Before introducing you to our new CEO, we’d first like to share a bit about our CEO search process. In this post, we’ll outline the steps we took to ensure that the CEO we hired is the ideal fit for the Drupal Association.
Because we wanted to reimagine the role, the DA Board decided to conduct the search without bringing in an executive search firm. We've moved from the title of Executive Director to CEO to map the role to the rest of the C-level titles at the Drupal Association, as well as to reflect the vision for accelerating Drupal's future. Members of the board formed a search team made up of the members of the Executive Committee (Owen Lansbury, Dries Buytaert, Tiffany Farriss, Baddý Breidart) as well as our Acting Executive Director (ED), Angie Sabin. The CEO hiring process was managed internally by the search team members with support from the Drupal Association staff.
As a reminder, the role of the CEO is to lead the Drupal Association as a US-based 501c3 non-profit, which serves a global community. Dries Buytaert remains the Project lead for Drupal, and both the Association and the project will continue to be in close collaboration.
What we looked for in a CEO
At the DrupalCon Portland retreat in April 2022, the Board focused on how the Drupal Association might better support the Drupal project. As an organization that has demonstrated resilience and financial stability, this leadership transition was a good opportunity to consider what comes next.
What emerged was a vision of a thriving Drupal project and community as a champion of the Open Web. To execute this vision, the Drupal Association must accelerate product marketing and product innovation. As a non-profit community-focused organization, we have deep experience in supporting the project through Drupal.org and DrupalCons. This direction will see us continue to provide that support as we develop these new capabilities. As one of the largest open source projects for over 20 years, Drupal has been a public good that delivers tremendous public benefit. It is vital that we tell the story of Drupal: its capabilities as well as the impact it has on the organizations that use it and the people who build it. Connecting that story to Drupal’s public good legacy is part of how we will secure its future as a cornerstone of the Open Web. We see opportunities to pursue new channels of philanthropic support that will help us scale how we support Drupal’s continued impact and innovation for the next 20 years (and beyond).
All of this takes solid strategic planning, proven growth experience, a proven ability to work with technical platforms, and the ability to work with an already strong C-level team. This person must also have the humility and good humor required to serve in the role.
Our new CEO will be tasked with taking the Drupal Association to the next level, developing a strategy and plan to support the board’s vision. We wanted to be sure that any candidate we considered would have a personal commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, so we included questions to assess their competency and commitment in our initial screenings and phone interview. Our CTO, Tim Lehnen, and CFO, Angie Sabin, also made sure candidates would be comfortable working in a facilitative leadership setting. We are confident that these steps and processes led us to hire a candidate that will be a great fit for our team and the Drupal community.
Job posting and the application period
With a strong vision for what we want the role of the CEO to accomplish, it was equally important to us that the search process reach a diverse pool of candidates. We cast a wide net to raise awareness for the opening and followed a process optimized for bias reduction. Our job posting disclosed the salary range and benefits, encouraged historically underrepresented candidates to apply, and did not specify any educational requirements. The Board and staff reached out to potential candidates via our networks, and our Acting ED used the LinkedIn recruiter tool to identify qualified individuals of historically underrepresented identities and reached out to individuals to invite them to apply.
Applications were open for 4 weeks on our website, and submissions were managed through an applicant tracking tool. Candidates were asked to submit a cover letter and resume and complete a short list of questions:
- Do you identify as a member of a historically underrepresented community? (Optional)
- What are your pronouns? (Optional, open text field).
- Do you have a personal commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion?
Initial Screening
We received 120 applications for the post. An external consultant with experience in equitable screening used our applicant tracking system to identify candidates that should not be considered by the search team. This screening eliminated 25 potential candidates who lacked a relatable background and who did not meet any of the necessary criteria.
Our search team then screened the remaining pool of 95 applicants. If any two members of the search team expressed interest in a candidate, that candidate moved forward to the next round. This narrowed the field of candidates to 10 candidates:
- Each had experience in technology and/or non-profits that were relevant to the board's vision for the future of the Drupal Association.
- Each candidate was looked at with an eye to their capacity for working in a community-driven environment, and their compatibility with our Values & Principles.
- 50% used 'she/her' pronouns.
- 40% used 'he/him' pronouns.
- 10% did not provide pronouns.
- 30% identified as members of a historically underrepresented community.
- 100% answered yes to having a personal commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Phone Interview
The acting Executive Director (who has a background in human resources) performed phone interviews with the top 10 candidates. Each candidate was asked the same questions, and detailed notes were taken and shared with the search team. The search team reviewed the phone interview notes. If any two members of the search team expressed interest in a candidate, that candidate moved forward to the next round. Eight candidates were invited to the Zoom interview round:
- Candidates who moved through this round expressed a clear excitement to work with the Drupal Association and to fulfill the board's vision.
- Candidates were also screened at this point for their comfort level with the Drupal Association's current size and budget level.
- 62.5% used 'she/her' pronouns.
- 37.5% used 'he/him' pronouns.
- 25% identified as members of a historically underrepresented community.
Round 2: Zoom Interview
This round focused on the candidate's experience with open source, and understanding of the Drupal Association and Drupal project. We were curious about their leadership styles, and their ability to translate a vision into an actionable plan. Each Zoom Interview candidate was invited to participate in a recorded call with two search team members. Again, all candidates were asked the same questions which were provided to them in advance. Non-participating search team members reviewed each recording. Search team members recorded their thoughts about each candidate using a scored ranking comparison sheet. This structure helped avoid personal bias.
Round 3: Culture-fit Interview with C-level staff
The Zoom Interview candidates were invited to participate in a culture-fit conversation with the Acting ED and CTO. We focused on candidates’ individual leadership and communication styles. All candidates were asked a standard set of questions, provided in advance, to begin their conversation. Notes were taken and shared with the search team.
During the interview rounds, two candidates withdrew from the process, leaving five candidates who were invited to one-on-one meetings with Dries and other members of the search committee.
Final presentation round- strategy and vision
The search team determined who they wanted to invite to move forward to the final round, including recommendations from the Acting ED and CTO, who were able to watch the Round 2 Zoom interviews.
Two candidates were invited to develop a presentation and pitch based on a specific brief as a way to demonstrate their understanding of the Drupal ecosystem. Search team members met with the candidates to provide additional context about the organization, project, and community. The candidates had one week to prepare and record their presentations.
From here, the search team reviewed the presentations, had follow-up conversations with each candidate, and made their final, unanimous decision.
Reference check
After the search team determined their preferred candidate, we asked for a list of references. The acting-ED checked 3 references; one supervisor, one subordinate, and one peer. All of the references had excellent things to say about the preferred candidate.
We've made our choice
After executing the rigorous search process described above, we are thrilled to announce that we've hired Tim Doyle as the new CEO of the Drupal Association. Read our blog to learn more about Tim and how he'll be leading us into the future. Tim impressed us immensely in each round of the long interview process and we are excited to introduce him to the Drupal community.
Last but not least, we want to thank the Drupal Association leadership team and staff for their dedicated support of Drupal Association programs and the community during this search process. We especially want to thank Angie Sabin for serving as our Acting Executive Director. Angie did a fantastic job leading the Drupal Association through this transition.