We’re pleased to welcome Damon Circosta, Executive Director and Vice President of the A.J.

There is no shortage of urgency in the nonprofit sector right now.

Executive transitions are pivotal moments that can either stall momentum or unlock new opportunity.

When people hear that I spend much of my time supporting Interim Executive Leaders, I’m often asked a simple question: “So… what exactly makes a successful interim?”

We are pleased to welcome Cinda Merrill Waldbuesser as the 11th President and CEO of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy based in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Every year on November 13 the world comes together to celebrate World Kindness Day, first introduced by a coalition of NGOs in 1998.

Although it was many years ago, I remember this like it was just yesterday and this song by the band The Who encapsules the thought of identity.

We are honored to introduce you to this week's guest blogger Shaleiah Fox.

We are honored to introduce you to this week's guest blogger Bess Littlefield, CEO of the Virginia Funders Network (VFN)!

As someone who works closely with nonprofit Boards and executive teams, I’ve always believed that respect is foundational to leadership.

Many years ago, I developed four “pillars” that guide me in leadership roles I take, places where I can do my best work, and situations where my values align with the organization.

At Armstrong McGuire, we celebrate the successes of our clients and the innovative strategies of our team.

Our son is starting middle school this month.

Working in partnership with Senior Advisor Staci Barfield and Certified Interim Executive Fawn Pattison, the Family Connects International (FCI) Board of Directors recently named Jade Woodard its new President & CEO, exemplifying the power

Artificial Intelligence is continuing to change the nonprofit sector landscape, and it is doing so at a rapid pace.

Taylor Swift re-recording her albums and buying back her masters to reclaim ownership of her work didn’t just make headlines – it made a statement.

Back in the early days of Armstrong McGuire, we used to laugh about Bert’s favorite metaphor: the three-legged stool.

For nearly 18 months, Senior Advisor David Middleton has served as the interim CEO of Aldersgate Retirement Community in Charlotte with a focus on helping the organization return to financial stability.

Congratulations! You have been elected chair of the board of a nonprofit you hold in high regard.

During a recent visit to Savannah, I had the chance to take a guided tour of the city, which left me mesmerized by its breathtaking live oak trees.

I currently serve as an interim executive through Armstrong McGuire, and for the past 14+ months I have served as Interim CEO at Aldersgate, a large continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Charlotte with a very complicated recent

We love it when partners connect, so we were thrilled when our friend David Harris, Managing Partner at Interim Executive Solutions based in Boston joined our partner Patton McDowell to discuss building resilient nonprofits through interim

We are thrilled to be joined by this week's guest blogger, Armstrong McGuire Certified Interim Executive Aisha Adams!

There is a saying that there is no i in team.

As I write this blog, it’s a sunny Friday morning in February.

The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina (FBCENC) welcomed Amy Beros as its new President and CEO in January. Rather than a new beginning, it’s more of a homecoming.

Nonprofit leadership transitions can be a moment of crisis - or opportunity. When an executive director (ED) or CEO departs, organizations often rush to fill the vacancy, but this urgency can lead to costly missteps.

I love games. Few things bring me more joy than game night with family or friends.

As we welcome in a new year, Armstrong McGuire is wrapping up our 2024 celebration of a significant milestone—20 years of partnering with nonprofits to unlock the potential in their communities.

Following a successful career in banking, Armstrong McGuire’s Director of Interim Management Services Kathy Ridge ventured into a second career in nonprofit leadership.

Since we work with nonprofit clients exclusively, we often hear from nonprofit board members about staff and vice versa.

Two weeks ago, we reflected on the devasting impact of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. Today, we resume the conversation.

Armstrong McGuire is proud to partner with the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits and honored to welcome CEO Ivan Canada as our guest blogger.

Shalane Flanagan and Elyse Kopecky’s Run Fast. Eat Slow. cookbooks are never far from my kitchen.

As you consider your next leadership hire, ask yourself: What could a fresh perspective bring to this process?

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky famously said, "You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

While I don’t love being on video, I do love talking about fundraising effectiveness!

I am not sure where you might be reading this but, in the Carolinas, these cicadas seem to be everywhere.

