When a charter network’s CEO is stepping down, the board runs the search. The board owns the decision, the timeline, and the standard the next CEO is held to. Outside help can widen the pool and add structure, but it cannot carry the decision. This guide walks through the process in seven steps, in the order boards need to do them.
The seven steps at a glance
- Set decision rights and the calendar. Agree who leads, who decides, and the date you want the new CEO to start.
- Form a small search committee. Pick a few people with a clear charge, a confidentiality standard, and a vote.
- Write the success profile first. Define what the next CEO must achieve before you post or call anyone.
- Choose how you will run the search. Decide whether to run it yourselves or bring in a firm, and what each role covers.
- Build a pipeline wider than your own network. Reach strong leaders who are not looking, and invite internal candidates in on equal terms.
- Assess every candidate the same way. Use a rubric tied to the profile, written scores, and the same core questions.
- Close well, announce carefully, and plan the first 90 days. Delegate the negotiation, sequence the news, and set the new CEO up to succeed.
Who runs a CEO search at a charter network?
The board does. A charter network is accountable to its authorizer and its community through its board, so the board owns the decision, the timeline, and the standard the next CEO is held to. The board chair, or the chair of the governance committee, usually leads the process. The full board votes at the moments that matter: approving the success profile, choosing finalists, and approving the offer.
The departing CEO has a real role, and it is not a vote. They know the organization, the funders, and the work in flight. Ask them to brief the committee, introduce key relationships, and help plan the handover. Keep the choice of successor with the board.
Two charter-specific checks belong at the start. First, read your charter agreement and your authorizer’s requirements, because many authorizers expect notice of a change in school or network leadership. Second, ask your counsel whether your state’s open-meeting rules apply to how the board discusses personnel and candidates. Both vary by state and by authorizer.
What should the board do first when the CEO gives notice?
Work through these before anything is posted or announced:
- Confirm the departure date in writing, along with any handover duties the CEO has agreed to.
- Name one voice for the board. The chair speaks for the board with staff, families, funders, and the authorizer.
- Plan for the gap. If the new CEO cannot start the day the current one leaves, decide now whether you need an interim CEO or an internal acting leader, what authority that person has, and when the arrangement ends.
- Agree on confidentiality. Candidates, especially sitting leaders, will not apply to a process that leaks.
- Set the calendar backward. Start from the date you want the new CEO in seat, then leave room for board meetings and for a finalist to give notice to their current employer.
- Confirm the budget for the search, the transition, and the pay range you expect to offer.
How do you choose the search committee?
Keep it small. A handful of people can meet quickly, keep a confidence, and decide. Include the board chair, someone who understands school leadership and instruction, someone with finance or operations judgment, and someone who can speak for the community the network serves.
Agree on three rules at the first meeting. Members disclose any relationship with a candidate and step back where it matters. Members keep the process confidential. The committee knows exactly what it decides and what it recommends to the full board.
Staff, family, and student voices belong in the process, but a seat on the committee is not the only way in. Listening sessions and short surveys early in the search tell you what the community needs from the next CEO, and they are easier to run without breaking confidentiality.
What goes into a CEO success profile?
The success profile is the most important document in the search. It states what the next CEO must achieve, so every later decision can be checked against it. Most failed searches skipped this step or wrote a list of traits instead.
Answer these questions as a board:
- What are the three to five outcomes the next CEO must deliver in the first two years?
- What did the current leadership build that must be protected, and what needs to change?
- Which experiences are essential, and which are only nice to have?
- What does this leader need from the board, and what will the board stop doing to make room?
- What is the pay range, and what market evidence supports it? Settle this before the search launches, so you do not lose a strong finalist at the offer stage.
Write the profile so that someone outside the room can read it and tell whether a given candidate fits. Then turn it into a scoring rubric.
Should the board hire a search firm or run the search itself?
Either can work. The right choice depends on your board’s time, network, and timeline.
Running the search yourselves can work well when the board has recruiting experience and time to give, when you already have a strong internal candidate, and when your own network reaches the kind of leader you need.
Bringing in a firm tends to help when the timeline is short, when the board has limited capacity, when you need to reach leaders who would never answer a job posting, when confidentiality is critical, or when a founder or long-serving CEO is leaving and the stakes of the transition are high.
If you hire a firm, be clear about the division of labor. The firm should manage the process, build the pipeline, bring structure to the evaluation, and support the board through the decision. The board decides. Ask how the firm builds diverse pipelines, how it supports the committee when candidates are close, and what it does after the offer is accepted. We are a search firm, so weigh our view accordingly. We also think a board that runs the process well can do this without us.
How do you build a pipeline beyond your own network?
Boards tend to find the candidates they already know. A strong search reaches further.
- Name the kinds of organizations a strong CEO might come from: other networks, districts, nonprofits, state agencies, and national organizations. Do not limit the list to people who already lead a charter network.
