Koya Leadership Partners Seeks Chief Impact Officer for Amnesty International

September 26, 2019 – Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) has enlisted Molly Brennan and Turner Delano of Koya Leadership Partners to find a chief impact officer to lead several external-facing teams of staff focused on achieving significant human rights impact.

The teams will include AIUSA’s campaigns, public affairs (media, social media, arts and entertainment engagement, and events), advocacy/government relations and the Silicon Valley Initiative. The chief impact officer will also serve as a key liaison with others in Amnesty International, contributing to global campaigns and initiatives. The impact officer will serve on the executive team where he or she will be a thought partner for peers and advise the executive director and the board of directors on the long-term vision and strategies for the organization.

Koya said that the incoming executive must be “creative, strategic, and a strong leader and manager whose teams are able to inspire activists to take actions, working closely with other teams in the organization.” The individual will also be expected to be a key spokesperson to external audiences, including government officials, the media, partner organizations, and other target communities. The chief impact officer’s work will be expected to play significant role in growing the organization’s influence and visibility.

AISUA wants someone with experience and leadership in managing complex teams in a mid- to large-size organization, with non-profit experience preferred. Candidates should have “experience in a senior management role working at the executive leadership level, including with boards of directors,” the search firm said. “Demonstrated success in winning significant changes or achieved significant impact through campaigns, advocacy or communications strategies is also preferred.”

The firm also said that the winning candidate will be an innovative creative thinker with demonstrated willingness to take risks strategically. The individual must be an exceptional manager in driving performance with experience in building, aligning, mentoring and coaching a team of diverse staff; he or she should have experience fully engaging in inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility principles.

Seven Million Supporters

Amnesty is a global movement of seven million supporters, members and activists who campaign for internationally recognized human rights to be respected, protected and fulfilled. Its vision is for everyone to enjoy all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. Its iconic logo has been recognized worldwide for freeing prisoners of conscience, working against torture and the death penalty, speaking out for civilians in armed conflict, bringing human rights abusers to justice, influencing legislation and policy, protecting human rights defenders, strengthening the international human rights framework, and many other human rights concerns.

Boston-based Koya Leadership Partners is a national executive search and human capital consulting firm that works exclusively with mission-driven organizations, institutions of higher education and social enterprises. This year, the firm was again recognized by Hunt Scanlon Media as one of the top 50 search firms in the Americas. In June, 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.

Ms. Brennan joined Koya in its early years and has worked in close partnership with founder and CEO Katie Bouton to grow the firm over the last decade. In addition to leading senior-level searches, she also oversees search operations, marketing and communications. Ms. Brennan has partnered with boards of directors and senior leaders to identify and place exceptional leaders for a range of clients, including Habitat for Humanity, Sierra Club, Slow Food USA, and Natural Resources Defense Council. Her particular areas of focus include leadership, retention, and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Ms. Delano specializes in recruiting executives to non-profits nationwide. She is focused on all aspects of the search process, from project management to client support. Ms. Delano specializes in candidate development while supporting Koya leadership. Prior to joining Koya, she served as managing producer of a weekly news show on Bloomberg TV Africa and Al Jazeera English where she worked to produce, research and pitch one-on-one profiles globally.

New Officer Level Roles

A handful of new C-suite titles have been cropping up at businesses around the globe, according to leading search consultants. A recent report by Odgers Berndtson found that executives climbing the corporate ladder are in hot pursuit of titles that include the words “chief” and “officer.” Among them: chief happiness officer, chief privacy officer, chief people officer, chief digital officer, chief knowledge officer, chief customer officer, chief luminary officer, chief innovation officer and chief observance officer.

Kodak and Dell a few years ago appointed chief listeners; Facebook has chief privacy officers; Microsoft has a chief people officer; Coca-Cola has a chief quality and product integrity officer. Steve Jobs called himself chief know-all.

Here is an overview of unique officer-level positions being filled by leading recruitment firms from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

Dallas-headquartered search firm Pearson Partners International recruited Gregory Elsborg as vice president and first chief innovation officer of Dallas Area Rapid Transit. Vice president Lisa Thompson led the assignment. Mr. Elsborg brings a strong record of driving E-commerce, mobile and innovation initiatives across a variety of industries.

Toronto-based executive search firm Caldwell recruited Dinesh Goyal as chief credit officer at OneMain Financial in New York. Paul Heller, managing partner of the firm’s global financial services practice, led the assignment along with partner Rich Perkey. In his new role, Mr. Goyal is responsible for managing credit, pricing, direct mail and digital marketing, and operational analytics.

The Onstott Group placed Christina Van Houten as chief strategy officer of Mimecast Limited, an email and data security company. Managing director Scott Tucker led the assignment. Ms. Van Houten is charged with driving corporate development, product management and market strategy as part of building out Mimecast’s email security, archive and cyber resilience cloud platform.

Beverly Hills, CA-based executive recruitment firm Ventura Partners has placed Courtney Gruber as the new chief retail officer for drybar, a blowout hair salon chain. Ventura founder and partner Julie Ford led the search. The chief retail officer role, more commonly known as vice president of retail, encompasses running all retail operations.

Freehold, NJ-based Prodigy Sports, a nationwide leader in top-level sports recruiting, has placed Gord Lang as chief growth officer with Engine Shop. Founder and chief executive officer Scott Carmichael led the search. Mr. Lang had been chief growth officer at Octagon Marketing, which he joined in 2001.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media