This article was originally published on February 15, 2022.
In 2014, after several years as head of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Simon Greer was fired. “It became clear that my vision and the board’s vision for the foundation had diverged,” he wrote at the time.
Last week, NCF’s latest President and CEO Kavita Nandini Ramdas shared some unexpected news on her personal LinkedIn: “This January, the board and I concluded that we had different perspectives and approaches for achieving the foundation’s mission.”
Greer’s departure may have been sudden, but the departure of Ramdas, a prominent gender justice advocate who previously headed the Global Fund for Women and the Open Society Foundations’ women’s rights portfolio, came as an even greater surprise. She’d only been on the job since October of 2021—just four months.
Rarely does a chief executive’s tenure come to such an abrupt end. And to make matters worse, Ramdas’ hire came after a search lasting nearly two years, ever since Sharon Alpert stepped down from the role at the start of 2020. Alpert had a good four-year run at NCF, overseeing some impressive moves such as increased payout and a commitment to mission-aligned investing, but hers was still a pretty short tenure at the progressive family foundation.
The foundation has been tight-lipped about the reason for Ramdas’ quick departure. A statement on the transition offers the assurance that NCF “remains resolute in its central mission, vision, core values, and funding commitments.” But there’s little else there beyond the announcement that board member Rey Ramsey would again serve as interim CEO, reprising the role he held before Ramdas’ hire.
Greer’s and Ramdas’ accounts have some definite similarities (deja vu, some might say), speaking of differences in philosophy and strategy between themselves and NCF’s family-dominated board. Alpert’s departure, on the other hand, appears to have been more conventional—she announced in mid-January of 2020 that she’d be leaving that month, amid little visible friction between herself and the board. Still, such a high level of CEO turnover at one of the nation’s significant family foundations makes us wonder what exactly is going on behind closed doors.
“Not as unstable as it might seem”
When I contacted NCF, the foundation declined to provide further specifics on Ramdas’ departure. Ramdas hasn’t responded to our inquiries, and Alpert had no comment to offer. When asked, NCF’s representative declined to say whether or not the foundation’s former chief executives have signed NDAs.
Ramsey, however, agreed to speak with me about some of what’s been happening at the foundation.
“It’s not as unstable as it might seem,” he said, pointing to the fact that though the word “interim” is in his title, he’d been at the helm since Alpert left—nearly two years. Ramsey joined the board five years ago, and is one of four “independent trustees” currently on the board who aren’t part of the extended Cummings family. “A big part of what I came for was to promote the then-emerging concept around impact investing… That was my primary focus,” he said.
NCF has indeed been something of a pack leader on values-based investing, since committing in 2017 to align 100% of its assets with its mission. Ramsey, who also founded and heads the impact investment firm Centri Capital, emphasized that component of the work as a focus for his time and attention, and as a notable accomplishment on the foundation’s part.
Outside of impact investing, Ramsey pointed to several other developments at the foundation during his tenure as interim CEO, around governance in particular. “When Sharon exited, we said we need to kind of look at a number of things,” he said. “And we felt that we wanted to do more along this arc in terms of board governance. And so we made a number of changes. During those 21 months, we restructured our program committees, we restructured the executive committee, we changed charters for all of our committees, and we instituted a very robust board training agenda. All of those things were put in.”
NCF also issued a new values statement and vision statement during that period—prior to Ramdas coming on board. Ramsey emphasized that nothing has changed in that regard through the short period Ramdas served as CEO. “We’ve already affirmed that racial, economic and environmental justice are our core issues,” Ramsey said. “There’s no debate over that. And when we adopted those, we made it clear that we weren’t tinkering with those three.”
What went wrong?
Ramsey wouldn’t comment on the specifics of Ramdas’ departure, so in the absence of any definite answer, we’re left to speculate.
Although founder Nathan Cummings’ living relatives may populate most of its board, NCF isn’t some sleepy family outfit. Cummings pretty much left the family free rein in terms of intent, and NCF’s grantmaking has shifted around since its beginning, circa 1985. In recent years, NCF has stood out as an earnestly progressive funder rooted in a commitment to Jewish traditions of social justice.
Jaimie Mayer, a millennial great-granddaughter of the founder, has chaired the board since 2019. Back then, she told us her mindset about the foundation is to be “in a constant state of improvement.” This isn’t a case of some boomer-led family board balking at all things new.
