The Hawkins Company Tapped by The Inner City Education Foundation to Find New Leader
July 24, 2024 – The Hawkins Company, a Los Angeles-based executive recruitment firm, has been retained by The Inner City Education Foundation (ICEF) to lead in its search for a new CEO. Yonnine Hawkins Garr, William Hawkins, and Tisa Jones are leading the assignment. ICEF seeks a CEO to lead, transform and inspire a public charter school network with approximately 2,000 students, located at seven schools in LA (LAUSD) and North Inglewood (IUSD). This is an exceptional opportunity to lead a charter school network that includes high school, middle schools, and elementary schools, with an array of academic, athletic, arts, cultural, and social enrichment programs, almost exclusively serving students of color, with a rich history, reputation, and legacy of academic excellence.
The CEO reports to the board of directors and is responsible for the effective leadership of ICEF’s staff, successful management, and overall operation of ICEF. The Hawkins Company explains that this is an exciting position for a proven, dynamic leader and strong manager to lead during a period of transformation at ICEF, directly following a robust strategic planning process which resulted in a new mission, vision for impact, and ICEF’s brand identity.
The CEO is responsible for maintaining the rich traditions and culture of the schools and ensuring that the policies and programs of ICEF’s governing board and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the Inglewood Unified School District (IUSD) charter governance leadership are implemented successfully in accordance with State Board of Education regulations. The ICEF school community looks forward to welcoming the next CEO who will ensure excellence in all aspects of ICEF’s operations.
The Hawkins Company is seeking candidates with a proven track record of success in managing a complex educational organization, including financial management, staff management and development, and stakeholder engagement. Those applying should have excellent communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex ideas and information to a variety of audiences. They must have strong analytical skills, including the ability to analyze and interpret data to inform decision-making. Demonstrated leadership skills, including the ability to inspire and motivate staff and stakeholders are also preferred. Candidates should have the ability to think strategically and creatively, and to identify and manage risks to the organization.
The Inner City Education Foundation, known as ICEF Public Schools, is a non-profit charter school network serving communities in the Los Angeles area for 25 years. The organization currently operates seven high-quality, TK-12th grade, tuition-free, charter schools.
Established in 1984, The Hawkins Company is a management consulting firm specializing in executive recruitment. While recognized for its expertise in diversity recruiting, the firm is a general practitioner that focuses on achieving the executive level staffing objectives of private, public, educational and non-profit clients. Early on, The Hawkins Company focused exclusively on private sector recruiting. Over time, it was requested to conduct searches for government agencies and became nationally recognized for its ability to apply private sector search strategies to meet the recruitment needs of public sector clients.
Related: The Hawkins Company Recruits Chief Race & Equity Officer for the City of San Diego
Today, its client base includes educational institutions and non-profit organizations. The firm has conducted over 700 national, regional, and local executive searches for CEOs, COOs, CAOs, CFOs, and other officers, directors, senior managers and professional staff.
Season Search Professionals
Joining The Hawkins Company in 2013, Ms. Hawkins Garr serves as a vice president for the firm. Ms. Garr began her career in the mortgage banking and finance industry, becoming a skilled real estate commercial and residential lender, eventually working in real estate development, construction, as well as real estate asset management. Her executive-search work focuses on financial services, economic and community development, construction, facility management, asset management, and human resources. Ms. Hawkins Garr has co-led many of the firm’s senior-level assignments.
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A part of The Hawkins Company since 2018, Mr. Hawkins serves as a vice president for the firm. With a vast and varied background in community engagement, brand management and advocacy strategy, his role at the firm is twofold. He concentrates on creating new development opportunities, widening the firm’s public engagement and outreach. He also conducts executive searches for entrepreneurial enterprises at the C-suite level, as well as for community-based non-profits and has developed a specialized expertise in recruiting fund development executives.
Ms. Jones joined the search firm in 2016. She began her career in hospitality, managing her family’s restaurant business, overseeing human resources, customer service, public relations, and finances. She specializes in human resources, legal, finance, IT, and general management in all sectors. Ms. Jones has played a major role on numerous successful executive search assignments while managing the firm’s candidate background and reference process.
Related:Â The Hawkins Company Assists City of Santa Monica in Finding New Fire Chief
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
