In the last two months, in these newsletter postings, I’ve been offering advice on finding the ideal job, beginning your own consulting business, the best way to find a job, and what to do once you’ve been offered a job. But the big story about...
In this follow-up to his previous post, James Abruzzo discusses how becoming an independent consultant can be a path to a new job. In my January 2nd article—“New Year’s resolution—get a new job”—I promised the next post would be about the fourth option for finding that...
Position Specification Reporting To: President & CEO Direct Reports: Annual Giving and Stewardship Manager; Grants Writer; Development and Prospect Research Coordinator; Corporate Giving Manager. (The VP will also have the opportunity to hire an Assistant Director of Development and a Development or Grants Coordinator). Location: Pittsburgh, PA Company Description August Wilson African...
The global arts industry, and the arts leaders entrusted to connect us with the truth and beauty embodied in art, are under unprecedented, widespread attack. Last month, the Ukrainian conductor Yuriy Kerpatenko, who chose to remain and work in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson, declined to...
Position Specification Reporting To: President & Chief Executive Officer Dotted line report to: Executive Vice President & Executive Producer Direct Reports: VP Arts Education, AVP Community Engagement, and Senior Director, Arts and Well-Being Indirect responsibility for associated departmental staff managed by these three direct reports. Location: Newark, NJ Company Description New Jersey Performing Arts...
The last chapter in "Nonprofit Boards and Executive Contracts" covers the Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan, or SERP, an element of the employment contract that offers significant advantages to both the CEO and the board. For the CEO, the SERP allows for an individual to set aside, or defer,...
Nonprofit boards, and their executives, are being pummeled by events that can best be described as ethical dilemmas and which go beyond the legal issues outlined by Beth Gazley in “What Nonprofit Boards Need to Do to Protect the Public Interest” (October 26, 2022 issue...
Position Specification Reporting To: President and Chief Executive Officer Direct Reports: TKCP Director and Senior Conservation Scientist, Wildlife Conservation Administrator, Living Northwest Program Director, and Carnivore Conservation Specialist Location: Seattle, WA Company Description Woodland Park Zoo https://www.zoo.org/ Founded in 1899, the Woodland Park Zoo sits on 92 acres in the Phinney Ridge...
Position Specification Reporting To: President and Chief Executive Officer Direct Reports: Animal Care Senior Director and General Curator; Maintenance, Operations and Capital Projects Senior Director; Sustainability and Purchasing Manager, Security and Safety Manager, and Executive Assistant Location: Seattle, WA Company Description Woodland Park Zoo https://www.zoo.org/ Founded in 1899, Woodland Park Zoo sits on 92...
Museum staffs are unionizing like wildfire – what's to be done about it, and by whom? Three recent articles detail the new round of unionization in the nation's art museums. The Columbus Museum of Art, Mass MOCA, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art are the more recent. Still,...
Employment contracts are communications between the Board and the CEO. They describe facts, amounts, consequences, conditions, and time periods. They can also convey sentiments – to wit, an expression by the board of its appreciation for and desire to retain their CEO. One aspect of...
Episode One: Severance Many of my clients, boards of nonprofit organizations, often object when I suggest offering their CEO an employment contract. Their responses are some variations on: "we've never had a contract," or, "we trust each other, there is no need for a contract" or,...
DHR Global Recruits CEO for Columbus Zoo and Aquarium November 22, 2021 – James Abruzzo, managing partner of the global non-profit practice for Chicago-based executive search firm DHR Global, has assisted in the placement of Tom Schmid as the new chief executive officer of the Columbus...
On behalf of the Nonprofit Practice of DHR International, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Lissa Frenkel as the CEO of the Charleston Gaillard Center. Lissa is an outstanding executive with two decades of various fundraising, planning, operations, and management experience at reputable...
The Brooklyn Museum, one of the world's great universal art museums (if it were in any other American city or world capital, it would be known as such), is deaccessioning some of its works of art. Backstory: the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) had,...
A DHR Survey and commentary from James Abruzzo, Managing Director, Global Nonprofit Practice The Covid-19 pandemic has devastated the performing arts industry. By mid-March 2020, throughout North America, all symphony, opera, ballet, modern dance and theater performances were cancelled, resulting in major economic losses to the...
The controversies over art museum directors’ compensation, particularly during the time of COVID-19, has led me to think more broadly about the topic of museums and ethics. In a recent NY Times article on the disparity of compensation between very highly compensated museum directors and relatively low paid...
On behalf of the Nonprofit Practice of DHR International, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Jim Roberts as the inaugural Executive Director for the New Jersey Hall of Fame. Jim is an exemplary fundraiser and nonprofit executive with over 30 years of experience...
The compensation packages of museum directors are drawing scrutiny as their institutions try to fill budget holes with cutbacks that have included layoffs and furloughs of lesser-paid staffers. As originally seen in The New York Times on August 18, 2020 Many of New York’s museum leaders have...
As originally seen in NJ.com on November 5, 2010. NEWARK — Without touching an instrument or playing a note, conductor Jacques Lacombe can achieve the musical sound he wants from the 60 people who are actually doing the work of making music. He does so using the same...
Museums, centers cut back on shows, productions; cancel expansion plans As originally seen in Crain's Detroit Business on May 12, 2003. Art lovers who recently lined up for the Matisse Picasso exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art will need to hold onto those memories. Such blockbusters may...
On behalf of the Nonprofit Practice of DHR International, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. David Fisk as the President & CEO for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. David is an exemplary orchestra leader with 30 years’ experience in arts and cultural administration. For...
On behalf of the Nonprofit Practice of DHR International, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Dana Riley Black as the Vice President, Education for the Museum of Flight. Dana has made it her life’s mission to improve educational outcomes and increase community vitality...
