NCG member, the Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, has announced the retirement of its CEO Lance Linares after 22 years of service. Join us in celebrating and honoring his impact over the years! Read the announcement below:
November 21, 2016 (Aptos) - The board of directors of the Community Foundation announces CEO Lance Linares' decision to retire at the end of 2017, after what will be 22 years as chief executive.
“We expect to find and announce the new CEO to succeed Lance by the fall of 2017,” said Terry Medina, board president and retired police chief of the City of Watsonville.
Linares will remain in his leadership post until a successor is recruited by the board and she/he is in place at the end of next year, ready to lead the growing $108 million community foundation.
“As a county resident and board member, I know the trust and confidence people have in the Community Foundation," Medina said. "That’s due in large part to the quality of leadership Lance Linares has brought to the position,” said Medina.
The Community Foundation was founded in 1982. Linares became only its second chief executive when he took over the reins in 1995.
Medina said he expects the leadership transition to go smoothly. “We’re in a strong and stable position right now,” Medina said.
“The board has a detailed leadership succession plan for senior staff and a search committee already up and running, chaired by Board Vice-President Marilyn Calciano,” Medina said.
“The committee has issued a call for qualified executive search firms to submit proposals for a national search for a new CEO to launch before the end of 2016, with a few bids already in,” Medina said.
The succession plan has Linares staying on in some capacity for the first few months of the new CEO's tenure to help introduce them to the community and the new role.
“It has been deeply rewarding to have been a part of the growth of the Community Foundation over the past two decades,” Linares said. "I look forward to helping in the positive and healthy leadership transition ahead," he added.
A few of the accomplishments during Linares' tenure include his spearheading a $9 million capital campaign for the Community Foundation's center in Aptos, which opened in 2010; growing total assets from $6 million in 1995 to $108 million today; and, overseeing the accreditation of the Community Foundation as a national standard bearer of accountability and transparency.