United Way enlists Nexus Search Partners for CEO search
United Way of Greater Charlotte this week outlined plans for finding a new full-time president and CEO, including the hiring of Nexus Search Partners to help with the process.
A 14-person search committee led by Bill Currens, vice chair of the United Way board, formed in June to begin planning the committee’s hiring approach.
Laura Yates Clark, United Way’s president and CEO for six years, told the board in May that she planned to step down effective June 30. On June 5, the board named Kathryn Firmin-Sellers interim president and CEO. Firmin-Sellers has worked at United Way for eight years in two stints, most recently as executive vice president and chief impact officer.
Currens and United Way disclosed this week that Nexus Search Partners, a Charlotte firm, was chosen in July to spearhead the search. Partner agencies, United Way employees and others with close ties to the nonprofit organization learned of Nexus Search Partners’ hiring in a letter from Currens.
The search committee and Nexus Search Partners have yet to begin interviewing candidates. Interviews will begin this fall after the job is advertised.
Thadd Jones, Nexus Search Partners’ managing partner and founder, said that the past six weeks have been spent researching United Way, collaborating with the search committee and speaking to a range of employees, partners and donors to develop a job description and criteria for candidates.
Currens and Jones spoke to CBJ this week at United Way’s uptown offices about the CEO search. Their goal is to have a permanent CEO in place early next year.
But they vowed not to hurry the process.
“We have the advantage of Laura (having) left this organization in a great place,” Currens said. “We also have the advantage of having an interim leader in Kathryn (who) is strong and quite capable.”
Those circumstances, he added, allow the search committee to be deliberate.
Nexus Search Partners focuses on corporate searches, which account for 90% of the firm’s work, Jones said. Executive searches for private equity firms, consumer products and service providers and industrial companies make up the majority of their clients.
United Way is the second high-profile, local nonprofit this year to turn to Nexus Search Partners. The Charlotte Regional Business Alliance is also working with the search firm to find its new CEO, a process expected to conclude within the next couple of weeks.
Referring to the searches for CLT Alliance and United Way, Jones said, “We have skin in the game” as a Charlotte-based firm. Most of the company’s work is nationally focused, he added.
Currens and Jones said Nexus Search Partners offered the right fit because of the firm’s commitment to detail — and to helping beyond finding the new CEO.
“We have a coaching component that will be here to support that person as they onboard,” Jones said. “Having a coach you can talk to (on the job) only helps you.”
Currens agreed: “That aspect really set Nexus apart. That felt like, ‘You’re in this with us.’”
United Way and Nexus Search Partners share a commitment to diversity among candidates. Both executives pointed to the importance of finding candidates representing different backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints to ensure the best possible outcome.
Jones pronounced himself impressed by the health and stability of United Way.
“This isn’t a rebuild,” he said. “This is an additive component.”