Kelly Kenoyer: Alright Ben, so we’re talking about the $1.3-billion endowment, which was formed several years ago when the county sold New Hanover Regional Medical Center to Novant – this week, they unveiled their new pick to run the show.
Benjamin Schachtman: That’s right, six months after William Buster, the Endowment’s first CEO, was pushed out, officials announced that Dan Winslow will step into the role on October first.
KS: Right, as we’ve reported already, Winslow’s a successful attorney — he got into Massachusetts politics as a moderate Republican, then he left for the private sector, setting up an impressive legal team for a tech company, and most recently led the New England Legal Foundation — a libertarian-leaning nonprofit.
BS: As the Endowment has noted, it’s an impressive career, but unlike Buster, Winslow has no background in philanthropy.
KK: The Heal Our People’s Endowment group, created by former State Senator Harper Peterson to ask for more state oversight of the Endowment, was pretty vocal about this — calling it a slap in the face. You asked Winslow about how he’d overcome the lack of experience – what did he say?
BS: He was definitely ready for the question — and had three quick answers: first: drawing on his experience in the nonprofit sector, being on the other side of the grant process – that is, applying for grants. Next: leaning heavily on existing staff, including Lakesha McDay, who’s been the acting leader after Buster left, and lastly, something he came back to a few times, he argues that he’s a fast learner.
“I'm a fast study. I have gone into different areas of practice and areas of law — for example, when I was a tech lawyer, I had never done software before. You learn these things,” he said.
KK: So, was philanthropic experience even something that was being looked for by the endowment and the consulting firm it hired for this job search?
BS: Well, Endowment Chairman Bill Cameron said in his opening remarks that the board put together a wish list of all the qualities and attributes they would want to see in a candidate, knowing they were unlikely to find someone with all of them, even with over 150 applicants.
But, then he added this, “I tell you something, we found a candidate who met every damn one of them.
BS: I followed up with Cameron, to ask if that meant philanthropic experience wasn’t part of the criteria — but he didn’t really answer. He just sent a statement saying, basically, Winslow’s CV made him the right choice.
KK: Here’s another concern we’ve heard — that this is a partisan hire by the Endowment’s board, which has recently seen several more conservative appointments.
BS: Short version — that wasn’t my first impression. I’m sure there are things both liberals and conservatives in our area could find to agree — or disagree — about with Winslow. It’s worth noting that a Massachusetts Republican could probably pass as a Democrat in the south, and his political career ended over a decade ago — when both parties looked a little different.
KK: Ok, moving on to staffing — we’ve heard some concerns a new CEO might clean house. We’ve also seen the Endowment kind of hesitant to staff up. After several years they only have network officers for two of their four pillars of investment: they’ve got staff for community development, which includes housing, along with health equity, but they don’t have anyone for community safety or education.
BS: Well, given that Winslow said he’ll be leaning on staff to learn the philanthropic ropes — and to wrap his head around the issues he’ll be addressing — I don’t know how likely layoffs are. But as for staffing up — well, I sense that Winslow has caught the board’s drift that they want this to be a leaner organization than maybe some other foundations.
"So, for example, we have four pillars, but two program officers, you know, so maybe there's an argument to be had there," Winslow said. "We want to make sure that we have the least number of staff — an efficient operation to be able to do the job with maximum efficiency, maximum impact.”
KK: So, Winslow officially starts in October, do we know what he plans to do first?
BS: He did pledge to meet with the Community Advisory Council on his first day — that’s a group of community members who are supposed to help inform the Endowment’s grantmaking, but have publicly said they’ve been left out of the process. Beyond that, he presented himself largely as a blank slate — and framed that as a good thing:
“I don't want to come in with ideas necessarily before I've had the chance to speak with people about their ideas, because I think I need to have the benefit of community perspective. As I said, I don't know anybody. I don't have any allegiances. I have no alliances. I'm a complete blank canvas in terms of what's gone on before me," he said.
BS: Basically, he said he’s ready to meet with anybody, and everybody, and work hard to get up to speed — and I think he knows that’s going to be challenging.
KK: Alright Ben, thanks for your reporting.
BS: Happy to do it.
