CarterBaldwin Recruits Chief Growth and Strategy Officer for Feed the Children

December 1, 2022 – CarterBaldwin Executive Search has assisted in the recruitment of Colleen Ridenhour as chief growth and strategy officer of global non-profit Feed the Children. “After an extensive global search, I am thrilled to welcome Colleen to our organization,” said Travis Arnold, president and CEO for Feed the Children. “She is an exceptional leader who has the depth and breadth of experience needed, as well as the expertise required to lead our transformational evolution. With her leadership, we will build a bold strategy that further enables us to reach even more children and families.”
Ms. Ridenhour most recently served as chief development officer for Habitat for Humanity International, overseeing fundraising and key organizational strategic initiatives. She has also held leadership roles at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer and Research Center in Los Angeles and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. Ms. Ridenhour spent her early career as a marketer in the entertainment sector, eventually managing corporate and philanthropic partnerships as vice president, branded entertainment and strategic alliances at E! Entertainment Television and the Style Network before moving into the non-profit arena.
In this newly created role with Feed the Children, Ms. Ridenhour will lead the organization’s strategic plan that will advance the organization’s mission, growth strategy, and impact. She will bring together strategically driven marketing, branding, and fundraising programs and is charged with leading U.S. program development and implementation, ensuring the organization’s increased contribution to reducing childhood hunger.
With a mission to alleviate childhood hunger, Feed the Children envisions a world where no child goes to bed hungry. In the U.S. and internationally, the non-profit is dedicated to helping families and communities achieve stable lives and to reducing the need for help tomorrow, while providing food and resources to help them today. The organization distributes product donations from corporate donors to local community partners, provides support for teachers and students, and mobilizes resources quickly to aid recovery efforts when natural disasters strike. Internationally, the group manages child-focused community development programs in eight countries.
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Headquartered in Atlanta, CarterBaldwin provides executive search services in the healthcare, technology, non-profit, consumer services, industrial, and media/telecom sectors. Its clients include name-brand institutions, such as KPMG, ADP, Teradata, First Data, Duke University, New York Life, Fleet Pride, and Berkshire Hathaway. The firm is listed among a variety of rankings published by Hunt Scanlon Media, including its Top 50, Private Equity Power 100, and Top 40 Higher Education Search Firms.
Recent Non-Profit Assignment
Earlier this year, CarterBaldwin helped to place Microsoft executive Romanita Hairston as chief executive officer of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust in Vancouver, WA. The assignment was led by partner Andrea McDaniel Smith and consultant Ted Wieber. She succeeds Steve Moore, who announced his plans to retire after 16 years in the role.
“Romanita brings a robust leadership profile that is uniquely suited to the mission and work of the Murdock Trust,” said trustee Jeff Pinneo. “As a longtime resident of the Pacific Northwest and someone who has devoted more than 25 years of her life to roles that serve the common good of the community, she will be a tremendous asset to the future of the Murdock Trust and to those we partner with and support.” In conducting the search, CarterBaldwin engaged hundreds of candidates from across the non-profit and for-profit spectrum. Murdock Trust said it was Ms. Hairston’s unique collection of experience providing leadership in the non-profit, for-profit, and philanthropic sectors, coupled with deep roots in the Pacific Northwest, that elevated Ms. Hairston as the ideal candidate to lead the Murdock Trust.
The Murdock Trust, created by the will of the late Melvin J. (Jack) Murdock, provides grants to organizations in five states of the Pacific Northwest—Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington—that seek to strengthen the region’s educational, spiritual, and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways. Since its inception in 1975, the trust has awarded more than 7,800 grants totaling more than $1.2 billion.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media