The Nonprofit CEO Podcast

Phil Ryken had believed for years that Wheaton College's signature orientation program should be required for every new student. The research was there, and he saw what it could mean for Wheaton. But that meant scaling a high-connection, immersion program from 200 students to 550 in a single year. And that, in turn, meant recruiting 45 additional faculty members, asking them to give up two weeks of August and solving problems that didn't have easy answers. And yet, Phil made the change.This conversation covers what COVID made possible, what he did with criticism about moving too fast, and how he and his wife rode bicycles all over the city to meet up with students at a key time. Phil also talks about where the hardest decisions arise, what he wishes someone had told him before he became president, and one piece of conventional leadership wisdom he quietly ignores.Dr. Philip Ryken is President of Wheaton College in Illinois, a Christian liberal arts institution with $206 million in revenue in 2024.

Eugene Cho started at Bread for the World two days before the COVID lockdown. In his first week, a tweet of his went viral, landing in the Washington Post. He had to figure out how to lead and how to speak, in real time. And this is while stepping up to lead an organization that had been led by the same person for 29 years.Our conversation covers the three goals he holds in constant tension: building proximity to power, speaking truth to power, and building power in ways that reflect the organization's values. He also walks through how he led a yearlong rebranding of a 50-year institution without producing grief, and what the difference is between being listened to and being acquiesced to.Eugene also talks about why he doesn't "enjoy" his work and why purpose is a better word than joy for what keeps him going in the current moment.Eugene Cho is President and CEO of Bread for the World, a Christian advocacy organization with a staff of 60-plus working to end hunger.

Everything was up and to the right. Hope International had just received an award for innovating in a post-conflict setting. Peter Greer the biggest champion of more.Then the cracks started to show.Peter had to stop, own the mistake, and go tell the donors who had believed what he told them.Peter is one of the most intentional leaders I've interviewed about building a personal network of advisors. He also names something I think every CEO should wrestle with: not whether you and your organization has cracks, but where they are and who can see them.Peter also shares a family decision that he nearly got wrong, and what it revealed about what most nonprofit leaders are carrying.Peter Greer is President and CEO of Hope International, an international development organization operating in about 30 countries, with $41 million in revenue in 2024.

On March 12, 2020, Tami Heim learned the governor had shut down public gatherings in Texas. The Outcomes Conference was weeks away. And she was facing the possibility that Christian Leadership Alliance was, in her words, completely bankrupt.In the next 24 hours, she called legal counsel before the board, received an unexpected offer from a tech platform, and decided to pivot the entire conference online before anyone else in the sector was doing it. Within 30 days, she took it global. CLA eventually trained over 11,000 leaders in more than 100 countries on the platform she built that week.Tami also names something I hear from CEOs frequently: crisis has a unique power to make leaders think the unthinkable. The question is whether you can get there before the crisis forces you.Tami Heim is President and CEO of the Christian Leadership Alliance, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026.

In one month, CEO Bill Simmons shipped more than 15 working applications and 70,000 lines of code to his team, without adding a single software license or outside developer. He did it with about $25,000 in internal time, replacing software that would have cost over $750,000 to build. Most nonprofit CEOs are still asking whether to pay attention to AI. He's already restructuring how his organization functions by using it.Bill Simmons is President and CEO of Hope Rises International, a Christian global health organization working in more than 50 partnerships across Africa and Asia to address neglected tropical diseases. Annual revenue: $11.3 million. This is the first time I've seen how AI can transform the processes and outcomes of the nonprofit sector.

Jody Levison-Johnson had a big idea and had to decide whether to bet her organization's resources on it. A film was coming out that could either quietly fade or become an inflection point for how the country thinks about the nonprofit sector. She had to decide if Social Current should lead the campaign that followed, and how much to ask her board for.She also talks about the two ways CEOs drift into bad decisions: chasing off-mission funding and refusing to sunset programs they love, plus why she thinks the hardest decision most nonprofit CEOs eventually face is knowing when to leave.Dr. Jody Levison-Johnson is President and CEO of Social Current, a national organization that accredits, trains, and advocates for a network of approximately 1,800 human service organizations across the US and Canada.

