August 22, 2018
Dear Affiliates,
I wrote to you last week that Kari Thierer, current SRI Executive Director, is stepping down. Today, I write to share the Board’s plan to search for our next Executive Director.
The Board will actively seek out individuals to apply for the position in the next six weeks. We will review all applications received before October 1 then select candidates for an initial round of interviews. The Board will then select several finalists to come to Fall Meeting in San Antonio November 8-10. At Fall Meeting, the finalists will participate in a “Meet the Candidates” breakfast Friday morning, give presentations at the Organizational Development meeting Saturday afternoon, then meet with the Board for a final round of interviews Sunday morning. Once the Board has had an opportunity to review all feedback received from affiliates and SRI staff, they will make a final selection.
There are several critically important ways that we hope YOU participate in this search:
- read the Position Description below;
- share the Position Description with individuals within your network who you think might be a good fit as Executive Director;
- come to Fall Meeting so that you can get to know the final candidates at the breakfast Friday morning and Organizational Development meeting Saturday afternoon. Virtual attendance will be possible as well. We will solicit and take seriously your written feedback;
- help us welcome the new Executive Director once s/he begins serving in the role.
Our timeline is consistent with other executive searches for nonprofit organizations of similar size. However, we also want to ensure that we find the best possible candidate. If, in this first round of searching, we do not find a candidate that meets the needs of SRI, we will relaunch the search in the spring.
Thank you in advance for actively engaging in this exciting opportunity to determine new leadership for SRI. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me (pnorman@schoolreforminitiative.org) both with questions as well as with possible names of folks you think might be a good fit for Executive Director.
with gratitude,
Pat Norman, Chair
on behalf of SRI Board of Directors
