Message:
Today the Board of Directors asked Cathy Stegmaier to step down as Executive Director. We have engaged the transition firm of Transition Management Consulting, Inc. for 90 days to help us with this change. Mike Nizankiewicz will act as Interim Executive Director. Cathy will stay on to help during the transition process.
Reasons for a change
ACA is on the cusp of moving forward with our exciting new Vision and Mission Statements:
Vision: America's leading community of Independent Financial Planners committed to success through our ethics and innovation.
Mission: Sharing Wisdom. Growing Wealth. Transforming Lives. Building Ideal Practices.
These statements reflect our planned growth and recognition by consumers and professionals within the financial planning industry, as well as innovative support to ACA Members.
Throughout the process of refining the Mission and Vision statements the Board has reflected on changes needed to lead ACA into our new future. We reviewed our governing policies and the role and expectations of the Executive Director. We confirmed our need for new leadership, vision and marketing expertise that steers ACA towards our Mission and Vision statements.
As heart wrenching as this is, the Board came to a unanimous decision to select a new Executive Director for the ACA. We are thankful that Cathy and her unique abilities have lead us thus far, however we seek a new Executive Director with a different skill set to move our organization forward to its next phase of growth, development and innovation.
This decision was very difficult as we are so appreciative of Cathy and all she has done for ACA. The Board came to this decision after painstaking deliberation over numerous meetings. We recognize Cathy as a Co-Founder of ACA. We would not be where we are today without the innumerable hours and energy she has invested in this organization. Cathy's legacy as Executive Director will be marked with numerous achievements including:
Shepherding ACA in its initial days as we moved to not for profit status, providing direction from a make-shift desk in a supply closet;
Taking Bert's idea of building a cooperative community of fee-only planners and turning it into reality;
Codifying the ACA Success Program training and tools;
Herding a disparate group of well-meaning planners into a cohesive group, now at nearly 150 members;
Developing the Staff and entire ACA Operations;
Marshaling our conversations into a Discussion Forum and Intranet;
Cultivating the ACA System Charter which effectively outlines the ACA culture;
Establishing the Brain Trust for the benefit of all current and future members.
What is happening during the transition
The Interim Executive Director, Mike Nizankiewicz, has served as the Executive Director of various organizations over the course of forty years. Now, he helps organizations with transitions like the one we are making.
The role of the Interim Executive Director will be to maintain operations, conduct an assessment of operations, make recommendations to the Board on improvements to the Governance model and Operations, and to recommend a replacement for the position of Executive Director, which may be an individual or an Association Management Firm.
We hope there is an opportunity for Cathy to stay on with ACA perhaps in an Operations Management role. However the final determination will be part of the evaluation of the transition team, the Board, and Cathy.
We welcome your response to this important change at ACA and recognize you may have some questions. Please feel free to contact any member of the Board. Stay tuned for much more information as we launch this new season. We commit to keeping you informed at all stages.
Please join us in thanking Cathy for all she has done for ACA.
Sincerely,
The ACA Board of Directors
Bridget, Troy, John, Jackie, Mary and Ross