Supporting organizations and individuals in promoting authentic leadership, creativity and inclusion
I work with mission-driven organizations at their most consequential moments: leadership transitions, founder successions, governance challenges, and strategic pivots. Engagements range from interim executive roles to board chair support to advising and speaking. Every engagement is grounded in the same convictions: play brings out the best in people, small tweaks can have outsized impact, and transitions handled with intention leave organizations stronger than they found them.
Interim Leadership and Succession Planning
INTERIM LEADERSHIP
Leadership transitions can be destabilizing, but with the right approach, they can also be opportunities for growth, innovation, and renewed momentum. My approach to interim leadership ensures that organizations don’t just maintain continuity, they emerge stronger, more strategic, and better positioned for long-term success.
BOARD CHAIR SUPPORT
Leadership transitions don’t only live with staff. Board Chairs are often carrying heightened responsibility for sense-making, timing, and partnership, especially during periods of change. The Chair Project is a practice-based experiment designed to support Board Chairs as they navigate this work with greater clarity, confidence, and effectiveness.
SUCCESSION PLANNING
Succession planning isn’t just about filling roles, it’s about strengthening organizations by preparing for leadership transitions with clarity, care, and intention. I bring to this work:
• A systems lens, helping organizations align leadership shifts with long-term strategy and culture.
• A people-first approach, supporting founders, staff, and boards through what can be an emotional and transformative process.
• A focus on sustainability, ensuring transitions leave the organization stronger, more resilient, and ready for what’s next.
WHAT I BRING TO THE ROLE
SPEAKING AND WORKSHOPS
I also speak and lead workshops on play, leadership transitions, and organizational design for conferences, companies, foundations, and school districts. Past audiences range from TEDMED to corporate leadership teams to gatherings of school superintendents.
Whether your organization is navigating leadership change, operational challenges, or strategic pivots, I bring the experience, energy, and insight to guide the transition with impact. Let’s talk about how I can help.
Leadership transitions can be destabilizing, but with the right approach, they can also be opportunities for growth, innovation, and renewed momentum. My approach to interim leadership ensures that organizations don’t just maintain continuity, they emerge stronger, more strategic, and better positioned for long-term success.
BOARD CHAIR SUPPORT
Leadership transitions don’t only live with staff. Board Chairs are often carrying heightened responsibility for sense-making, timing, and partnership, especially during periods of change. The Chair Project is a practice-based experiment designed to support Board Chairs as they navigate this work with greater clarity, confidence, and effectiveness.
SUCCESSION PLANNING
Succession planning isn’t just about filling roles, it’s about strengthening organizations by preparing for leadership transitions with clarity, care, and intention. I bring to this work:
• A systems lens, helping organizations align leadership shifts with long-term strategy and culture.
• A people-first approach, supporting founders, staff, and boards through what can be an emotional and transformative process.
• A focus on sustainability, ensuring transitions leave the organization stronger, more resilient, and ready for what’s next.
WHAT I BRING TO THE ROLE
- Three decades as a founder and CEO, including growing Playworks to a $40M national organization and leading it through crisis, contraction, and a deliberate leadership handoff
- Direct interim experience, including serving as Interim Executive Director of UC Berkeley Haas's Center for Social Sector Leadership and currently as Interim Academic Director at the Stanford d.school
- Deep fluency in nonprofit governance, including board development, chair support, and the founder-board relationship
- Human-centered design training and practice, applied to organizational challenges rather than just products
- A bias toward leaving things better than I found them: stronger teams, clearer systems, and successors set up to succeed
- Candor delivered with warmth, and a genuine belief that this work can be fun
SPEAKING AND WORKSHOPS
I also speak and lead workshops on play, leadership transitions, and organizational design for conferences, companies, foundations, and school districts. Past audiences range from TEDMED to corporate leadership teams to gatherings of school superintendents.
Whether your organization is navigating leadership change, operational challenges, or strategic pivots, I bring the experience, energy, and insight to guide the transition with impact. Let’s talk about how I can help.