Heather Eddy brings a career-long commitment to helping organizations achieve excellence by building strong, capable, dynamic, and diverse leadership teams. Throughout her 28-year career, Boards frequently seek her expertise when looking to diversify and reenergize their leadership teams, particularly through hiring the next CEO/ED/President. She leads most of her firm’s searches for top executive roles, as well as newly created positions in DEI/DEIB/JEDI. Heather specializes in organizations undergoing Board or staff transitions and is an expert in Founder/Founder-like transitions. Before co-founding KEES in 2013, she spent 17 years in multiple leadership roles at The Alford Group, a national consulting firm focused on strategy in the nonprofit space. Under her leadership, KEES and Heather have been recognized as pioneers in diversity recruitment, first focusing on gender inclusivity and, in the last decade, advancing racial and ethnic diversity efforts.

In addition to her professional work, Heather serves on the boards of Metropolitan Family Services DuPage and the Will-Grundy Medical Clinic, a free and charitable clinic. As a frequent speaker, she shares insights on executive succession planning, board/governing body engagement, and strategic philanthropy. She earned a Bachelors and Masters from Purdue University, as an alumna of Leadership Illinois, and is currently involved with the Chicago Leadership Circle.

Education and Credentials:

• M.S. in Higher Education Administration and B.A. in Interpersonal Relations from Purdue University
• Certificate of Fund Raising Management (CFRM) from the Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy

Professional and Community Affiliations:

• Board Member, Will-Grundy Medical Clinic
• Advisory Committee Member, Business and Professional Services Department, Oakton Community College
• Community Alumni Board Member of Metropolitan Family Services DuPage (MFSD)
• Chicago Women in Philanthropy (CWIP) Women’s Leadership Mentoring Program – Mid-Career Mentor (past)
• Member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and Southwest Suburban Philanthropic Network (SWSPN) (past)
• Member of The Association of Consultants to Nonprofits
• Member of Phi Beta Chi National Sorority
• Member of the Review Panel for the annual Alford-Axelson Award for Nonprofit Managerial Excellence since its inception (past)
• Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) for 15 years
• Community Volunteer for Feed The Need Naperville, Feed My Starving Children, Girl Scout Troop, PTA Committee Chair
• Leadership Illinois, class of 2007
• Chicago Leadership Circle, class of 2024

Notables:

• Regular speaker and panelist on issues of Transition and Succession Planning, Multi-Generational Workforce, Human Resources, Team Building, and Strategic Employee Recruitment at conferences for NCSHA, CCHF, LeadingAge (state and national), ALDE, and various other groups.
• Co-founded two nonprofit organizations – the American Spinal Research Organization and the Rose of Sharon Educational Foundation.