Leadership by Purpose Podcast
Leadership by Purpose is a podcast for leaders navigating change with confidence. Host Monisha Kapila—executive coach, consultant, and former nonprofit CEO—brings over 20 years of leadership experience to honest conversations about the real challenges leaders face during times of transition.
Each season explores a different dimension of values-centered leadership through interviews with nonprofit CEOs, social entrepreneurs, and business leaders across sectors. From organizational restructuring and AI adoption to succession planning and advancing equity, we tackle the topics that keep leaders up at night.
Whether you're managing a merger, leading through layoffs, building culture during challenging times, or simply trying to stay grounded in your values while navigating complexity, this podcast offers practical wisdom and authentic perspectives from leaders who've been there.
Leadership by Purpose explores the what (results you're driving), why (values that guide you), how (strategies you're using), and who (people you're impacting)—because effective leadership requires all four.
Subscribe now and join the conversation at podcast@leadershipbypurpose.com.
Leadership by Purpose Podcast
When Sunsetting Is Strategic: The AchieveMission Story
What does it look like when a nonprofit board chooses to sunset an organization with intention, transparency, and care? In this episode, I sit down with Angela Romans and Kristina Gawrgy, former staff and board members of AchieveMission, to explore their thoughtful approach to organizational transition.
AchieveMission was a capacity-building organization serving the nonprofit sector with a focus on talent management and equity-centered organizational practices. When the executive director decided to step down during COVID, the board faced a pivotal decision: search for new leadership, pursue a merger, or sunset the organization. We share how the board navigated this choice while centering values of transparency, community care, and racial equity.
We discuss the dynamics of supporting Black women in leadership, the operational realities of dissolution, communication strategies with stakeholders, and what it means to wind down an organization in a way that honors both the work and the people who made it possible.
Guest Bios:
Angela Romans served as a Partner at AchieveMission and brought her expertise in organizational transitions to leading the sunset process.
Kristina Gawrgy served as a board member at AchieveMission and played a key role in communication strategies through the sunset process.
Note: Host Monisha Kapila also served on the AchieveMission board during this transition and brings her perspective to the conversation.
In This Episode:
- The evolution of AchieveMission and its capacity-building work
- How the board approached the decision to sunset
- Centering racial equity and supporting Black women leaders during transition
- The legal and operational realities of nonprofit dissolution
- Communication strategies with staff, funders, and community partners
- Creating legacy through knowledge sharing and resource distribution
- Lessons learned for other organizations facing similar crossroads
Resources Mentioned: AchieveMission's Sunset: A Case Study - BoardSource https://boardsource.org/achievemissions-sunset/
Email: podcast@leadershipbypurpose.com