BoardWalk Consulting Seeking COO for Deep South Today
May 27, 2025 – Executive recruitment firm BoardWalk Consulting has been retained to lead the chief operating officer search for Deep South Today, a networked hub of non-profit newsrooms. Founder Sam Pettway, director Cynthia Moreland, and senior research associate Lysondra Somerville are leading the assignment. The inaugural COO will be a future-forward leader who can focus on the organization’s strategic priorities of geographic expansion, expanded reporting scope across all newsrooms, talent development, and community engagement. Whether implementing a process to reach new audiences or investing in language translation of DST news, the COO will define, implement, and evaluate all processes and resources to ensure the ideal partners, people, and plans are leveraged.
Deep South Today seeks an entrepreneurial COO who embraces a bold vision, can thrive in a fast-paced environment, and will develop the structure, establish the process, and organize the team to facilitate the extended reach sustainably. A skilled chief operating officer will manage daily operations and ensure strong financial oversight, helping to achieve DST’s goals. To support the growing needs of a rapidly evolving operation, the COO will execute strategy, motivate the team, institute policies and procedures, manage the resources using business acumen, and ensure the staffing, structure, and capacity-enhancing services required are in place.
As the day-to-day implementer of the bold vision of the organization’s CEO, Deep South Today requires a proven leader who is adaptable and motivated by what is best for the organization. The COO has working knowledge of publishing and journalism; a leader who understands and respects the distinctions between general management, leadership, and editorial oversight. BoardWalk Consulting is looking for candidates that are a champion for justice, equity, access, and truth who gets the nuance of a non-profit news service focused on government accountability (vs. politics).
Launched in 2016, Deep South Today aims to solve the challenges facing local news through a networked hub of non-profit newsrooms serving what it calls “the most challenged region in the U.S.” The vision of Deep South Today is to create an infrastructure for impact-driven newsrooms that allows local players to focus on audience and editorial while receiving support in finance, administration and fundraising from a centralized hub. Deep South Today currently has two newsrooms in its network: Mississippi Today and Verite, in New Orleans, LA.
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In 2023, BoardWalk Consulting placed Warwick Sabin as the inaugural president and chief executive officer of Deep South Today. Mr. Sabin, who most recently served as chief strategy officer at Interfaith America, a non-profit that celebrates the potential of religious diversity, was selected after a seven-month national search that attracted more than 100 candidates. He is a former three-term Arkansas state representative, having served from 2013 to 2019.
Serving Mission-Driven Non-Profits
BoardWalk Consulting, based in Atlanta, is a national executive search firm that recruits CEOs and senior leadership for mission-driven non-profit organizations. Founded in 2002, the firm leads executive searches for clients from across the non-profit sector with global, national, regional, and local missions. Many of the firm’s team members have previously served as non-profit executives, grant makers, and board leaders. BoardWalk Consulting is also an active partner in Panorama, the global network of independent executive search firms.
BoardWalk Consulting Assists Community Connections with CEO Search
BoardWalk Consulting has assisted in the recruitment of Damien Cabezas as the new president and CEO of Community Connections, Inc. in Washington, D.C. Director Cynthia Moreland and senior associate Diane Westmore led the assignment. “Community Connections has long been a trailblazer in behavioral health, consistently setting the standard for innovation and excellence in the field,” said Dr. Mark Smith, chair of the CEO Search Committee. “We sought a leader with the vision, courage, and expertise to guide the agency to even greater achievements. We found that leader in Damien Cabezas, and we couldn’t be more excited.”
BoardWalk Consulting was founded by Mr. Pettway, a 30-year search veteran. Over his career in executive search, he has worked with hundreds of board members and leadership teams with entities ranging from start-ups to mature multinationals in both the corporate and non-profit sectors. Since founding BoardWalk in 2002, Mr. Pettway has served clients as varied as international relief agencies, national foundations, regional trade associations, and local agencies in dozens of markets.
Ms. Moreland is an experienced non-profit leader with more than two decades of non-profit leadership experience. She has been executive director of four non-profits in her native Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. Collectively, these organizations addressed issues of child and family welfare, community development, educational access, and youth development. Ms. Moreland’s clients at BoardWalk include global non-profit organizations like Food for the Hungry and the Asian & Pacific Islander Health Forum.
Ms. Somerville has worked as a corporate consultant, product manager, and marketing expert. She brings a decade’s worth of experience in various business, marketing, and management roles. Ms. Somerville is an accomplished corporate strategist with a deep understanding of organizational management and operational effectiveness.
Related: BoardWalk Consulting Retained by the Lumpkin Family Foundation for Executive Director
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
