San Diego Pride Retains Cooper Coleman to Lead Executive Director Search

October 23, 2025 – Chicago-based Cooper Coleman LLC has been called in by San Diego Pride to lead in its search for a new executive director. J. Michael Durnil is leading the assignment. The executive director serves as the senior staff member of San Diego Pride, providing strategic leadership, operational oversight, and external representation. This role requires a dynamic leader who can navigate complex challenges while advancing LGBTQ+ advocacy and maintaining the organization’s position as an international leader in Pride celebrations and community philanthropy.

This is a unique opportunity to lead one of the most influential LGBTQ+ Pride organizations during a transformative period. The successful candidate will have the chance to shape the future of LGBTQ+ advocacy while stewarding an organization that has distributed millions of dollars to support community organizations and brought joy to hundreds of thousands of people annually. This role offers the opportunity to work at the intersection of social justice, community building, progressive causes, and large-scale event management while making a meaningful impact on LGBTQ+ lives locally, nationally, and globally.

Candidates should have the demonstrated ability to ingratiate and build sustained community connections across all constituencies in and impacting the LGBTQ+ community in the San Diego area and beyond. They must have knowledge of intersectional justice issues and inclusive practices with a demonstrable commitment to social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion principles. Those applying will have exceptional multi-modal public-facing communication abilities that demonstrate presence, cultural awareness, and political savvy.

In addition, candidates will have a tenacity in passion, presence, resilience, emotional maturity, and adaptability in challenging environments while conveying kindness, vulnerability, and inquisitiveness. A bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree(s) or aligned certifications welcomed. Cooper Coleman also noted that candidates should have seven or more years of executive experience in leadership and organizational management. Demonstrable experience in reputation building and community healing is preferred.

Additional experience requirements include:

• Experience leading organizations with budgets exceeding $2 million.
• Background in fundraising and development with sustained success in sponsor, grant, and major gift cultivation.
• Previous leadership within LGBTQ+ movement and/or radical and progressive movements.
• Existing relationships within San Diego’s non-profit, corporate, government, and foundation communities preferred.
• Bilingual or multilingual conversant preferred.

San Diego Pride has grown from a small grassroots march in 1974 into one of the most respected and philanthropic Pride organizations in the world. Originally formed as a sponsored program of The Center for Social Services to produce San Diego’s first Lesbian and Gay Parade commemorating the Stonewall Rebellion, the organization incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in 1994. Today, it is a year-round LGBTQ+ education, advocacy, and cultural institution with a global footprint.

Finding Non-Profit Leaders

Founded in 2020, Cooper Coleman is a full-service executive search and consulting firm partnering exclusively with non-profit organizations, foundations, and research and academic institutions to drive meaningful growth. Its team moves organizations forward by placing “the right leaders in the right roles at the right time” and helps to strengthen their management and fundraising capacity to amplify their mission and impact.

Related: Cooper Coleman Seeking CFO for the East Coast Zoological Foundation

Johnny Cooper has worked with publicly and privately held corporations in the recruitment of C-level operating, finance, human resources, sales/marketing, supply chain, and technology executives. Prior to Cooper Coleman, he founded and led Coleman Search Consulting LLC, for more than 10 years before selling the firm.

Bill Coleman is principal and co-founder of Cooper Coleman. He has more than 16 years of leadership experience throughout the social sector. He partnered with his father-in-law, William B. Coleman, to establish Cooper Coleman as a firm that “prioritizes making the essential services of executive search accessible to organizations across the social sector, knowing the transformational impact having the right leaders in the right roles can have on an organization and its mission,” the firm said. Mr. Coleman has more than 25 years’ experience in retained executive search, including leading his own firm, Coleman Search Consulting LLC, for more than 10 years until its sale in 2018.

Dr. Durnil serves as director of executive search. He has over 30 years of experience in K-16 education, foundations, corporate philanthropy, and not-for-profit leadership to the Cooper Coleman team. He has a track record in systems integration, program expansion, board development, fundraising, and stakeholder engagement. Before joining Cooper Coleman, Dr. Durnil held numerous executive leadership positions, including executive director at Scripps National Spelling Bee, campus president for Roosevelt University in Schaumburg, IL, and interim president and senior vice president/chief operating officer at GLAAD.

Related: Cooper Coleman Recruits CEO for Family Equality

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor  – Hunt Scanlon Media