About
Contact
Active Searches
About
Contact
Active Searches
 

For boards planning an ED or CEO transition

Need a new leader to start July 1? Launch your search by December 3.

In our 35 searches last season, ED and CEO roles took about 22 weeks from launch to an accepted offer. After that, allow about eight weeks for your new leader to give notice and wrap up their current job. If the search starts in January instead, the first day moves to August, after school is already underway.

  1. Board decides, and we define the role togetherNow
  2. Search launches
  3. Offer accepted
  4. First day
Talk to us about your search Calculate your own dates

Where these dates come from: 35 searches we completed between October 2025 and May 2026

  • 35
    Searches completed
  • 8.1wks
    Average to first slate
  • 6.5wks
    Leadership searches to first slate
  • 22.7wks
    Average executive search to fill
  • 3
    Clients who ran multiple searches

Last season

What 35 searches told us

We completed 35 searches between fall 2025 and spring 2026. That isn't a formal study, but a few things came up often enough that they're worth sharing.

Timing

A CEO search takes about five months, start to finish.

Last season, our ED and CEO searches averaged a little over five months from signed contract to accepted offer, and senior roles below the CEO moved faster. That covers the whole process: defining the role, recruiting, interviews, and the board's final decision. If your board starts planning a couple of months before launch, the search can begin with the role already defined.

The boards that handled transitions best this year started planning while their current leader was still in the job. When the seat is already empty, every step that follows has less time.

Who's hiring

More boards are replacing a founder or longtime leader.

Our most common search last seasonED and CEO roles, more than every other category combined.

Many of these boards were replacing a founder or a leader who had been in the role for years, and a lot of those transitions happened at about the same time. Replacing the person who built an organization is harder than filling a typical vacancy.

The next leader usually needs different strengths than the founder had. The boards that struggled most were the ones looking for someone just like the person who left.

The process

Narrowing the field takes time.

In a typical search, about twenty candidates had first-round interviews and two reached the final round.

Finding strong candidates is rarely the hard part. Most of the work is comparing each one to what the organization needs now, which is often different from what it needed when the last leader was hired.

When a board asks for a short list of three early on, fewer people get a serious look.

Clients

Who we worked with this season

  • Charter Networks
  • Education Nonprofits
  • School Districts
  • Foundations
  • Social Impact Organizations

Over the years

Our results across all our searches

These numbers cover every search we've run for mission-driven organizations, not just this season.

95%

Of searches led to a successful hire

  • 80%
    Of placements stay 2+ years
  • 65%
    Of clients return for more
  • 73%
    Of placements identify as people of color
  • 70%
    Of placements identify as women

Planning a leadership transition?

Tell us where your board is and when you need someone in the seat. We'll help you figure out whether the timeline works and what it will take.

For a July 1, 2027 start, the search should launch by December 3.

Talk to us about your search See how we work