110: Deb Taft, Lindauer

Deb Taft is CEO and co-owner of Lindauer, a global search and talent firm serving nonprofits in the education, health and science, arts and culture, policy and advocacy, and civic and social justice arenas. An innovative leader in the education, healthcare/academic medicine, youth services and voluntary sectors, Deb was Senior EVP and Managing Director for Grenzebach Glier and Associates (GG+A) in Chicago, overseeing all global philanthropic consulting practices. Deb previously served as Chief Development Officer and Interim Chief Strategy Officer for Girl Scouts of the USA, where she led the launch of the $1 billion ToGetHerThere fundraising campaign and shaped the Alumni initiative to engage 50 million Girl Scouts. Deb held prior executive roles at Simmons University, Tufts Medical Center and Floating Hospital for Children, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund, and Concord Academy. She chairs the Industry Advisory Council and serves Ex-Officio on the Board of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). She also serves on the Editorial Board of Giving USA, the Boards of The Giving Institute and Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, and on the AI in Advancement Advisory Council (AAAC); she recently completed her service and leadership of the Board of Directors for the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in Washington, DC. She continues to advance inclusion and equity in nonprofit leadership including through her service on the steering committee for Allies in Action for Women of Color in Philanthropy (WŌC) and through various appointed leadership roles for CASE, GSEMA, and HRC. Deb was a founding team member of City Year, which today has youth service teams in more than 31 regions across the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. She was honored as a Girl Scouts of Eastern MA Leading Woman in 2019 and as a 2021 member of the YW Boston Academy of Women Achievers. Her expertise includes governance and strategic planning; organizational growth and restructuring; diversity, equity, and inclusion; fundraising, marketing, and communications; constituent engagement; and talent recruitment, development, and retention. A renowned speaker and facilitator, Deb holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from Simmons University.