CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Metropolitan School District's Board of Education has selected a search firm to assist in the hiring of a new CEO to replace Eric Gordon.
According to a release sent out late Wednesday evening, Chicago-based Alma Advisory Group has been chosen to help pick the next chief executive officer of the CMSD. The firm has previously handled searches for superintendents in Cincinnati and Denver, as well as executive positions within Chicago schools.
“The Board of Education is pleased to partner with Alma Advisory Group on conducting a comprehensive national search to find the next chief executive officer of CMSD,” said Board Chair Anne E. Bingham in the statement. “We look forward to engaging the broad community and partners in the search process.”
Alma Advisory Group, a woman-of-color-led consulting services organization, says its work in Cleveland will include gathering input from stakeholders who are representative of the community the CEO will serve.
Current CMSD CEO Eric Gordon announced in September that he will step down when the school year ends on June 30, 2023. Gordon, who has held the position of CEO of Cleveland schools since 2011, said he wanted to provide the school board and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb "with sufficient time to conduct a thorough, high-quality search for the next CEO."
"The conditions are precisely right to hand off the baton and to ensure that the next CEO takes forward the progress and momentum we have made and built together," Gordon said in his final State of the Schools address.
The Cleveland Metropolitan School District's Board of Education will appoint a new chief executive officer "with concurrence" from Bibb.
“Choosing the leader who will continue to build on CEO Gordon’s legacy is a tremendous responsibility and one we do not take lightly,” Mayor Bibb said. “I am glad that the Board of Education has chosen to partner with Alma Advisory Group to support an equitable, inclusive and effective search process.”