March 7, 2024 – Executive search firm was recently retained by the Sacramento LGBT Community Center to lead in its search for a new chief program officer. Reporting to the CEO and serving as a key partner on the senior leadership team, the chief program officer is a strategic and visionary program leader for a growing agency. This executive is responsible for the program strategy and has operational oversight in managing the design, delivery, and evaluation of all center services. Externally, they will have a broad reach to create and expand innovative partnerships with the LGBTQ+, intersectionally diverse, and allied communities.
McCormack+Kristel explains that this is an exciting opportunity to serve as the lead for the center’s programs, and to create enormous change with people in one of our nation’s most vital regions. The selected candidate will influence the organization’s management across multiple areas by directing a diverse portfolio of programs, activities, and events, and directly engaging a variety of stakeholders.
The new chief program officer will be a strategic and client-centered leader with exceptional critical thinking skills and expertise in program design, implementation, and evaluation. They will have experience developing and managing strategic and results-driven government and foundation grant-funded programs. The ideal candidate will have a minimum of 10 years of non-profit, higher education, or social services experience, including at least five years of program management experience and five years of staff and volunteer management experience;
The search firm also notes that the chief program officer will be a passionate and equity-focused leader with a deep commitment to reducing disparities for marginalized communities. They will possess strong collaborative and relationship-building skills, transparent leadership qualities, and a genuine enthusiasm for establishing new partnerships, particularly with queer and trans people of color. Candidates must have experience leading through change while remaining people-centered, resilient, outgoing, and enthusiastic.
In 1978, the Sacramento LGBT Community Center was first incorporated as a special assistance program called the Lambda Community Fund. For more than 30 years, the center operated almost entirely on the generosity of community volunteers who offered assistance to those in need and a place to find community. Now, the Sacramento LGBT Community Center has become one of the region’s largest non-profits, reaching more LGBTQ+ people than any organization in Northern California. Operating in four locations, the center provides programs and services spanning three broad categories: Health and Wellness, Advocacy, and Community Building.
Veteran Search Consultants
McCormack+Kristel was started in 1993 as McCormack & Associates with the mission of recruiting senior leadership for the many research, advocacy and human services organizations growing exponentially in response to AIDS pandemic. Diversity recruiting has long been on the firm’s agenda.
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With the advent of effective treatments for HIV/AIDS, and the diminishing needs of many of these organizations, the firm broadened its client base into areas like social justice; healthcare; women’s issues; higher education; gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender; civil rights; and more.
Five years ago, founding partner Joseph A. McCormack formed a new business partnership with Ms. Kristel, who joined the firm in 2013 as an associate. The firm has offices in New York City and Palm Springs, CA. McCormack+Kristel clients have included the ACLU, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, TransForm, Planned Parenthood, SAGE, and the Tides Foundation, among others.
McCormack+Kristel recently assisted in the placement of Tom Pittman as the new executive director of Identity in Anchorage, AK. “The board of directors is pleased to have Tom Pittman serve as executive director,” said Owen Hutchinson, board co-chair, Identity. “He brings stability and proven leadership to the organization. In his new role, he will continue to serve our community as a subject matter expert on LGBTQIA2S+ healthcare. We look forward to Tom’s depth of experience in healthcare services to further Identity’s mission. We are grateful for his leadership to help lay the foundation for the next 40 years of the organization.”
In 2022, Mr. McCormack retired. Ms. Kristel continues to run the firm’s national practice. Ms. Kristel is the former executive director of In The Life Media (ITLM), a non-profit organization producing social change media to raise awareness of issues related to gender, HIV/AIDS, and LGBT rights.
Recent Assignments
, which fights to advance civil rights and freedoms for LGBTQ people domestically and internationally through education, advocacy, and community organizing. “Join us in congratulating Carlo Giovanni on his new role as the chief people officer at the Los Angeles LGBT Center,” McCormack+Kristel said. “In this role, Carlo will modernize and optimize people-centered experiences for employees and volunteers across the organization and work with staff throughout the organization to establish a culture that reflects the center’s values and DEI principles.”
. The search firm is seeking candidates with a passion for the center’s work and its mission to make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people. Reporting to the CEO, the CFO directly manages the accounting, finance, tax, cash, and business development functions of the center. Providing critical analysis and strategy development, the CFO is a trusted advisor to the CEO and board of directors and a key member of the senior executive team.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor; Lily Fauver, Senior Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
