How to Form a Search Committee for your Executive Director Search – an Interview with Ed Rogan10/23/2024 Today we’re sitting down with Ed Rogan, Partner and Search Practice Leader here at Valtas, to discuss forming a search committee for your Executive Director (ED) search. He is going to share some nonprofit search committee best practices from his more than two decades of experience in connecting people with missions to help you be better prepared for finding a new ED to lead your organization. Our hope is that you will use this as a sort of “search committee formation FAQ” to get your most pressing questions answered, but if you still have questions at the end, please reach out to Ed directly to get those answered in a way that’s customized to your organization’s specific needs. Let’s get started! Question: Thank you for sitting down with us Ed to lend your expertise. Let’s start with the technical aspects of forming a search committee. Based on your experience who should be on the search committee? Ed: “When forming a search committee for an ED search, it is crucial to select individuals who possess a deep understanding of the organization's mission and values. The committee should include representatives with a variety of perspectives, professional skillsets and lived experience. You should also include board members with a variety of tenures – those who have served for many years bring historical perspective, and newer board members represent the future of board leadership.” Question: Ideally, how many people should be on the committee? Ed: “Depending on the size of the board, we typically recommend between four and six members on the search committee because once you get larger than that, scheduling meetings becomes very difficult.” Question: Does that number include staff members? Ed: “We typically recommend against having staff members serve as voting members of the committee. However, our clients frequently identify a staff member or two to serve in the role of liaison between the committee and the staff. That way, staff members feel confident that they are getting first-hand information about the status and progress of the search directly from trusted sources. Of course, there are restrictions around confidentiality that apply as to how much information and what information can be shared.” Question: How should it be structured for maximum effectiveness? Ed: “The four to six-person committee will include a chair or co-chairs. The chair(s) serves as a primary contact point for the search firm in between committee meetings and when the search consultant needs input or feedback on emerging information. The chair also works with the search consultant to organize committee meetings and agendas and communicates with the rest of the committee from time to time.” Question: Now that you’ve explained how to form a highly effective search committee let’s dive into what that committee should accomplish and how it goes about doing so. What is the role of the search committee exactly? Ed: “While there may be subtle nuances that distinguish one process from another, the role of the search committee is to vet candidates and then recommend a candidate for the board to hire. In the early stages of the search, we often work with the committee to craft a charter for the search committee. This includes an explicit list of deliverables from the committee and ensures a common understanding among all board members.” Question: What sort of time commitment is required from committee members throughout the search process? Ed: “The most concentrated commitment of hours comes in the early stages of the search as well as in the late stages. Committee members can expect to spend 6-8 hours as we ramp up the search and develop the profile (which happens in the first two to six weeks of the search) and as much as 20 hours or more interviewing and discussing final candidates at the end of the search. There are a number of factors that impact that number including how many candidates move through the process and how many interviews the committee chooses to conduct. Mid-search, committee members should expect to spend roughly 30 to 60 minutes per week.” Question: What does the expected timeline look like in an executive director recruitment? Ed: “The process includes four main stages – background and discovery, recruiting and outreach, evaluation and presentation, and then client final interviews. I like to point to this graphic as a general guideline: The early background and discovery stages can take as little as two weeks and as long as six weeks depending on the number of conversations that we need to schedule and the availability of participants. Once we launch the search publicly, it usual takes about 90 – 95 days to reach the point of offering the job to a candidate. After that, transition time and start-date vary from search to search depending on the selected candidate’s existing commitments and availability. That transition is usually four to eight weeks.” About Valtas When you’re going through a leadership transition, Valtas can help! Our nonprofit executive search team can help your search committee find their next leader. Find out more about our Search+ services, which include not only successful placement of a new Executive Director but also experienced interim leadership to fill the gap during the search. Throughout our history we have successfully recruited new nonprofit leaders for scores of social purpose organizations across a wide range of missions. Find out more about the Valtas difference today! About Ed Rogan Ed Rogan is a human resources professional who has been connecting people and mission for over 20 years. Equally equipped with analytical and communication skills, he has a knack for quickly grasping a situation, connecting with varied personalities, and understanding business issues. Ed’s search philosophy takes a highly collaborative approach in partnering to recruit and develop leaders for mission-centered organizations. His work over more than 25 years has involved a range of diverse projects that provide him with opportunities to continuously learn and develop as a professional. Over the years, Ed has helped a wide range of organizations recruit and select CEOs, Executive Directors and other Director level professionals, many replacing long-term, highly respected leaders.
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