PRESS RELEASES

Center CEO Search Enters Next Phase With Appointment of Search With Committee and Selection of Professional Search Firm

SAN DIEGO, CA, June, 2017 – The San Diego LGBT Community Center’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Delores Jacobs, announced that she would complete the term of her current contract, which expires at the end of June 2018, but would not sign a new contract. Since that time, Dr. Jacobs and The Center’s Board of Directors have remained committed to transparency and community involvement in the leadership transition process. A detailed overview of the entire search and selection process was posted on The Center’s website at http://www.thecentersd.org/board/pdf/docs/sd-lgbt-community-center.pdf in June.

Today, The Center is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has named the search committee and has additionally retained the search firm McCormack+Kristel to assist with the search and selection process for The Center’s next chief executive.

The search committee is chaired by Center Board co-chair G. Joyce Rowland, Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer and Chief Administrative Officer for Sempra Energy. The committee will also include: Gil Cabrera, attorney and founder of The Cabrera Firm; Center Board Secretary Joanna Clark, recruiting leader for Wells Fargo & Co., Community Bank Division; Kafele Khalfani, Dean of Student Affairs for Warren College, UCSD; Center Board Vice-Chair Lisa Nicole Sanders, sales and marketing manager for Black Mountain Ranch; former Center Board co-chair-Shaun Travers, PhD, Diversity Officer and Director of the LGBT Resource Center at UCSD; former Center Board co-Chair Andrea Villa, User Experience Researcher and Designer at Qualcomm, Inc.; and former Center Board co-chair Dale Kelly Bankhead, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Diego Working Families Council. More information on the committee members can be found on The Center’s website at http://www.thecentersd.org/about/board-of- directors.html

The search committee is charged with working with the professional search consultants to conduct the nationwide search, recruit and identify qualified candidates for the CEO position and to recommend finalists to the full Center board of directors, who will make the final selection of a new CEO.

McCormack+Kristel brings 24 years of recruiting experience to this executive search. Says founder and managing partner Joe McCormack, “We were the first retained search firm to recruit leadership for the HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ communities, and we are the first retained search firm to embrace the transgender community as a valuable source of talent for our clients. Being a pioneer is a core value for us, not only as a business practice, but as a commitment to social justice. We are honored to support the San Diego LGBT Community Center during this important leadership transition.”

Since its founding in 1993, McCormack+Kristel has completed over 400 searches for CEOs, board members and C-suite executives for large and small nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and many other cities. Clients have included the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the Center of the Desert, Center on Halsted, PFLAG, SAGE and many more.

“As a member of the Board of Directors of CenterLink, the association of LGBT Centers, I know the essential role that centers play in creating healthy, vibrant communities,” said partner Michelle Kristel. “I am thrilled to be supporting the San Diego LGBT Community Center in this important search.”

The next step in the search and selection process will be the gathering of broad community input regarding candidate criteria by identifying what characteristics community members hope to see in a future San Diego LGBT Community Center leader. This will be done through methods such as telephone interviews and/or focus groups of community members, volunteers, funders and staff members. A community survey may also be distributed to allow additional opportunities for input. Following the completion of the community input phase, candidate criteria will be formalized in a position announcement and recruitment of candidates will begin.

“The board of directors is committed to transparency in this process. We will continue to ensure that the San Diego community is updated at each major step along the way,” Rowland said.

About McCormack+Kristel

McCormack+Kristel brings 24 years of recruiting experience to this executive search. Founder and managing partner Joe McCormack says, “We were the first retained search firm to recruit leadership for the HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ communities, and we are the first retained search firm to embrace the transgender community as a valuable source of talent for our clients. Being a pioneer is a core value for us, not only as a business practice, but as a commitment to social justice. We are honored to support The San Diego LGBT Community Center during this important leadership transition.”

Since its founding in 1993, McCormack+Kristel has completed more than 400 searches for CEOs, board members and C-suite executives for large and small nonprofit organizations across the country. Clients have included the ACLU, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Planned Parenthood, SAGE, the Tides Foundation, and many more.

Contact:
Michelle Kristel
Partner
Michelle@mccormackkristel.com

Share This Article