On Wednesday the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation announced president and CEO Tom McDonnell will step down effective June 30. While McDonnell will advise the Foundation through the end of the year, vice president of communications Wendy Guillies will serve as Kauffman’s acting president and CEO.
A press release stated that a new multi-year strategic plan Kauffman is prepping for didn’t fit with McDonnell’s personal plans. However, members of the community were surprised by the news, which comes roughly 18 months after McDonnell was appointed to the position. His predecessor, Carl Schramm, served the Foundation for nearly a decade.
“[Tom] and the Board came to the conclusion that this plan is going to take a multi-year commitment of five to seven years and perhaps beyond,” Guillies told Silicon Prairie News. “Rather than getting started and retiring mid-course or what have you, they decided, ‘Let’s get a CEO in who would see it through the course.’”
While Guillies couldn’t comment on what criteria the Foundation’s Board of Directors will use to choose a new CEO, she says the Board will likely be focused on finding someone to hold the position for the foreseeable future and who shares McDonnell’s passion for Kansas City. 
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“Tom has been CEO at a really important time in the Foundation’s history and really did amazing things in a short period of time, especially in terms of re-establishing our connection to KC,” Guillies (right) said. “We were doing good work here, but the perception was that we weren’t connected or accessible.
“Tom remedied that and then some. Now Kauffman exudes KC because it’s been as important to him as it was to Mr. Kauffman.”
While Kauffman’s new strategic plan is still being finalized, Guillies says the Foundation will continue to focus on its core vision for entrepreneurship and education.
“Our third overarching mission is a commitment to Kansas City,” Guillies said. “We may have national impact and global reach, but we have very deep ties here.”
As the Foundation has expanded its reach to other cities with community-centered programs like 1 Million Cups, Guillies says there also has been a desire to strengthen other areas in the same way that McDonnell helped strengthen KC.
“Another area of focus going forward we’ve been dabbling in is around the growth of metro areas,” Guillies said. “At the end of the day, entrepreneurship happens in a community. You can have a global company, but it starts somewhere. Looking at what we’ve done in Kansas City, we’re trying to figure out how we can spur that in other areas.”
Much as 1 Million Cups has helped Kauffman continue strengthening communities outside of Kansas City, Guillies says KC will always be the Foundation’s place to experiment and try new things.
“Kansas City is, and will continue to be, our number one demonstration site,” she said, noting programs like 1 Million Cups and FastTrac that now have a national presence. Guillies added that the Foundation will likely continue the research and policy work that has garnered it national attention in the past.
