The time is right for new leadership at HCN
As the organization enters its 50th year, we prepare for the future.
“On the Road to 50” is an ongoing series of the publisher’s notes to our readers, as he travels the region and plans for our 50th anniversary — through community gatherings, individual meetings, and other listening sessions.
In mid-September, with summer tenaciously holding on in Paonia, Colorado, I aimed my Toyota toward Salt Lake City, Utah, for my 51st board meeting as executive director of High Country News. My eyes bathed in the rich colors of the desert outside Moab, and I marveled that the aspen trees and oak brush near Soldier Summit had yet to turn color — surely a result of this year’s abundant moisture and very warm temperatures.
Still, I couldn’t suppress a feeling of excitement and anxiety as I careened into thick 80-mile-an-hour traffic heading up I-15. This board meeting would be different; it would confirm a new direction for myself and for High Country News.
I often find it hard to believe that I have worked here for 27 years now and served as director for 17. It has been — and still is — an amazing journey, but the time is ripe for a change. Earlier this year, I told the board that I was ready to step down as executive director, and concentrate instead on doing what I do best (and enjoy the most) — working with HCN’s generous donors and doing more writing of my own. The board agreed in June, and in Salt Lake it officially began the search for a new director. You can find an ad for the job in this issue of the magazine as well as on our website.
In today’s rapidly changing media and information landscape, HCN needs acute editorial vision, creative marketing, robust executive-level management and the capacity to raise millions of dollars every year to sustain its world-class journalism. The 50th Anniversary in 2020 is a unique opportunity for the organization to realize all four of these goals.
The time is right to bring on a new leader, with the skills, energy and ideas to help HCN navigate the unprecedented environmental, social and communication challenges of our times. And by staying on in a modified role, I can fulfill my own desire for change, while working to provide long-term support for a remarkable organization. Once the new director is hired, I’ll shift over to fundraising for our 50th Anniversary Campaign and continue my adventures with HCN.
Read the rest of our publisher’s note here: https://www.hcn.org/issues/51.17/on-the-road-to-50-the-time-is-right-for-new-leadership-at-hcn/
