BRIDGES CEO to retire

Thank you for visiting our blog. Your interest in the cause of
BRIDGES, your passion for social and community issues and your support
to BRIDGES as an organization is what keeps us motivated and committed
to serve you and the Greater Cincinnati region. You, the reader, the
well-wisher, the believer, are the force that gives us the momentum to
go forward.

I write to inform you of a new phase in the life of BRIDGES. Last
Friday, we announced in the media, the retirement of Chip Harrod, our
beloved leader for the past 27 years. I know you, like many others,
appreciate the innumerable contributions Chip has made to our
organization and the Greater Cincinnati community, such as providing
leadership to NCCJ nationally in its evolution and to the visionary
group that created the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. He
also led some key work post the civil unrest in 2001 to improve
police/community relations. And over many years under his leadership,
BRIDGES has played a key role in working to bring marginalized groups
into mainstream society, enabling them to serve and help strengthen our
region. We will surely miss his leadership and ability to bring people
together to work and dialogue in harmony over some of the most difficult
and troubling human relations' issues of our time.

While he will be a hard act to follow, we respect his decision to retire
and wish him the very best of luck in his future endeavors. Irrespective
of what he does in his 'encore' career, he will remain an integral part
of BRIDGES history. The search committee is chaired by Raghu
Krishnamoorthy (GE Aviation), and consists of Michael W. Hawkins
(Dinsmore and Shohl, LLP), Evans Nwankwo (Megen Construction), Jessica
Baron (Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce), Jeff Hopkins (US
Federal Bankruptcy Judge), and the myself.

We are very interested in hearing from you if you know of any potential
candidates to replace Chip. As you know, there are not many
organizations that have the branding and the reputation of BRIDGES and
finding a stellar candidate is a responsibility that we all take
seriously.

If you need to find out more details on the job, please go to www.bridgescincinnati.org for the position specs that you can use for this purpose.

We look forward to your suggestions.

Shakila
BRIDGES for a Just Community
Board Chair