A Personal Note on My Upcoming Change of Roles at the NCEO

At our annual conference in April 2011, I will step down as executive director of the NCEO, a post I will have held at that point for over 30 years. I will not, however, be retiring from the NCEO. I plan to continue to work here for what I hope will be many more years.

This has been my plan for 15 years. It was premised on two ideas:

First, 30 years seems like a long time to have the same director. A new director will bring in new perspectives and energy.

Second, I was reasonably confident that by the time I reached 62, I would have saved enough money for retirement that I would no longer have to draw more than nominal compensation from the NCEO. That will free up enough money to hire an additional staff person and give me the flexibility to work on some projects that might not bring in revenue but will help spread employee ownership in ways that are currently challenging, such as to lower-income workers or outside the U.S.

I will reduce my schedule somewhat, but still be here most of the time. I would very much like to serve on one more ESOP company board as well.

From the time I decided to start the NCEO in 1979 (we incorporated in the fall of 1980), this has been a passion and a hobby, not a job. It still is. I love the work I do and, even more, feel a very strong sense of community with and gratitude towards the people I work with, both on the staff and the larger employee ownership community. The median tenure on the staff is now over 10 years (not counting me). I deeply respect, admire, and like the people I work with and would miss them dearly if I left the NCEO. The broader community has been wonderfully supportive, and I have met a seemingly endless number of good people working to make the lives of employees and communities better. So since I am having a lot of fun doing this, and greatly enjoy the people I do it with, it would be foolish for me to just leave.

At the same time, I want to be clear that when I do step down as director, I will not be peeking over the shoulder of the new one. We have a unique culture here that, unless you have watched it up close, is hard to fully appreciate. The staff is so experienced, committed, and qualified that the organization needs precious little of my "direction." We make decisions about just about everything as a group (even compensation) by consensus. Once people have been here for a while, they run their own jobs and make their own decisions, although they regularly seek input from colleagues. But they do not need my approval. The next director's key job is to preserve that culture, which has made us exceptionally efficient and productive. The director will also become the leading voice for the NCEO to the public and take a leadership role in coming up with new ideas here we can all get on board with. I am fully confident, as is our board, that this transition will go very smoothly.

Finally, I want to thank everyone for the gift you have given me by making it possible for me to realize the dream I had 30 years ago. I hope that I have been able to at least partially repay it, and intend to try to continue to do so for many years.