Curtis Chang set out to build a nonprofit nobody would ever know by name. He wanted Good Faith to be like Target: the store as the brand, not the founder. Four years later, Curtis, David French, and Russell Moore were at the center of the most prominent faith-and-politics curriculum in the country. A quarter million people had used it. This conversation is about how a founder navigates a pivot, and why market need and relationships sometimes rewrite the plan.He also talks about the two ways nonprofit CEOs drift into bad decisions: chasing off-mission funding and staying stuck in a rut. And he offers a reframe on anxiety that has real implications for how CEOs lead through loss. Curtis calls it "holding," and he thinks the CEO's job in seasons of organizational pain is something closer to Chief Grieving Officer.Curtis Chang is Founder and Executive Director of Good Faith, an organization at the intersection of Christian faith and public life. The After Party, its flagship curriculum on faith and politics, has reached over 250,000 users. The Good Faith Podcast ranks in the top 0.5% of all podcasts globally.

Andy Crouch uses a framework from Peter Greer to name a structural problem with honest at the heart of many nonprofits. It's the stakeholder gap, and he argues it creates built-in incentives to not tell the whole truth all the time. And the better you are at fundraising, the more danger you're in.Andy also traces the 40-year collapse of institutional trust to something deeper than politics: the unmasking of prestige as mere dominance. And he makes an unexpected case that the generation coming into the workforce right now may be the best in decades, if you can earn their trust first.Andy Crouch is Partner for Theology and Culture at Praxis, a New York-based nonprofit that supports faith-driven founders, funders, and innovators, from early-stage ventures to both nonprofits and businesses operating at meaningful scale across every sector.

Olivia Mulerwa spent months carrying a decision she couldn't talk about with anyone who didn't already have a stake in the outcome. She needed to have a hard conversation with a beloved board member. The rest of the board was unwilling to even discuss it. She had to decide in isolation.This conversation covers how she made that call, the listening process she used in advance, and the one person she thinks of before making any major decision at Mission ONE.Olivia also talks about stepping into the President's role just three months after being hired as a program director, rejecting some conventional wisdom about founder relationships, and how colleagues interpreted her actions differently the moment her title changed.Olivia Mulerwa is President of Mission ONE, a nonprofit that supports over 600 local leaders across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Dr. Jennifer Holloran walked into her first board meeting as CEO of American Bible Society and left with a $5 million crisis and a collapsing timeline, with no peers she could call.This conversation covers that decision, how she navigated a pressurized process, and what she wishes she'd had in those first weeks that was lacking.She also talks about the energy calendar she built after hitting a wall, the decisions that still keep her up at night, and what it looks like to lead a legacy organization toward better health and effectiveness. Jennifer is President and CEO of American Bible Society, founded in 1816.

On this episode of The Nonprofit CEO Podcast, hosts Adam Jeske and Krish Kandiah dive into the complex, consequential decisions that shape nonprofit leadership. Krish Kandiah, founder of the Sanctuary Foundation and a key figure in driving the UK’s response to refugee crises, shares his journey from fostering children in his own home to influencing national policy and launching innovative charities. Together, they explore the challenges of starting organizations rooted in personal conviction, navigating government relationships, and leading through changing political landscapes. Listeners will hear candid reflections on letting go as a founder, inspiring large-scale community action, and maintaining a focus on what really matters—caring for the most vulnerable. This episode is packed with practical wisdom for nonprofit leaders grappling with funding constraints, sector competition, and the ever-present question of how to create lasting impact.

Phil Buchanan had 48 hours to decide whether he would speak out when it seemed everyone else was staying quiet.We talk about that decision, the actual calculus, and the strategic mistake he thinks many nonprofit CEOs are making right now.He also talks about what nobody told him before he became CEO, the culture he has spent 25 years building, and why standing for nothing is the fastest way to lose trust.Phil is president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, a research and advisory organization serving foundations and donors across the sector, and author of Giving Done Right.

The role of the nonprofit CEO role is isolating. The decisions are high-stakes, the support is often thin, and the margin for error can literally be life and death.The Nonprofit CEO Podcast is where those decisions get talked about honestly. Hosted by Adam Jeske, The Nonprofit CEO Advisor, this podcast goes beyond theory and best practices to the real choices that define careers and shape communities.If you're a nonprofit CEO navigating tough calls, or you know one who is, this is the conversation you've been missing. For patterns, synthesis, and reflection from hundreds of other CEO conversations, delivered weekly, subscribe to The Nonprofit CEO Briefing at nonprofitCEO.com.