How an interim CEO supported a leadership transition
Leadership changes are disruptive. An interim executive can help you with the transition. Learn how this interim CEO helped set a non-profit up for success.
Key takeaways
- How Interim executives can fill key roles during a permanent search
- Hear from our client on how Korn Ferry supported their business
- Learn how you can benefit from hiring an interim CEO
NWA’s CEO was retiring after 30 years of leading the organization, which advocates for the WIC public health nutrition program in the US. Paul Throne, board chair of NWA, shares his thoughts on the interim experience.
Watch this brief video to see the highlights from our interview.
Hiring an interim CEO: a client’s story
NWA’s CEO was retiring after 30 years of leading the organization which advocates for the WIC childhood nutrition program in the US.
To take the NWA into its next chapter, Throne and his fellow NWA board members needed to find a new CEO. Since no one on the board had conducted a CEO search before, they sought counsel from industry leaders who had been in the same boat.
Their recommendations were unanimous: hire an interim. And according to Throne, it was “the best advice we could have received”.
When an organization doesn’t have a leadership succession plan in place, or unforeseen changes occur, bringing in an interim is an obvious way to bridge the gap while it gets its house in order. You can’t always be perfectly prepared for future unknowns, but accessing the flexibility and capability of interims can often guide you to success.
Throne brought Korn Ferry on board to scope out the role and its challenges, and to find the right interim for the job. By working closely with the board at NWA and leveraging our own expertise in leadership succession planning, we were able to build a detailed profile of the kind of interim leader they needed: their leadership traits, their experiences and capabilities.
We then used our network to find interims who fit the profile. We only put forward one candidate to start, because we were confident that she would be a great fit, and the NWA board agreed. She started as interim CEO on the first business day after the departure of the original CEO, ensuring no gaps in the company’s leadership, and she stayed in post for ten months.
