The first call came from the CEO of the hospital. James M. Kirby II, President and CEO of Pardee Hospital in Hendersonville, part of UNC Health Care, needed a new executive director for the hospital’s foundation, and he needed someone as fast as he could get the right person hired.
Jay Kirby was looking for a new foundation E.D. who could raise the several million dollars a year needed to support the hospital’s priorities. Pardee Hospital engaged CapDev in a retained executive search and got underway by the start of January 2020. Little did we all know what was to come!
Within a few months the search process identified Myles Fish (pictured at left). As Myles said of the search process as a candidate working with CapDev, “They walked me through the journey from curiosity about the position, to interest, to commitment, to employment in spite of our inability to ever meet face to face. Their effectiveness in a challenging time was remarkable.”
Myles was offered the job as Executive Director of the Pardee Hospital Foundation and began in June 2020, in the middle of the pandemic.
He came to the position after a long career in not-for-profit leadership which started as a Peace Corp Volunteer in the mountains of Guatemala. He then spent 17 years working in prisons and the inner cities with prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families. Later, he served as the President and CEO of International Aid – an $80,000,000/year healthcare focused – disaster relief and development agency. Most recently, Myles was the founder and President of a consulting service called Upwelling Philanthropy.
Myles described the 2020 search: “I hope I never have to relocate and start a new job again during a global pandemic, but If I do, I hope I will still be working with CapDev. I make that statement with confidence because I observed their work as both a candidate and as a client. All the Covid 19 restrictions dramatically changed the recruitment industry, but CapDev didn’t miss a beat.”
Then, as Myles got underway in his new role, he quickly discovered the need to make some new hires on his team at the foundation. So, he called CapDev.
Myles described his experience on the other end of the search – as a client: “Shortly after I began my new position, I realized I was going to need some new team members. I was new in the area and didn’t have much of a network yet, so I went back to CapDev. This time I was a client, not a candidate, but my experience was similar. They quickly and efficiently helped me fill two positions with wonderful and qualified local candidates. These experiences, and others, lead me to recommend CapDev without reservation.”
In the past year, the Pardee Memorial Hospital Foundation successfully engaged CapDev to identify potential hires for two positions. From this, Myles was able to extend offers and hire both a Senior Accountant and a Senior Grant Writer. Both positions are critical to the operations of the foundation and needed to be filled as quickly as possible, so our retained search model once again fit the bill.
As Myles recently wrote to CapDev as he marked his one-year anniversary at the foundation, “Debbie and Stacey are working out great and I’ve rebuilt the whole team now. Our FY ended in June. Despite Covid and a complete turnover of staff, we exceeded all goals and had a [significant] surplus at the end of the year. This has been a good move for me. Thanks for your assistance.”
We can’t wait to see what this strong new team will accomplish in service to the Hendersonville community, and we are grateful for Pardee’s long-time client relationship with CapDev!
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