Dear friends,
I am writing to share some important news today with all of you who are part of our extended Compass community, which is that I have decided to step down from my role as CEO. And, in the same breath, I am writing to share (and would shout from a rooftop, if I could) that our Board of Directors has unanimously and enthusiastically approved the appointment of our Chief Strategy Officer Markita Morris-Louis as the next CEO of Compass, effective on January 1, 2022. You can view a formal announcement about this transition here.
Although I know that words will fall short of what I hope to convey, I wanted to take a moment to share why I came to this decision, why now, and why I am as hopeful as I have ever been about Compass and our future.
As many of you know, I started Compass 17 years ago, with a group of nine families in Roxbury, Massachusetts. At the time, I wasn’t setting out to be a social entrepreneur or to build a national organization. I had recently left my job as the executive director of a transitional women’s shelter in Seattle. I was a young mom, with a four-week-old baby named Hope and a two-year-old named Maya. Then, as now, I was driven by a passionate belief in people, in their dignity and aspirations. I often share how my first role at Compass was as a financial coach, partnering directly with hundreds of women and their families and supporting them to access economic opportunities and achieve their goals and dreams. I loved being a coach – listening to and learning from my clients and their families, celebrating their successes, experiencing a sense of grace and our shared humanity in the most unconventional moments, and striving to practice what journalist and writer Isabel Wilkerson describes as radical empathy, “the kindred connection from a place of deep knowing that opens your spirit to the pain of another as they experience it.” What I have always cherished most about our work at Compass are our clients’ voices and stories, beautiful and powerful stories that lodge in your heart, stories that never fail to lift and inspire, even during the most difficult times.
It isn’t easy to step away from the work I have poured my heart into for nearly two decades, building it from the ground up, at times almost willing it into being, and to keep going. I love this work – our mission, our clients, and our team. Compass has deeply shaped who I am, my sense of purpose, what I believe in, what I fight for, how I spend my time, what I read, what moves me, and what fills me with hope.
So why now? A few things are true. First, all is well, better than ever in fact - both with Compass and with me. I am as hopeful as I have ever been about Compass’ future. The organization is in a strong, sustainable place. Today, we are a nearly $9 million organization, with field offices in Boston and Philadelphia, serving thousands of families per year, influencing national practice and policy to ensure that wealth building is the norm and not the exception in our nation’s anti-poverty work, and connecting our work to broader efforts to help close the racial and gender wealth gaps. I am confident that, from this place of strength, we are ready for a leadership transition. We are also nearing the end of our current strategic plan, and in January 2022 we will begin to develop a new strategic plan to guide us through the next phase of growth and impact. The challenges of the last year have only heightened the urgency of our mission, accelerated innovation across the organization, especially in our ability to deliver our core services remotely, and in many ways brought our team and Board closer together as we have supported each other during a time of tremendous loss and suffering, in the world around us and in our own communities and families.
Second, it is incumbent on me, as a leader and especially as a founder, to take seriously the responsibility of positioning the organization for future growth and creating space for new leadership. Founder successions are notoriously difficult in the nonprofit space, and there is no playbook or script on how to do this well. I have tried to approach this process with integrity, intention, and a focus on equity, always thinking first and foremost about how best to deliver on our mission and our vision for impact, especially at this moment in Compass’ history. I have known Markita for more than four years, and in the spring of 2019, after working closely with her to launch our Philadelphia partnership, I recruited her to Compass with an eye toward her being able to step into the CEO role. In a word, Markita is dazzling. She brings more than twenty years of experience in affordable housing, financial capability, law, and nonprofit management, along with a deep commitment to our mission. And she is one of the most talented leaders I have ever met. Markita combines a bold, inspiring, and equity-focused vision with a tireless focus on execution. Over the last two years, she has ushered in a new phase of growth, impact, and innovation at Compass. Markita has championed and led our national scale strategy, including the development of new tech-enabled tools to serve our clients at scale and a significant expansion of our field building and policy work. She leads with strength, optimism, and grace, and always by example. Markita has been my right-hand person from the day she walked through our door, and it is overwhelmingly clear to me and the Board that she is ready and the right next CEO to lead Compass through its next phase of growth and impact. It is the right time for me to step back so that Markita can step up. It is a joy to do so. This, too, is what leadership about.
Finally, it is also true that Compass has never been, and will never be, about me or any one person. Compass is about our mission and values, our clients and their families, and the impact we want to see in the world. From the beginning, Compass has always been a place of hope, dignity, and aspiration. As one of our graduates and now a colleague at Compass recently quipped, “You can’t spell compassion without Compass.” Even in the most challenging times, our superpower at Compass has always been our shared commitment to our mission and purpose, and an abiding belief in our clients and their ability to achieve their goals and dreams.
It is a joyful and hopeful moment for me as I get ready to pass the baton to Markita. I am also filled with gratitude that Markita is ready to lead Compass into the future. If you haven’t met her yet, I can’t wait to introduce you. And if you have met her, I know you are cheering too. I will be unfailing in my support for Markita, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Compass.
Finally, if I were in fact on a rooftop, you would see my hands on my heart, tears streaming down my face, and sharing my thanks with all of you – the most talented and passionate team I have ever known, a visionary and deeply mission aligned Board, dedicated housing partners, generous donors, ardent volunteers, and above all our extraordinary clients and their families. Thank you for building and believing in Compass. It is among the greatest blessings of my life that I will always be a part of Compass’ story, and that Compass, and all of you, will always be a part of mine.
I will step down in January 2022, and at that point I will transition to the National Advisory Board and serve in an advisory role to Markita. I look forward to connecting with many of you in the coming months and having more time to celebrate the last seventeen years and to look forward, with much hope, to all that is to come.
With gratitude,
Sherry Riva
Founder & CEO