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President's Column: Taking Leave
O
n June 9, 2005 I informed Friends
of Acadia Chairman Dianna Emory,
the board of directors, the staff, and
park officials of my decision to retire. My retirement
letter, edited slightly, is shared below with
all of our supporters. Thank you for your friendship
and generosity over a decade. You have made
my job enormously satisfying. Best of all, you
have helped safeguard a great national asset for
all generations. As Thoreau said, "All nature is
your congratulation and you have cause momentarily
to bless yourself."
Dear Dianna:
After much deliberation, I have decided
to retire as president and CEO of Friends of
Acadia, effective in [February] 2006. At this
point I have no professional plans, but... the
transition will be less a true retirement than
a new phase of my working life.
My reasons for leaving are completely positive.
Earlier in my career, someone gave me
advice I have never forgotten: "A good executive
consciously works himself out of a job."
I have tried to conduct my professional life
that way. Of my thirty years in nonprofit conservation,
I have spent twenty as chief executive
of three organizations [including The
Nature Conservancy of Connecticut and
American Rivers]. Friends of Acadia is the
anomaly in terms of job time logged - ten
years this October, longer than any previous
tenure of mine. Thanks to many hands,
Friends is more mature and financially robust
than it was when I was hired.
Since 1995, membership has doubled and
investments have tripled, to $15.7 million.
Friends' annual grant-making has risen six-fold
to a projected $933,000 this year, and
we have increased to 115 the number of
FOA-funded jobs serving the park and communities.
FOA is more effective in its work,
and the organization enjoys respect in Maine
and nationally. L.L. Bean, a corporate icon,
is a multi-million-dollar supporter of FOA
and the Island Explorer, an award-winning
propane bus fleet. Because everyone pulled
hard, Acadia is the first national park with an
endowed trail system, and rehabilitation of
the footpaths is progressing as envisioned. In
short, it feels right for me to leave with FOA
healthy, professionally well staffed, and well
directed at the governance level.
As important, I sincerely believe that non-profits
deserve fresh new executive leadership
from time to time, and that it is my
responsibility to act on that principle. I do so
joyously and with high optimism about FOA's
trajectory, but knowing also that I will miss
the work and the people.
I have great respect for the board, staff, volunteers,
mission, our park partners, and the
members and donors who have trusted and
invested in Friends of Acadia. It has been a
privilege to serve as executive leader, and I
have learned a tremendous amount....
Finally, I thank you [Dianna], Lee [Judd],
and Linda [Lewis] as three very effective
board chairmen during my service. You have
all been wonderfully supportive and I deeply
appreciate the professional and personal relationships
that have grown from our joint leadership
of Friends of Acadia and our shared
love for this magnificent place, which so
many have worked so hard to protect.
Thank you, everyone, for one of the best
career experiences of my life.
- W. Kent Olson, President
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