Executive Director & Board Chair Workshop

The Greater Philadelphia Nonprofit Repositioning Fund invites pairs of Executive Directors and their Board Chairs to attend a FREE workshop with David La Piana, Founder and Managing Partner of La Piana Consulting on Friday, April 13th from 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM (a Center City venue TBD).  

Workshop Summary:

The partnership between the board chair and the CEO is essential to nonprofit success. It is the key relationship that spans the borders of volunteer and staff. These leaders must be on the same page, with strong, trust-based relationships that allow for honest dialogue and even disagreement. This relationship becomes even more critical in an era where networking, partnerships, and even mergers are increasingly common and necessary strategies for nonprofit success.

Yet, CEOs tend to stay in their jobs far longer than board chairs, and as chairs rotate, a new relationship must be quickly nurtured. This session will focus on the keys to successful board chair/CEO relationships. While CEOs have venues to talk with their peers, there is an almost total lack of opportunities for board chairs to learn from one another. In this session we will explore the keys to a successful relationship, then divide into two groups – board chairs and CEOs – to discuss what each group needs from the other. We’ll then come back together to share those needs and discuss their meaning. How much did the two groups’ overlap or diverge? Where is there need for attention?

The goal of this session is to enhance the dialogue between these key leaders at each organization and to help board chairs to see their role in the context of their peers’ experience. All of this occurs as their organizations prepare for more and deeper interorganizational partnerships.

David La Piana:

David helps social sector executives to develop powerful strategies while becoming better leaders for their staffs, boards, and communities. He helps clients quickly home in on their most important strategic issues and begin to develop real, practical solutions. He has authored a number of popular books, including The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution, The Nonprofit Merger Workbooks I and II, Play to Win, and The Nonprofit Business Plan, and numerous articles appearing in Stanford Social Innovation Review, including "Merging Wisely," "The Nonprofit Paradox," and "When Organizational Change Fails." David has consulted to a wide cross-section of nonprofits including AARP, ACLU, the Ford Foundation, Beneficial State Foundation, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Y USA.