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Nonprofits in leadership transitions

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Rev. Jim Harriger’s calendar has had a circle around Jan. 29 for four months. On that day, Harriger concluded 23 years working as executive director of the Victory Mission homeless shelter.

“You’ve got to leave some time. They can carry you out in a casket or you retire,” Harriger said.

He’s opting for retirement; at least he has no immediate work plans.

Harriger is one of four nonprofit directors resigning from their posts in recent weeks. Transitions at the top also are underway at the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri, the Doula Foundation and the Pregnancy Care Center.

Pregnancy Care
Another longtime director, Cindi Boston, left Pregnancy Care Center after 15 years for a position with an international organization.

Boston, who has led PCC since its founding, started Jan. 18 as vice president of Columbus, Ohio-based Heartbeat International, which works to support pregnancies and reduce abortions. PCC with an annual budget of $1.5 million, assists women dealing with unplanned pregnancies.

“Pregnancy Care Center is an affiliate with Heartbeat International, which is kind of a trade association for pregnancy centers, paternity homes and adoption services that operates throughout the United States and world for that matter,” said Ronn Ramey, PCC’s chief operations officer, who was named interim CEO. “There was a change at Heartbeat, and that change created an opening that was perfect for Cindi.”

He said PCC’s board of directors is soliciting resumes and applications for the 22-employee organization.

Humane Society
Donna Casamento began work in late November leading the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri after she said former local executive Darin Landrum returned to his native Texas to take another job.

Landrum moved to Springfield from McAllen, Texas, to take on the post in March 2012. He told Springfield Business Journal at the time his top priority was to eliminate the organization’s roughly $240,000 debt load. Casamento said it’s still in place.

Besides reducing debt, Casamento’s long-term goal is to make the Springfield animal shelter a no-kill facility by partnering with other organizations.

She said the Humane Society largely has been successful at finding homes for dogs, but feral cats – which she calls community cats – is another issue. And Casamento said she wants to get to the root of the problem by trapping, neutering and releasing them back into the wild.

“Taking them out and euthanizing them doesn’t reduce the population. Other cats just move in,” she said.

Casamento, a Springfield native, said she’s worked in animal welfare for about 11 years, working recently in leadership positions for programs in South Carolina dedicated to the no-kill cause.

“The main success that I had there was starting a program called HEART, which stood for Help Every Animal Reach Tomorrow,” she said, noting over a nearly three-year period, the program saved 7,023 animals.

“And I counted every one of them,” Casamento said, adding Columbia, S.C., is on track to be a no-kill city by 2018. “We really started them on a path of thinking differently about the animals our community had basically abandoned.”

Doula Foundation
The Doula Foundation put a new executive director in place a few weeks after Faith Giedd left the organization Dec. 31.

Jeff Allen, Doula Foundation board president and a partner at BKD LLP, said Giedd asked to step down from the 15-year-old nonprofit that helps mothers and families through the child-birthing process.

“Leading a nonprofit is a high-stress job,” he said. “She had been with the organization for almost four years, and we were in a good spot. The Doula Foundation is a lot better off now than when she started.”

Kyla Bentley was selected to succeed Giedd, Allen said, because of her passion for the organization.

“I have two children of my own. My first birth experience was rough and kind of traumatic for me,” Bentley said, adding she chose a different path for her second birth after a recommendation from a friend. “It was my experience with my own doula that got me on the bandwagon.”

Bentley worked for the Ozarks Regional YMCA for nine years, much of that time as a senior program director, before leaving last year to work with her husband at Brick Slice House pizza shop. When she heard the Doula post was open, Bentley jumped at the chance.

“At the Y, I had a lot of experience in programs and we have a lot of programs here at the Doula Foundation – prenatal and postnatal programs. We did a lot of fundraising at the Y,” she said. “I think I’m used to what the nonprofit world is. You put a lot of time in; you’ve got to be really passionate about what you do; and you’ve got to be professional, but you’ve got to get your hands dirty.”

The organization has a 2016 operating budget of nearly $300,000, Bentley said, with about half coming from donations and fundraising and a fourth from grants.

Victory Mission
At Springfield Victory Mission Inc., Development Director Jim Edge is serving as interim executive director while the board searches for Harriger’s successor.

“After Jim told us he was retiring, we posted the job at a couple of places Jim recommended,” said Craig Heidemann, chairman of the board at Victory Mission and a partner at Bolivar law firm Douglas, Haun & Heidemann PC. “In addition, we’ve been in contact with the AGRM, which is the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions. We’ve done some interviews, and we’ve been blessed to talk to some great candidates, but with Jim Edge being our interim director, he is so well qualified, it gives us the luxury of time. We don’t have to rush.”

The new director will be responsible for the roughly $2.7 million budget, down from $3.5 million last year, and 49 employees.

The move wasn’t surprising to Heidemann, though Harriger pointed to no immediate career plans when he informed the board in October. Noting Harriger was not asked to leave, he said a succession plan had been put in place at Harriger’s request.

Heidemann thought the 64-year-old Harriger might do some teaching or write a book.

“Right now is a very good time to make a change,” Harriger said. “I have grandchildren who are growing. I’ll be able to see them a little bit more. The extra time I’ve spent in ministry will switch with extra time spent with family.”

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