Diversified Search Group (DSG Global) | Koya Partners Leading CDO Search for NPR
May 7, 2025 – Diversified Search Group (DSG Global) | Koya Partners has been retained by NPR to lead in its search for a chief development officer and president of the NPR Foundation. The assignment is being led by Gerard F. Cattie Jr. This executive will lead the strategic design and execution of a comprehensive national fundraising program consistent with NPR’s reputation for innovation and excellence.
The CDO will oversee the adoption of benchmark best practices and the development of creative strategies that continue to expand NPR’s donor base and philanthropic revenue. This individual will supervise a small team of direct reports while providing direction and oversight for an overall, geographically distributed development staff of 40 across the areas of individual giving, institutional giving, planned giving, collaborative philanthropy, digital philanthropy, donor relations, operations, and database analytics.
NPR has a compelling case for public and private support driven by its journalistic excellence, the urgency of safeguarding and sustaining independent journalism, and the brimming energy surrounding the 2024 appointment of new president and CEO Katherine Maher.
While NPR will consider a broad range of backgrounds, the ideal candidate will have the following qualifications/experience. Here is a brief overview desired traits for this position:
- Mission & Values Alignment: commitment to NPR’s mission, public radio, and high-quality journalism; values-driven, self-aware, and dedicated to personal and professional growth.
- Fundraising & Campaign Leadership: 15+ years of progressive experience securing major and planned gifts from individuals, families, foundations, and corporations, including stewardship, development operations, and large-scale campaign leadership; deep experience with digital fundraising strategies and infrastructure, including data analytics, market segmentation, and testing; affiliate-structured organization experience preferred.
- Management & Operational Excellence: 10+ years of management experience overseeing staff and designing world-class fundraising operations; a track record of catalyzing change and driving productivity through clear objectives and performance standards; strong business and fiscal management expertise.
- Philanthropy Expertise: deep knowledge of modern fundraising best practices, donor motivations, and evolving philanthropic trends, including research, cultivation, stewardship, and face-to-face solicitations; agility in coordinating executive partnerships, optimizing branding and donor engagement, and deploying senior colleagues and trustees to maximize fundraising impact.
NPR is an independent, mission-driven, non-profit multimedia organization established in 1970. It is also a membership organization of separately licensed and operated public radio organizations across the United States. NPR produces award-winning news, information, and music programming in partnership with hundreds of independent public radio stations across the nation.
Diversified Search Group (DSG Global) is a family of recruiting firms serving specialized sectors. The firm was founded almost five decades ago by Judith M. von Seldeneck for the express purpose of placing diverse candidates in client organizations. It is today the largest U.S. female-owned and founded firm in the executive recruitment industry. It is comprised of a combination of specialty practices with deep industry expertise under industry recognized brands, including Alta Associates, BioQuest, Koya Partners, Grant Cooper, and Storbeck Search.
In 2019, Koya was acquired by Diversified Search. With the combination of revenues and resources, Diversified Search and Koya now represent one of the largest non-profit and higher education practices in the executive search industry. Koya’s specialization in mission-driven search, primarily with non-profit and higher education clients, complements Diversified’s own major education, non-profit, and arts and culture practices, as well as the firm’s healthcare services, board of directors, life sciences, industrial, and digital, media, entertainment, and sports practices.
Mr. Cattie is managing director and practice leader, DSG fundraising and advancement, based in New York. His practice focuses on searches for senior leadership positions within prominent higher education institutions, non-profit organizations, global NGOs, foundations, associations and membership societies, healthcare providers, as well as arts and cultural entities. He serves as the leader of the firm’s development and philanthropy practice, along with the arts and culture sector of the firm’s education, nonprofit, and arts and culture practice.
Philanthropy Leaders
The field of advancement is an extension of philanthropy/development/fundraising. Over the past two decades, educational institutions and charitable groups have shifted toward more integrated models of collaboration between communications, marketing, branding and development. Advancement represents the full integration of these functions under a single leader, the chief advancement officer.
Leading and Scaling with Talent
Talent has become the cornerstone of value creation in private equity, shaping the success of portfolio companies and driving superior returns. As traditional levers like financial engineering and cost optimization face diminishing returns, private equity firms are increasingly focused on leadership and operational excellence to unlock growth. The role of talent leaders has never been more critical—they are the architects of transformative strategies, aligning people and processes to maximize organizational potential and achieve sustainable scalability.
Hunt Scanlon Media is convening hundreds of operating partners, chief talent officers, and executive recruiters at the Harvard Club in New York on May 15, 2025. We will examine the vital role talent professionals play in driving value creation—from shaping investment strategies and operational initiatives to fostering leadership excellence and organizational growth.
According to recruiters who specialize in the non-profit sector, fundraising talent is being groomed all around the field and within organizations that understand the direct connectivity between messaging and contributed revenue. The function is only relevant to the non-profit and education sectors. In a corporate setting, such executives are commonly referred to as chief development officers or a chief business development officer.
In general, the best training for such roles is experience. Industry conferences and summits can also help one learn benchmarking and best practices. And while the best fit for these roles ultimately depends on the culture of the organization, recruiters say that “tenacity and drive” are two traits always necessary for successful advancement and development officers.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
