Blog Post: Succession planning spotlight:  The Guidance Center 

October 10, 2024

In late September I had the privilege of celebrating Kari Walker’s retirement at a big party in downtown Detroit and touring the Kids-TALK Children’s Advocacy Center. Kids-TALK is one of many critical programs The Guidance Center offers to promote wellness, development, and resilience for families in Wayne Country.

Reflections from the party: Loyalty, Long-term planning, Distributed Leadership.Kari’s retirement party was a celebration of 28 years of service at the Guidance Center, including 14 years as CEO. In a moment when so many executives (understandably) feel fragmented and exhausted, Kari is a shining example of steady, servant leadership. From the speeches and my own observations over the past year, this is partly a credit to his personality (he is the most chill CEO I have ever met), partly a credit to the trust he puts in others (who then share the workload and become loyal to the organization themselves!), and partly a credit to his ability to think and plan for the long term. This long-term mindset is undoubtedly one of the biggest contributors to The Guidance Center’s tremendous – and sustainable – growth.

For years now, Kari has been mentoring a potential internal successor, Laura Huot. Laura is phenomenally talented, knowledgeable, and passionate about the Guidance Center’s work and was already overseeing hundreds of staff at the time Kari started thinking about his retirement . But Kari and the Board of Directors didn’t want to just *hand* the reins to Laura — 15 months ago they formally decided to embark on a transition process that would involve significant board engagement as well as 1:1 coaching. The Board named a transition committee, discussed their vision for the agency 5-10 years into the future, and debated what kind of leadership would be needed to realize that vision. When they interviewed Laura against the board-developed “CEO scorecard” it was clear that indeed she was the perfect next leader. She has invested in herself through executive coaching and other professional development and is the most-prepared incoming CEO I have ever seen.

Thank you, Kari Walker, Laura Huot, Kevin Fischer, and Gillian Bringard for allowing me to play a small part in this beautiful transition. And to Maya and ___ for sharing details of your important work at Kids-TALK that supports over 2000 children each year. I have so much optimism in TGC’s future!