Dear GSCB Families:
As we say thank you and bid GSCB CEO Claudia Peña Porretti farewell, we are looking ahead with confidence for the future of the Girl Scout Council of the Chesapeake Bay. This transition presents a unique and exciting opportunity for GSCB to identify a new executive leader who will continue the work to reimagine our programming, properties, and Council. We have several updates to share with GSCB families.
- Interim CEO Helen Wronski: I’m excited to share the appointment of Helen Wronski to serve as interim CEO of the Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay, effective July 7.
Helen is an experienced Girl Scout leader who brings a broad range of skills acquired through her leadership positions at both the local and national level. She was the president and CEO of Girl Scouts Heart of Northern New Jersey and has previously held interim positions at Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida, Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada, Girl Scouts of Desert Southwest, GSUSA-Girl Scouts Overseas, Girl Scouts of Northwestern Great Lakes. and most recently, Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson. Helen is also a lifetime member of Girl Scouts and member of the Juliette Gordon Low Society.
Helen is looking forward to working with our dedicated staff, volunteers, donors and Board to support our mission to create girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.
- CEO Task Force: During the June board meeting, the board established a special CEO Task Force to provide overall governance for the CEO search and during the transition period. The chair of the new task force is the board chair, Temeka Easter Rice, with board members Janet Chavous, Patricia Nash Christel, Stacy Conn, Tavanya Lockett, and Kimberlee Ziolkowski. In addition, we are leveraging a number of resources that the Girl Scouts of the USA provides to Councils in transition, including process recommendations, interim planning resources, draft job descriptions, and interview questions. Within the Task Force we created three subcommittees.
- CEO Search Subcommittee: The Board established a CEO Search Subcommittee to guide the search. We also selected an experienced external agency to conduct search activities. Board members serving on the Committee are Stacy Conn, Vanessa Fisher, Danielle Vozzo, Kimberlee Ziolkowski and myself as chair. We selected Find Great People, a recruitment firm that knows the Girl Scout movement well and has experience recruiting CEOs for other Councils around the country, to help us. A portion of the fees for this firm are covered by a grant from GSUSA.
- Opportunity for Volunteers on the Search Subcommittee: In addition, we will recruit two Girl Scout volunteers and one GSCB staff member to join us on this important responsibility. To learn more about serving on the search subcommittee and how to express interest, visit www.gscb.org/CEOsearch on GSCB website and follow the instructions by July 11.
- Communications Subcommittee: Led by board member Patricia Nash Christel, this subcommittee will work with the board and staff to guide external communications during the interim period.
- Interim Subcommittee: Led by board members Tavanya Lockett and Natalie DiCostanza, this group is responsible for establishing an interim leadership plan, assuring assets are secure, and reviewing policies and finances.
We plan to post updates during the transition to the GSCB website at www.gscb.org/CEOsearch. Please check this web page for periodic updates.
During this transition, we are fully committed to providing you with quality programming and support for our Girl Scout families. Your Council membership contacts and services remain unchanged at MemberCare@cbgsc.org. If you have a question or suggestion for the board, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at temeka@temekaeaster.com.
Thank you.
Temeka Easter Rice
Board Chair, Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay
