Service
Executive Search & Leadership Transition
Advisory support through a leadership transition, from first board conversation to first year.
Who this helps
Leaders responsible for a consequential organizational decision.
- Nature center, land trust, and conservation organization boards
- Health and human-service organization boards and search committees
- Environmental education and program leadership teams
- Mission-driven nonprofit boards and search committees
- Executives planning their own transition responsibly
What we will accomplish
Advisory support through a leadership transition — readiness, board alignment, the next leader's mandate, success profile, search strategy and outreach, candidate evaluation and interviews, selection and references, onboarding, and succession planning. Assignments may be led directly or appropriately teamed with specialist recruiting partners.
- A position designed around the organization's next chapter, not its last one
- A recruitment plan the board can execute, including where to look and who to ask
- A structured, equitable assessment process the board can defend and trust
- A candidate experience that reflects well on the organization, whatever the outcome
- A well-supported selection decision and a deliberate transition plan
- Documented succession readiness for planned and unplanned departures
How we work
Understand. Reveal. Choose. Build. Learn.
The same plain, five-stage method guides every service. The depth of evidence and participation is sized to your assignment.
- 01
Understand
Gather the evidence and perspectives needed to see the situation accurately.
- 02
Reveal
Make strengths, constraints, differing perspectives, and underlying causes clear.
- 03
Choose
Frame the real options, tradeoffs, priorities, and decisions.
- 04
Build
Create the substantial working document or roadmap, with responsibilities, resources, measures, and first actions.
- 05
Learn
Review implementation, test assumptions, and adjust while staying grounded in the mission.
Depending on your priorities, your engagement may include
The written proposal specifies the exact deliverables, timing, participation, and fixed fee for your assignment.
- Succession readiness assessment and emergency succession policy
- Leadership success profile and position description, including the next leader's mandate and first-year outcomes
- Compensation, role, and authority discussion support
- Search strategy and timeline, with board search committee structure and charge
- Position profile and organizational prospectus
- Search committee charter, timetable, communications plan, and process design
- Interview architecture, evaluation criteria, candidate exercises, and finalist comparison tools the committee applies
- Reference-question design and guidance on appropriate third-party verification, plus deliberation facilitation and selection counsel
- Coordination with specialist recruiting or sourcing partners when expressly included in scope
- Offer support, negotiation guidance, and onboarding and first-100-day planning
- First-year check-ins with the new executive and board chair
One focused assignment example
A focused assignment might define the next leader’s mandate and success profile, then equip the search committee with a clear process and evaluation tools.
Timing and your participation
Focused transition or search-advisory work begins at $12,500. Recruiting, sourcing, verification, and broader search responsibilities are defined and priced individually in the written proposal.
Participation is agreed at the outset. It may include the executive director, board chair, senior staff, trustees, and selected stakeholders whose perspective can materially improve the work.
Organizations often reach out when
- A long-tenured executive director or CEO has announced retirement
- An unplanned departure has left the organization without a transition plan
- The board wants a succession plan before it is needed
- A senior advancement, communications, operations, education, or conservation role is open
- A previous search produced a poor fit or ended in early departure
Investment and payment
Beginning at $12,500
Focused Consulting Engagement
Every service can begin as a Focused Consulting Engagement at $12,500, with a defined assignment, deliverables, timing, and fixed fee established in the written proposal. Broader work may be structured as an Organizational Strength Review or Integrated Strategic Direction when the need spans multiple areas.
Every assignment considers connections across the whole organization. Detailed work stays focused on the areas agreed in scope. Range drivers include interviews, board participation, sites, and specialist responsibilities. Travel or specialist expenses are included only when agreed in the proposal.
For larger engagements, the standard schedule is 40% on booking, 30% after the evidence and listening stage, and 30% on delivery. The final schedule is stated in the written proposal.
Major fixed-fee engagements include eight hours of implementation counsel during the 90 days following delivery.
Questions
Before you decide
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Start a conversation
Bring the decision in front of you.
A complimentary 30-minute conversation helps establish the situation, fit, and a sensible next step. Detailed analysis and written recommendations begin with a paid engagement. Every engagement is principal-led; appropriate collaborators are added when the scope calls for specialist expertise.
Related: Governance & Board Effectiveness, Executive Leadership & Counsel, Organizational Strength & Assessment
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