From Our Partners
Breaking the Two-Year Cycle: Strengthening Presidential Tenure at HBCUs
Presidential turnover at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) has reached a critical point. Recent studies show that the average HBCU president now serves less than three years, around half the national average. This rapid turnover disrupts vision, erodes donor confidence, and strains every part of campus life. What’s driving [...]
CEO Onboarding for Nonprofit Boards: A Practical Guide to High-Trust Leadership Transitions
Leadership transitions are more than administrative changes; they are pivotal moments that test a board's foresight and stewardship. Without a clear onboarding plan, even the most promising CEO appointment can falter. A strong, board-led onboarding process ensures continuity, strengthens trust, and positions the organization for long-term success in achieving its [...]
The First 90 Days: How to Onboard a C-Suite Executive into a Privately-Held, Family-Owned Company
Bringing a new executive into a family-owned business is uniquely complex. Founding Partner, Jennifer Sobocinski reviews the critical steps an organization should take when bringing in an "outside" leader into a family-owned business. Download her latest article to explore how these steps can make or break a C-suite leader’s success [...]
Passing the Baton at Compassion International: A Model for CEO Transitions
A smooth CEO transition in a nonprofit should resemble the precision of a relay race — timing, trust, and preparation are key. Compassion International’s CEO transition provides a roadmap for nonprofit boards navigating leadership changes, regardless of organizational size. In 2024, we interviewed Judy Golz and Karen Wesolowski, current [...]
Building on Legacy: The Leadership Transition at Our Daily Bread Ministries
A nonprofit leadership transition is like tending a garden through changing seasons. Outgoing CEOs have cultivated the mission and relationships, preparing the ground for new leadership. Incoming CEOs inherit deep-rooted values while introducing fresh ideas for growth. Like a well-tended garden, a smooth transition requires planning and commitment. [...]
Candid Advice from the Head of School to the Board Chair
As the length of tenure for sitting heads continues to decline, those who care deeply about the future of independent schools are asking what can be done to reverse this trend and bring a renewed stability to our school communities. This question was front and center at the November [...]
The Head of School Interview: Navigating Key Questions
The Head of School search process has been described as a delicate dance, with both prospective candidates and boards or search committees putting their best foot forward in hopes of making a strong match. The search committee comes to the interview with carefully crafted questions, which the candidate answers with [...]
Transforming Education: Unveiling the Power of Retained Search Firms in K-12 Leadership
Partners Chris Hornsby and Jack Hall explore how retained search firms like CarterBaldwin play a pivotal role in shaping K-12 education leadership. Discover their expertise in finding the right leaders, emphasizing cultural alignment, and building lasting connections between candidates and schools. Gain insights into how their approach goes beyond recruitment, [...]
Why Culture Matters
Partner Chris Guiney shares the importance of culture and its impact on organizations in a new podcast, "How Culture Impacts an Organization," hosted by Rob Adams and Hunt Scanlon. Chris leads the firm's energy and infrastructure practice and has more than 30 years of executive search experience spanning corporate, PE-backed [...]
Leading Forward Podcast Launches with CarterBaldwin Partner Andrea McDaniel Smith
Earlier this summer, CarterBaldwin Executive Search Partner Andrea McDaniel Smith joined forces with Matthew Hall, Provost and VP of Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Christ Church Lake Forest Campus Pastor Ben Dockery, and Vivek Sarin, Founder and CEO of Juvo Company, to launch a new podcast, Leading [...]
Five Mistakes to Avoid in Leadership Transitions
As an executive search firm, we have led more than 100 searches to find CEOs for the world’s largest faith-based nonprofits. In every instance, there is a board who is strongly committed to the future of the institution, and in every instance, there is great intent to assure that the [...]
Text vs. Email: Seven Reasons Why Email (Still) Reigns in Business Communications
To text or not to text…that should be the question we ask ourselves when it comes to business communication these days. The remote world has created a more relaxed culture - allowing us to take advantage of a work-from-home dress code, and seemingly giving us a pass to default to [...]
An Impromptu Conversation with our Managing Partner, David Clapp, on our Culture and Core Values
Our Managing Partner, David Clapp, gives insight into the importance of CarterBaldwin’s culture and core values with a friend and seasoned entrepreneur and angel investor, Charlie Paparelli. Spend time with us and you will find these values to be the essence of “who we are.” […]
Managing Culture in Chaos
As our team at CarterBaldwin has sought to respond to these unprecedented times, the need to maintain - and indeed even strengthen - our culture in the midst of a dramatically different work environment has been front and center for us. Our team asked a number of our [...]
Building Culture Amidst the Storm
How nonprofit CEOs are building organizational culture while battling the coronavirus. The global lockdown to fight the COVID-19 virus dispersed nonprofit organizations from their traditional work environments into remote and virtual ones. CarterBaldwin asked the leaders of Compassion International, Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill Industries, and several others how they are [...]
The Single Most Important Role of a CEO
Even as I write the title, I know that it is audacious. Nobody could so precisely synthesize the unending responsibilities of a CEO into a single most important role. But we believe there is one … A simple search of the internet indicates that this is not the first time [...]
The Zone of Pressure vs. the Zone of Contentment
While we certainly can’t dictate every outcome, we can align our teams and resources to maximize our chances of success. Said another way, the championship is not always won in the draft, but I like my odds better when I’ve got a team comprised of the right athletes. A crucial [...]
Measuring Trust
When we conduct a search for an executive who will succeed in a leadership role with one of our clients we take into consideration what we believe to be the four critical components of a successful “fit.” These elements of fit include the skill set that the executive brings to [...]