Executive Director Search Committee

by Joyce Graff, Executive Director

The Board of Directors has received several applications from members of our VHL Family, which are being reviewed as we speak, for the position of Executive Director.  A number of questions have arisen, which I will try to answer here.  Please feel free to ask any additional questions of your own.

I am not leaving VHLFA, although like everyone else I am getting old, (now an official Senior Citizen!)  The Board is working to do responsible succession planning for me.  They and I want to make very sure that the organization continues to be strong, long after I am gone.  Accordingly, we have taken a close look at what I am currently doing for the organization and thought in terms of who we would need to continue those functions.  In short, we feel that we need three people to carry the work forward:

• a technical lead (since I’m the computer expert in the office)
• a business lead (filing paperwork with the IRS and the various states, managing personnel, and leading the fundraising)
• a “wellness” lead (working with the medical advisors, improving the Handbook, expanding the clinical care centers program, facilitating clinical trials) and recruit volunteers to understudy this role.

Of these three, the “wellness” role is the most difficult to fill, and it’s the one I love the best.  So, that is the one I would like to continue while I am able.

The technical leadership is the easiest to fill with contract services, and we have already found a very good technical support service that will give us a charitable price rate for their services.

The business leadership needs someone with passion for the cause, but not necessarily the depth of experience that I have with VHL per se.  It might be a professional with experience in fundraising and non-profit administration, or it might be another person from a VHL family with good business experience who would love to step into this role.

For this reason we advertised for this position first among our “family.”  Is there an experienced executive out there who would like to take on the challenges of building this organization?  Who else might we find from among “our own”?  We have also begun posting it openly.

Please know that we are looking for the “right person” -- not just anyone -- and that I am certainly not going anywhere.  I will continue with the Alliance, focusing my energy more fully on the “wellness” side of things with the able assistance of Lisa Steindel in the “business and development” role throughout the transition, as long as it takes.

We -- the Board and the staff -- feel keenly our obligation to you, to every donor, and to the government authorities, to continue to provide the kind of professional leadership you have come to expect from us -- to provide service to every patient and physician, to support every volunteer who extends the reach of our services, to evaluate every research proposal, and to search for and report to you all the resources and advances that can possibly help you.

As printed in the VHL Family Forum 18:2, May 2010. For permission to reprint, please contact VHL Family Alliance, editor@vhl.org. Further information is available from the VHL Family Alliance, info@vhl.org.