One of the most dreaded business shoulds is succession planning.

The SAFEchild partnership began nearly 15 years ago when founding executive director Marjorie Menestres reached out to Armstrong McGuire for assistance with an organizational assessment.

If you are looking for a job in the Charlotte nonprofit sector or a place to post a great opportunity for your organization, look no further than the Do Good Work job board.

In the past couple of weeks three different situations collided making me think deeper about the role of the board, executive director and generally about the overall leadership structure of nonprofits.

This month, Armstrong McGuire is reflecting on nonprofit board governance, and what it really means to be a single member of a collective Board of Directors.

HOPE. I have hope! In September I wrote a blog post called Joy Shattered following the tragic shooting on the UNC campus. In that blog I wrote, “The normalcy of violence in our country is unacceptable. It must change, but how?”

Full disclosure: The blog post you are reading almost didn’t happen. Like most people, there are times where I can come down with a nasty case of writer’s block, and I was stricken by a particularly acute onset this time.

Nonprofit board and staff relationships are often… we’ll say, “complicated.”

My father was raised on a farm. While he has never been a professional farmer, farming, working the land, and producing something of value is in his DNA. What he was not born with is patience!

As many people in the nonprofits world know, making friends and maintaining relationships is important for a number of reasons. Having connections and networking is essential in talent acquisition as well.

Receiving a gift is always exciting. It becomes even more beneficial when the gift is something you really need. Receipt of this perfect gift provides invaluable clarity and direction.

In January we reported that hiring teams needed to be patient and move quickly, referencing both the longer time required to move prospective candidates from interested to application and the need to be efficient moving candidates through

Leading a non-profit can be incredibly rewarding, but it can also be incredibly challenging. As a nonprofit board chair, I've learned a ton of lessons. I'd like to share a few with you today.

If you are just starting to contemplate an exit from what you’ve been doing, I hope this gets your attention.

In the age of technology and data at our fingertips, it’s easy to get lost in the pressure to meet key performance indicators and develop new reports.

Six years ago, I became a Senior Advisor with Armstrong McGuire. Recently I was taking a walk and listening to a podcast where a researcher I admire was interviewed.

Recently, I turned the final page on Adam Higginbotham’s excellent book, Midnight in Chernobyl, a seemingly minute-by-minute account of the human-made events leading up to and following the 1986 nuclear disaster in North-Central Ukraine.

Last weekend the Armstrong McGuire team was busy at our yearly retreat and internal strategy meetings. On Sunday and Monday, we learned, laughed, and reflected on our work and processes.

One of the things I enjoy most about my profession is getting to observe and learn from people across the nonprofit sector.

Everyone needs a change sometimes. Whether you are looking to grow your talents, focus on your family, or find that better balance, thinking about a transition can be daunting…but it can also be motivating.

There is often panic when an organization experiences an executive vacancy.

My colleague, Shannon Williams, gave me some great starting advice as I was onboarding with Armstrong McGuire.

I come from a long line of practical women. Both my grandmothers were raised on farms in the country where there was little time for frivolity.

The command-and-control management style is a thing of yesteryear. It is no longer effective in today’s world of work where employees are more vocal and simply will not stand for this style.

Our own Katie Weeks is teaming up Kathy Ridge of LevRidge Consulting and Lift Connection to lead a virtual training designed specifically for new board chairs.

I bought an air fryer last weekend.

Leadership is one of those topics that is both fairly straight-forward, and yet, still largely misunderstood.

Being part of Armstrong McGuire offers me the opportunity to meet so many people and immerse myself in new (to me!) and varying nonprofits.

The Great Resignation. The Big Quit. Whatever you call it, the job market is crazy. So, what does it mean if you are trying to hire?

This past weekend we gathered our neighbors and roasted s’mores over a bonfire. We met some new neighbors and got to know old neighbors better.

I think I might have stepped out of line a bit lately.

Recently I wrote a blog story reflecting on a hilariously terrifying encounter with a self-diagnosed medical condition of mine – ophidiophobia.

Our son, Ian, finished first grade at a new school in May.

About a month ago, I wrote a blog post entitled The Hardest Job I Ever Had. I have to admit that I was unprepared for the outpouring of emails and phone calls from CEOs and EDs that followed.

