August 4th, 2008
Dear Allies and Supporters of Pushback Network:
On behalf of the Pushback Network, we would like to inform you of the impending departure of our current Coordinating Director, Rodney McKenzie, Jr. Rodney’s official last day at PBN is August 31, 2008. We have been very pleased with his commitment to our goals and significant accomplishments as Coordinating Director. Rodney has been of enormous help in Pushback’s growth and development, and we are sad to see him leave.
Given this news, we would like to take the opportunity to introduce you to our Interim Director, Larry Parachini. Larry is a highly qualified consultant, with previous executive leadership experience, who served as PBN’s Interim Director from our inception in 2005 until Rodney was hired. Beginning August 1st, Larry will manage and work closely with PBN’s staff and several consultants to continue day-to-day operations in support of our state efforts and to advance Pushback’s organizational and program priorities. We expect to hire a permanent director in the next five to six months. Larry will continue in the Interim Director role until that time and contribute to the transition to the new director when she or he is hired. We expect the transition to be fairly smooth given the current status of the Pushback Network, namely our excellent financial situation, our top-notch staff – Program Director, Jason Cooper and Program Associate, Brigid Flaherty – and the remarkable progress of our programmatic work that PBN anchor organizations and state alliances are currently demonstrating in eight states.
In terms of securing a new permanent Director, we will soon engage an experienced job search consultant, knowledgeable about the kind of work we do and committed to PBN’s values, to provide guidance and assistance with the hiring process. Interviews of priority candidates will be conducted by the special committee and finalists will be interviewed in person and selected by the Steering Committee. We are committed to hiring a permanent Director as soon as we identify the right candidate.
Until then, we are confident that Pushback Network will continue to operate at a high level of performance. We sincerely look forward to continuing to work with our allies during this transition process. Maintaining these relationships forged within the spirit of collaboration for the purposes of achieving an authentic, participatory democracy remains a top priority for PBN. Should any questions arise before we select our new director, we most certainly welcome them. For this and all other inquiries, please feel free to contact Larry Parachini at 301-587-2510 or larry@pushbacknetwork.org.
Respectfully,
Robby Rodriguez, Chair
Sondra Youdelman, Vice-Chair
Leroy Johnson, Treasurer
Hill Carmichael, Secretary
