Volunteers of America Southwest CEO Search
The Organization
Volunteers of America Southwest is part of the national Volunteers of America network and provides mission-driven social services to individuals, families, and communities across the region. Grounded in a long-standing faith-based tradition of service, the organization works to strengthen communities by addressing complex human needs and expanding access to essential support.
At the time of the search, the organization was receiving interim executive support from its national office while the Board prioritized identifying a permanent Chief Executive Officer who could restore stability, strengthen community confidence, and position the organization for sustainable long-term success.
The Leadership Challenge
Volunteers of America Southwest engaged Scion Executive Search following a highly publicized financial challenge that had contributed to the departure of its previous CEO and CFO and affected the organization’s reputation within the San Diego community.
This was not simply a leadership succession search. The Board needed an experienced executive who could step into a complex environment, rebuild credibility with internal and external stakeholders, strengthen financial and governance practices, and create a clear path toward renewed growth and impact.
The successful candidate also needed meaningful ties to San Diego and the ability to serve as a visible, trusted ambassador for the organization. Previous executive leadership experience, strong community relationships, operational discipline, and a deep commitment to mission were essential.
What Success Looked Like
Scion partnered with the search committee to define three critical priorities for the new CEO’s first 12 to 18 months:
- Restore organizational stability and credibility by strengthening financial health, reinforcing governance practices, and rebuilding trust with key stakeholders.
- Drive measurable growth in community impact and revenue by expanding programs and service delivery while diversifying funding through fundraising, strategic partnerships, and public-private collaboration.
- Build a high-performing, mission-aligned organization by developing and retaining a strong executive team, fostering accountability and inclusion, and ensuring consistent delivery of high-quality, outcomes-driven services.
Scion’s Approach
Scion built the search around a calibrated leadership profile that balanced turnaround capability with long-term growth leadership. The team mapped executives with experience leading complex nonprofit and social service organizations, with particular attention to candidates who understood the San Diego market and could credibly represent Volunteers of America Southwest across the community.
The search process emphasized targeted candidate research and outreach, competency-based assessment, inclusive pipeline development, regular reporting, and close stakeholder alignment. Scion maintained consistent communication with the search committee throughout the engagement, providing market feedback and counsel at key decision points as the Board evaluated leadership experience, community relationships, organizational fit, and readiness to lead through change.
Given the organization’s recent challenges, candidate engagement also required a thoughtful and transparent outreach narrative. Scion helped ensure prospective leaders understood both the complexity of the opportunity and the potential to shape a meaningful organizational recovery and next chapter.
The Volunteers of America Southwest CEO search demonstrates the importance of a highly aligned, transparent executive search process when an organization is navigating both leadership transition and reputational recovery.
Scion helped the Board move from interim leadership to a permanent CEO with the experience and local credibility to strengthen organizational stability, rebuild stakeholder confidence, and lead the organization toward renewed growth and community impact.
The Impact
Client Perspective
“Krista and Kayla’s highly professional, result-oriented approach came through from our first engagement. They listened intently to our needs, provided clear timelines to allow us to measure our progress, provided good counsel at key decision points, communicated clearly and often, and were always very responsive to the committee’s questions and concerns. Their support exceeded my expectations.”
Maud Rao, Chair, CEO Search Committee
Why Scion Executive Search
This engagement demonstrates Scion’s ability to guide organizations through growth inflection points, align complex stakeholder groups, and place financial executives who are not only technically exceptional, but contextually right for the moment. We are honored to support nonprofit and mission-driven organizations nationwide in identifying transformative CEO leadership.
