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A new CEO and their board are essentially strangers who just committed to leading an organization together.
What happens in that first year, between the new leader, their board, and the organization, determines whether the transition becomes a catalyst or a cost. The search finds the right person. The work that happens after the search determines whether they succeed.
That work falls to the board chair. And it doesn’t come with instructions.
I work with boards of mission-driven, board-governed organizations in the gap between finding the right person and having a successful one. Before the new CEO arrives. Through their first year. Into the trust that makes leadership sustainable.
You don’t have to figure that out alone.
The Book
I spent the year after my CEO tenure ended reverse-engineering what went wrong. Not to assign blame, but to build something boards could actually use.
Putting Success into Succession: How Boards Turn a New CEO into a Lasting Success is the result. It is a practical guide for board chairs navigating the work that happens alongside and after the search, when the stakes are highest and the support is most often missing.
If you want to understand the system before we talk, start here.
Putting Success Into Succession on Amazon | Sample Text from Book
About Me
Why I Know This Work
I have sat in the CEO’s chair during a leadership transition that failed. Not because of poor performance. Not because of lack of effort or capability. Because no one built the structure the transition needed, and no one knew that was their job.
Nineteen months after I was hired as CEO of a national membership organization, I was asked to resign. I spent the following year trying to understand what happened. Not to assign blame, but to find the pattern.
What I found was this: two groups of well-intentioned people, a board and a new CEO, each assumed the other had it handled. The board had done everything right in the search. They had found the right person. What no one had built was the foundation that made the relationship work after the offer letter was signed.
That is not a failure of character. It is a failure of structure. And it happens, in some version, in organizations everywhere.
The organization paid a significant price. More than $250,000 in hard costs: severance, a failed search, interim leadership. But the deeper costs were harder to measure. Months of staff uncertainty. Lost organizational momentum. The erosion of confidence on both sides of a relationship that never had the chance to find its footing. I lost something too. A reputation I had spent a career building and the confidence that came with it.
I spent that year building what was missing. The result is a practical system for board chairs: the work that happens before a new CEO arrives, through their first year, and into the trust that makes leadership sustainable. That system is now a published book and the foundation of my consulting practice.
I bring this work to boards as someone who has lived the transition from the inside. I know what the new CEO needs and cannot ask for. I know what the board chair is carrying and how to make it lighter. And I know that when this work is done well, the transition becomes something the organization builds on for years.
You took on something that doesn’t come with a manual. I built one. And I am here to help you use it.
My Experience
I spent 17 years as Vice President of Operations at Arapahoe Basin, overseeing multi-million dollar operations across one of Colorado’s most storied mountain resorts. I then served as CEO of PSIA-AASI, a nationwide membership organization with 34,000 members across eight regions. That CEO tenure ended after 19 months, not because of failure in the role, but because the transition lacked the structure to succeed.
I spent the following year reverse-engineering what went wrong. The result is my three-phase Leadership Transition Architecture System, built from that experience and now the foundation of my consulting practice.
That system is now the basis of my published book, Putting Success into Succession: How Boards Turn a New CEO into a Lasting Success (Enlighten PressWorks, 2026).
I hold an SPHR certification and have spent more than 30 years working in and around mission-driven, board-governed organizations.
When to Call Me
If you are a board chair navigating a leadership transition, you are probably doing it on top of everything else in your life. A full-time job. A family. Other commitments. This role came without a salary, without a training program, and without nearly enough recognition for what it asks of you. Here is when the work I do is most useful.
Before a Leadership Transition If:
- You are planning a CEO leadership change in the next 6 to 12 months
- You are not sure if your board and your current leader agree on organizational purpose
- You have had leadership turnover in the past that did not go as planned
- You want this transition to strengthen your organization and launch your next era without the typical 18-month performance dip
During a Leadership Transition If:
- You are in the first 90 days and clarity feels elusive before positions harden and trust erodes
- Your new CEO and your board don’t seem to be finding their footing together
- Old patterns are resurfacing despite new leadership
- Feedback is not flowing and trust is not forming
After a Leadership Transition If:
- You are 6 to 12 months in and momentum has not returned
- Performance is acceptable but trust is fragile
- You are not sure if you have a transition problem or a leader problem
How I Work
Pre-Transition: Before your new CEO’s first day, I build the structure that sets them up to succeed.
Transition Support: In your new CEO’s first year, I help your board and their new leader build the trust and clarity that momentum requires.
Transition Recovery: When a transition has stalled or the relationship is under strain, I help boards and leaders rebuild the foundation before the damage becomes permanent.
The Search Finds the Right Person. The Structure Makes Them Succeed.
The right transition doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because a board chair decided to do the work, and had the right support to do it well.
You don’t have to figure that out alone. Let’s talk.