Prior to becoming the chair, Mayer served on NCF’s board for 18 years—from a very young age—and is definitely no newcomer to the institution. “Many people grow up saying they want to be an astronaut or ballerina, and I grew up saying I wanted to chair my family foundation,” she said at the time. According to Ramsey, the majority of the board is now composed of members of Mayer’s generation, the family’s fourth.
Mayer seemed elated with Ramdas’ hire last fall. “We were looking for a unicorn, and we found her,” Mayer said in a press release that has now been removed from the foundation’s website. Ramdas was ebullient, as well. “This is a dream role for me,” she said in the same release. “NCF is one of the boldest foundations in the world in terms of its values, grants, impact investments, and shareholder activism.”
So what went wrong?
If this is a reprise of what transpired with Greer eight years ago, it could be that Ramdas got ahead of her board. Coming in with a strong advocacy background, proven leadership bona fides and issue area expertise, it’s easy for a newly hired CEO to push for ambitious moves in directions that not all members of the board are comfortable with.
The resulting friction may not be easy to iron out, especially when so many people sit at the governance table. At NCF, the board currently consists of no fewer than 10 trustees from the family and four independent trustees from outside the family. There are also eight more “associates”—family members who aren’t full trustees, but serve on foundation committees. Even for the most skilled chief at the helm, that is a lot of egos and opinions to wrangle.
So while it’s easy (at least in theory) for a foundation to get a read on a prospective CEO, it’s much harder for a prospective CEO to get a full read on an expansive, multi-generational board. Again, this is speculation, but Ramdas may have come in with specific action items in mind and instead found herself spending most of her time navigating complex family dynamics. Judging from Ramsey’s description, there seemed to be a lot of changes already in the works when she came on board.
Ramsey, for his part, pushed against the idea that a departure from the foundation’s previously agreed-upon strategies and priorities was ever on the table. He also emphasized the unity of the board as NCF moves ahead: “I feel very good about the dynamics of being a CEO, and being able to work with this board.”
Ramsey talked about the governance changes made during his tenure as, partly, an effort to make sure board and staff can work well together. “[When] we put some governance things in place,” he said, “the crux of that was to make sure we had clarity between the role of a board and the role of staff, particularly management.”
That being said, it’s worth noting that in a time of political upheaval and uncertainty, even like-minded progressives hold many differing opinions regarding the right path forward, and there’s an even greater gulf between moderates and those further to the left. The philanthropic sector itself is in a period of uncertainty as well, as COVID and a racial reckoning have stoked dissatisfaction and disagreement over who should be wielding power and how grantmaking decisions should be made and executed. In past coverage, we’ve often heard about disconnects between program staff and governance on such matters. It’s possible there was some version of that dynamic at play with Ramdas.
One can see how such differences might be hard to overcome, especially at a time when many progressive advocates are approaching their work with a mounting sense of urgency. “While there is always some sadness in parting,” Ramdas wrote on LinkedIn, “I have a deep sense of gratitude for the years I have spent refining and clarifying my own sense of purpose, which is always key to making difficult decisions.”
Looking ahead
So now that Ramdas has exited, what might the foundation’s leadership situation look like going forward? Well, for one thing, NCF doesn’t seem to be in a great hurry to choose a permanent CEO. Ramsey plans to stay on as interim CEO for the remainder of the year. During that time, NCF will pursue organizational work that was already planned when Ramdas came on, he said.
“You know, it takes time to source someone,” he told me. “We’re right in the beginnings of launching this next phase of our strategy work, the data portion of our strategy, then the identification of what we call the ‘sacred cows’ in the organization, and looking deeply into areas of opportunities, and areas that we would call obstacles—we’re knee-deep in that. So that would not be a good moment, and we want to come through that.” Ramsey declined to say whether or not he’d eventually be in the running for the permanent role.
The foundation also plans to begin a stakeholder outreach effort this year, and to further its ongoing work to leverage its endowment for impact. Ramsey also hinted at some new funding initiatives that NCF plans to announce “before the year is out.”
So was Ramdas’ four-month tenure a momentary blip, as Ramsey seems to imply? Was it a case of mismatch between Ramdas’ expectations and the board’s? Or was something else going on?
What we do know is that these questions at the intersection of family governance and staff management aren’t going anywhere as the ranks of the very rich continue to swell. Family foundations are only one arena where philanthropy’s next generation will wield power (check out our latest list of the sector’s most powerful heirs for more).
Whether it moves through a traditional foundation or more avant-garde vehicles, family giving has to balance the inevitability of social and generational change with the need to keep things on an even keel. Nathan Cummings funds some important stuff, so we hope it figures that balance out.