured Board whose Chair had served for more than 35 years and a Search Committee with over 100 years of collective involvement, KEES helped redefine the role, elevate the brand and visibility of the organization, and produce a candidate pool of mission-aligned leaders.
Why Founder Transitions Are Different
The first hired leader after a Founder (voluntary or paid) is a pivotal step. The transition requires not only a recalibration of the role, but a recasting of the CEO/Board working partnership, and often includes a reorganization of systems, structures, and operations.
A Perspective Shaped by Experience
KEES brings a uniquely informed perspective to Founder transitions. Earlier in her career, KEES President & CEO Heather Eddy served as an Executive Director following an iconic Founder, giving her firsthand insight into the opportunities and complexities that both departing Founders and incoming leaders experience. Combined with nearly three decades of nonprofit leadership, Board service, and executive search experience, Heather and the KEES team understand that a successful Founder transition is about more than identifying the next leader and succession planning. It is about honoring the Founder’s legacy, preparing the organization and Board, and positioning the incoming leader for long-term success.