At our best. It’s the basis of many of my favorite questions.

Just over a year ago, on Armstrong McGuire’s first convening call with executive directors, Garry Crites, who is the Executive Director of NAMI North Carolina (National Alliance on Mental Illness), asked a very important question to the

Last week I had the privilege to be a part of a discussion on Board meetings, officers, and committees with more than 50 nonprofit leaders through Mission Triangle. Here are some of the highlights that came up in each area.

Hiring a new executive for any organization is a very important and complex process. When recruiting a committee to lead the search, make certain that members will offer different perspectives, expertise, and insights.

COVID is still with us and over the last eight months we have been adapting to the ongoing challenges it presents. Conducting professional job searches has changed as interactions are now virtual.

Hard. Difficult. Challenging. Exhausting. Overwhelming.Nope. I am not talking about the pandemic.These are the adjectives I am hearing over and over from nonprofit leaders describing what it is like to manage their teams right now.

Recently I’ve had multiple conversations (some that included tears) with people who are feeling burnt-out, exhausted, and pulled in lots of different directions.

If you know that our younger son is a collegiate runner, then you probably have heard me say. “Runners run.”Runners run when it is hot, cold, raining, tropical storming, sleeting, or snowing.

2020 kicked us in the knees, leaving us a little shaky and rather vulnerable. Everything has changed. Uncommon times call for conscientious examination of who we are and our personal and professional core values.

Last week Staci Barfield and I participated in a webinar from Nonprofit HR about race and diversity practices in nonprofits.I am starting to realize that there are many inequities that I never see or think about because they don’t apply to

About a year ago, I was interviewed on a podcast where the interviewer very graciously commended the church community I lead for its diversity. I wasn’t surprised by the observation. In fact, I typically anticipate people making this point.

As a board, search committee, or executive director you have put so much time and effort into hiring a new employee – now what? You’ve hired a consulting firm, like Armstrong McGuire, to conduct a search for a new employee.

The job search and hiring process has changed. Whereas in-person interviews were once the norm, the pandemic moved us to Brady Bunch-style conversations on platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, and Google Meet.

Without question it is a crazy week in the world.

Members of our team recently completed a “talent” assessment that identified individual competencies, behaviors, and styles. Among other things, the resulting report confirmed that I am, by nature, a learner.

One of the largest pain points inside nonprofits is bandwidth. We feel it nearly every time we walk into a client. And one of the largest investments for a nonprofit is normally personnel.

Last week I attended, along with some of my Armstrong McGuire teammates, the Groundwater Training hosted by the YMCA of the Triangle and led by Monica and Jennifer from the Racial Equity Institute.

Every few years the nonprofit community collectively keys in on a few concepts or focus areas. One of the themes that seems to be emerging in 2020 is increased emphasis on succession planning.

As this new decade unfolds, fearless leadership is essential to meet the challenges facing our communities. Where are the innovative architects who will address our complex problems?

There it was. Another news item about nonprofit compensation, this one detailing the exorbitant salary of the executive director of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

What would you say if asked, “So, tell me about yourself?” It’s certainly an open-ended question and one that could help or hurt you when trying to impress your potential next supervisor or board of directors.

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it.” H.E. Luccock I make no claims to being a classical music connoisseur.

Do you ever go through a period where you find yourself using the same words or phrases repeatedly? I’m having one of those weeks.

Spring is here. With it comes a new season of NCAA tournament brackets. A new season of tax preparation. A new season of grass mowing.

References have a tremendous impact on the decision to hire a qualified individual. Therefore, it is surprising that candidates often do not give adequate attention to preparing their professional references.

Applying for a new job is intimidating. You might be rejected. Someone you have never met is going to evaluate your qualifications based upon a document. You are expected to make a good impression, often with limited information.

This week we celebrated the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who dedicated his all-too-short time on Earth to fighting social and civil injustice.

I recently had the opportunity to attend the 2018 Conference for North Carolina’s Nonprofits, where our very own Bert Armstrong facilitated a discussion with panelists Pilar Rocha-Goldberg (CEO of El Centro Hispano), Charrise Hart (CEO of