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moving the sector forward

Cooper Coleman Tapped to Lead CEO Search For Family Equality

Updated: Sep 11

CHICAGO, IL – Cooper Coleman LLC, a nationally-ranked boutique executive search firm specializing in nonprofit and social impact organizations, has been retained by Family Equality to lead the search for its next Chief Executive Officer.  The nonprofit organization, which works to ensure everyone has the freedom to find, form, and sustain their families by advancing equality for the LGBTQ+ community envisions a world in which everyone can experience the unconditional love, safety, and belonging of a family.

 

Johnny Cooper, Founder + CEO at Cooper Coleman LLC, will be leading the search. "We are honored to partner with Family Equality to find a CEO who will lead this organization into its next 45 years of impact as the most influential advocate and resource for LGBTQ+ families everywhere," said Mr. Cooper. "This transition presents a unique opportunity for an accomplished, transformational leader to develop a strategic vision and guide the organization through its execution and purposeful growth."

 

The CEO is expected to leverage their experience managing and navigating large-scale change, complex leadership transitions, and intentional organizational growth. Their primary objective will be to usher Family Equality into its next 45 years of impact, protecting hard-won rights and securing new ones through expanded policy work and enhanced programming. Among their most meaningful priorities will be ensuring a continued focus on achieving excellence in diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging. It is paramount to the Family Equality community that their talented professionals and volunteers represent all people and communities the organization serves, especially BIPOC families, and that the team’s collective work and their individual contributions are exceedingly inclusive of all identities.

 

Qualifications for the position include a bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional work experience and a minimum of 10-15 years of professional work experience, with at least seven years in senior- or executive-level leadership positions within the nonprofit, policy, or advocacy sectors. A visionary mindset with the ability to strategically operationalize an overarching vision is imperative. While nonprofit leadership experience if preferred, public and corporate sector leaders with working knowledge of the nonprofit sector and volunteer leadership will be equally considered. For more information about the CEO position or to apply, please visit www.coopercoleman.com/current-searches.

 

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About Family Equality:

Founded in 1979, Family Equality's mission is to advance legal and lived equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) families and for those who wish to form them through building community, changing hearts and minds, and driving policy change.

 

We envision a future where all LGBTQ+ families, regardless of creation or composition, live in communities that recognize, respect, protect, and value them. We envision a world in which everyone has the right and should have the opportunity to form and sustain a loving family, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, national origin, geography, socioeconomic status, disability, or the intersection of those characteristics. Finally, we envision systems of service and support that are free of discrimination and maximize opportunities for youth needing permanency and LGBTQ+ adults seeking family formation.

 

For more information on Family Equality, visit www.familyequality.org.  

 

 

About Cooper Coleman LLC

Cooper Coleman LLC is a full-service retained executive search and consulting firm partnering exclusively with nonprofit organizations, foundations, and research and academic institutions to drive meaningful growth. With headquarters in Cincinnati, OH, and Chicago, IL, its team moves organizations forward by placing the right leaders in the right roles at the right time and helps to strengthen their management and fundraising capacity to amplify their mission and impact.

 

Cooper Coleman's diverse client portfolio spans a wide range of social impact areas, reflecting its commitment to serving the entire spectrum of the social impact sector. Its clients are focused on a variety of causes, such as civil rights, health equity, the performing arts, adoption and foster care, LGBTQ+ advocacy, tech for good, and more.

 

Founded by CEO Johnny Cooper, who has over 16 years of leadership experience in the social sector, Cooper Coleman prioritizes making essential executive search services accessible to organizations across the social impact sector. With a team of experienced consultants and a commitment to providing first-in-class search services to its clients, the firm has established itself as a leader in the field and is ranked among the Top 65 Nonprofit Executive Search Firms by Hunt Scanlon and among the TOP 250 Executive Search Firms nationally. Cooper Coleman is also proud to have co-founder William B. Coleman, Jr., a veteran executive search consultant with over 25 years of experience in the field, as part of its leadership team. Together, they bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table and are dedicated to helping nonprofits and other social impact organizations achieve their goals.

 

For more information on Cooper Coleman LLC, visit their website at www.coopercoleman.com and find them on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/coopercoleman.

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