- Ask leaders you respect who they would follow, then reach out directly. The best candidates are often not looking.
- Describe the opportunity honestly, including the challenges. Strong leaders respond to a real problem worth solving.
- Look at who is missing from the pool and why. Fix the sourcing, not the standard.
- Invite internal candidates into the same process, with the same rubric. A fair process protects them and the board.
How should the board assess candidates?
Use the same structure for every candidate. Structure is what lets a board compare people fairly and defend the decision later.
- Screening conversations to test the basics against the profile.
- Committee interviews built on the same core questions, each tied to a part of the rubric.
- A work sample or scenario, such as a short presentation on how the candidate would approach the first 90 days.
- Stakeholder sessions for finalists, designed to give the candidate information as much as to gather feedback.
- A board interview with the finalists, followed by reference calls with people who directly supervised them, made with the candidate’s consent.
Ask each member to write scores before the group discusses them. Then discuss the evidence, not impressions. “Fit” is not a criterion unless the profile defines it.
What does a well-run search look like in practice?
Here is one example from our work. A charter school board needed a new executive director on a short timeline. The sitting leader had decided not to take part in an open search, and the board did not have the capacity to run a full search itself. The organization had also just become an independent state charter, so a long vacancy or the wrong hire would have cost it momentum.
The search used multiple interview stages, scoring rubrics, and short candidate summaries. That structure let board members make a quick, informed decision without each of them comparing resumes on their own. The chosen candidate accepted and onboarded within about a week of the final interview, and started on June 1.
The lesson applies to any board. Urgent searches succeed on structure. Speed without discipline is how organizations make the wrong hire.
How should the board make the offer and announce the change?
Before the final interviews, decide who has authority to negotiate and within what range. Delegating that to the chair or a small group, inside a range the board has approved, keeps the process fast and keeps the full board from negotiating in public. Have counsel review the contract. Then hold the board vote.
Plan the announcement as a sequence. Staff should hear first or at the same time as anyone else. Families, the authorizer, funders, and partners follow, each with a message that fits. Pair the news with a message from the departing CEO if you can. Keep it clear about timing, about what stays the same, and about who to contact with questions.
How do you set the new CEO up to succeed?
The search ends when the board has the right person. The transition decides whether the choice works. Plan support through at least the first year.
- A 90-day entry plan built with the new CEO: who to meet, what to learn, and what to hold off deciding.
- A defined handover with the departing CEO, with a clear scope and an end date.
- A working agreement between the board and the CEO covering priorities, how often they talk, and what the board needs to see.
- A first-year review tied to the success profile, so the CEO knows how the work will be judged.
- Outside support, such as coaching or a peer network, so a new CEO has someone to think with.
What mistakes do boards make in CEO searches?
- Launching before agreeing on the profile. Without one, the committee argues about candidates instead of criteria.
- Letting the departing CEO pick the successor. Their input is valuable. The decision belongs to the board.
- Unclear decision rights. When it is not obvious who decides, the process stalls or gets reopened.
- Treating internal candidates unfairly, in either direction. Run one process with one rubric.
- Announcing before there is a plan. News with no answers to staff questions creates anxiety and early departures.
- Letting urgency replace structure. A short timeline is a reason to be more disciplined.
Frequently asked questions
Who should lead the CEO search at a charter school network?
The board chair or the chair of the governance committee, working with a small search committee. The full board approves the success profile, the finalists, and the offer.
Should the departing CEO sit on the search committee?
No. The departing CEO should brief the committee, share knowledge of the organization, and help plan the handover. The board makes the decision.
Do we have to tell our authorizer about a CEO change?
Check your charter agreement and your authorizer’s requirements. Many authorizers expect notice of a significant leadership change. Requirements vary by state and authorizer, so ask your counsel.
Should we consider internal candidates?
Yes. Invite them into the same process, judged against the same rubric as everyone else. A fair process protects the candidate and the board.
Do we need an interim CEO?
You need one if the new CEO cannot start before the current one leaves. Decide early whether an interim CEO or an internal acting leader fits, what authority that person has, and when the arrangement ends.
How should we communicate with staff and families during the search?
Name one voice for the board, usually the chair. Share the process and timeline early, keep candidate names confidential, and tell staff before the news goes outside the organization.
When does it make sense to hire a search firm?
When the timeline is short, board capacity is limited, confidentiality is critical, you need to reach leaders who are not looking, or a founder or long-serving CEO is leaving. The board still makes the decision.
For more on planning ahead of a transition, read why small nonprofits can’t skip succession planning. To see how we run executive searches for boards, visit our executive search practice.
Stronger Consulting runs CEO and executive director searches for charter networks, school systems, and mission-driven nonprofits. If your board is facing a CEO transition, book a call with our team and we will talk through the process with you.
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