About Us

Cooper Coleman is a full-service recruiting and consulting firm partnering exclusively with nonprofit organizations, foundations, and research and academic institutions to drive meaningful growth. We move organizations forward by placing the right leaders in the right roles at the right time, and we help to strengthen management and fundraising capacity to amplify their mission and impact.

We work with organizations of all sizes locally, nationally, and globally. Our practical, actionable, strategic approach helps our partner organizations achieve durable solutions and sustainable growth.

We represent our partners as if we are a member of their team—with passion, integrity, and a deep understanding of their challenges and opportunities. We intuitively know what makes the work they do unique and essential.

We are an LGBTQ+ owned business that embraces demographic, experiential, sexual, and cultural inclusion. We believe everyone is better when leadership reflects the diversity of its people and when an organization reflects the diversity of those it serves.

Our Team

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The Team Moving You Forward!
An ever-growing cadre of incredibly talented professionals extends the capacity and capabilities of our team. They include recruiters and organizational development experts, frontline fundraisers, planned giving experts, communicators, marketers, designers—each of whom has been hand-selected from our previous work experience and meets our rigorous expectations for performance, expertise, and continued professional development. Meet a few of them below.

Solutions And Expertise

We take extraordinary measures to preserve dignity in the recruiting experience. Recognizing there is a person behind each resume, we treat each candidate with humanity, clarity, and respect—as the assets they are to our sector, the third-largest driver of the U.S. economy.

The right leaders in the right roles are essential for success. The most successful organizations do not settle on their leaders, they strategically and meaningfully choose each one.

Recruiting the best candidates can be protracted and time-consuming. For that reason, we do the heavy lifting to find your ideal candidate, so you can focus on other priorities. We help organizations assess their unique needs to build a comprehensive profile of the professionals they require. We leverage our extensive network of passive and active candidates throughout the sector to place the right leaders in the roles most essential to your success.

Solutions
  • Advisory Services
  • Culture Shaping
  • Executive Coaching
  • Executive Search
  • Interim
  • Leadership Consulting
  • Leadership Develop.
  • Mgmt. Consulting
  • Org. Chart Mapping
  • Succession Planning
Industries
  • Associations
  • Colleges/Universities
  • Cultural Arts
  • Education
  • Foundations
  • K-12
  • Non-Profit
Functions
  • Board/Governance
  • Business Development
  • CEO/President
  • Development
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • General Management
  • GM/Operations
  • Human Resources
  • Marketing & Sales

News Briefings

Cooper Coleman Recruits CEO for BootUp

After an intensive nationwide search, Chicago-based Cooper Coleman LLC has assisted in the recruitment of Savita Raj as CEO of BootUp Professional Development (BootUp). The assignment was led by executive search consultant Paul Towne. “We are grateful to our staff, board, and partners who played a crucial part in our decision-making, and to the entire BootUp community

Cooper Coleman Seeks Strategic Partnerships Officer for Proteus Fund

Chicago-based Cooper Coleman LLC has been enlisted to find a strategic partnerships officer for the RISE Together Fund (RTF), an initiative of Proteus Fund, a public foundation that works to advance democracy, human rights, and peace, in New York City. The assignment is being led by executive search consultant Paul Towne. “Ongoing violence and discrimination

Cooper Coleman Recruits COO for AIDS United

Following a national search, Chicago-based Cooper Coleman LLC has recruited Brad Kiley as vice president and chief operating officer of Washington, D.C.-based AIDS United. Johnny Cooper, founder and CEO of the firm, led the assignment. “We are thrilled to have Brad join AIDS United as our next chief operating officer,” said Jesse Milan, CEO. “He is

Cooper Coleman Recruits Chief Technology Officer for Lambda Legal

Chicago-based Cooper Coleman LLC  has assisted in the recruitment of Gillian Power as the new chief technology officer of Lambda Legal. “We are proud to have Gillian join our team as our new chief technology officer,” said Kevin Jennings, CEO of Lambda Legal. “Gillian’s rich depth of experience and ability to adapt quickly to technological change will be critical

Press Releases

Cooper Coleman Places John E. Roane, Jr. as Chief Operating Officer of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund

CHICAGO, IL – Cooper Coleman LLC has placed John Roane as Chief Operating Officer (COO) at New York City-based Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund (Lambda Legal). A national search led by Johnny Cooper, Founder and Principal of the growing firm, identified Roane, an accomplished nonprofit executive specializing in building and continually improving organizational operations

Cooper Coleman Names Tony Paskauskas Chief Operating Officer

(April 20, 2022) Cooper Coleman LLC has appointed veteran nonprofit operations executive, Tony Paskauskas, as COO, a new role at the firm, to scale the firm’s business operations and finance capabilities and extend its executive search and consulting capacities. Paskauskas most recently led the operations, logistics, customer service, and donor stewardship functions behind a $305

Cooper Coleman Places Kate Schroder as President and CEO of Interact for Health

(Jan. 4, 2022) Cooper Coleman LLC has placed Kate Schroder as President and CEO of Cincinnati, OH-based Interact for Health. A national search led by Bill Coleman, Co-Founder and Principal of the growing firm, identified Schroder, a healthcare leader with more than 15 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. Among her

Cooper Coleman Hires Paul Towne as Executive Search Consultant

(Jan. 11, 2022) Cooper Coleman LLC has hired Paul Towne as Executive Search Consultant, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, to expand the firm’s executive search capacity and extend its reach to social sector organizations throughout the United States. Paul’s leadership experience spans more than 20 years in nonprofit organization management, fundraising, and technology

Cooper Coleman Hires Kathy Kraushar as Executive Search Consultant

Cooper Coleman LLC has hired Kathy Kraushar as Executive Search Consultant, based in Cincinnati, to expand the firm’s executive search capacity and extend its reach to social sector organizations throughout the United States. Kathy’s leadership experience spans more than 30 years in nonprofit organization management, healthcare, and talent development. Before joining Cooper Coleman, Kathy spent