Sarah Gough, MSW

Steady leadership for organizations in transition.

I'm Sarah Gough. I lead Play for Peace, a global peacebuilding nonprofit, as Executive Director, and I walk alongside a small number of other organizations as a fractional leader and transition advisor.

When Boards Call Me

A leadership transition touches everything: the people, the mission, the money, the trust. Handled with care, it can also be one of the most generative seasons an organization ever moves through.

Boards reach out to me when their Executive Director is leaving, and they need steady hands so they can search well rather than fast. When a founder is stepping back and the organization needs to become bigger than one person. When leadership is stretched thin and they need senior capacity without a full-time hire. And when an organization is coming through a hard season and needs to rebuild health, trust, and momentum.

What I bring

I have led Play for Peace as Executive Director for almost 2 decades, including a decade running a global organization from Guatemala before making my home in Vancouver. I have carried an organization through growth, through crisis, and through deep cultural change, so I know what these seasons ask of the people inside them. I have also done the unglamorous work: budgets, boards, compliance, cross-border operations, and fundraising partnerships. I hold an MSW and served on the founding team of Kikori, an experiential learning platform.

How I Work

My approach in a transition is consistent: stabilize operations, support the board, take care of the people, and set up the next leader to succeed. I lead collaboratively and hold compassion and accountability together, because organizations perform when people feel both cared for and challenged. And I pay attention to the nervous system of an organization, how people are actually doing, not just how the dashboard looks, because that is where transitions are truly won or lost.

Engagements

Fractional leadership: ongoing part-time executive capacity for organizations that need senior leadership without a full-time hire. Transition support: partnering with a board through a leadership change, from departure through onboarding the next leader. Organizational development: focused projects on culture, structure, and systems.

I take one engagement at a time, so availability is limited.

The Result

If your organization is heading into a transition, I'd be glad to talk. No pitch, just a conversation.

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