A Message from Mockingbird's Interim Board President, Zachary Wood

With the mixed emotions of sadness, gratitude, and hopefulness, The Mockingbird Society and our Board of Directors wish a hearty thank you and bon voyage to our wonderful Executive Director of the last 2 and half years, Natalie Lente. Natalie’s leadership provided an incredible amount of growth and stabilization of this organization and a difficult and crucial moment. We will forever be deeply grateful to Natalie for that impassioned and deeply caring guidance of the team and work.

No movement has ever been, nor should it be, about one person; as deeply loved and appreciated as that one person might be. We have carried this work forward as a community, and we will continue to do that. The amazing young people, staff, and senior leaders are poised to continue this movement. During this transition, our Chief Operations Officer, Zivit Shechter Nissim, will take on a number of Interim Executive Director functions.

In the coming days, our Executive Committee will be formally appointing a group of dynamic and experienced board members to serve as the Executive Director Search Committee. That group will carry forward our processes, values, and diligence, alongside an identified search firm partner and codify our exact plan and timeline for this search. What heartens me most in this effort is the wealth of materials, processes, and feedback from our last search that was incredibly thoughtful and engaged. There is no need to dramatically reinvent this work we so painstakingly built 3 years ago! This means we already begin this search well ahead of the game.

During this process, our commitment is to thoughtful, diligent, and mission-centered guidance through our search process. We are also committed to transparency, consistent communication, and diverse participation from young people and staff within several stages of this search. Again, having navigated this approach just a few years ago, we are deeply confident that we have all of the tools to execute this process with care and authenticity.

A new chapter of The Mockingbird Society is upon us. With that can bring feelings of uncertainty and the loss of what came before. But together it also brings the excitement of what we do next. It brings the pride, the optimism, and the torch-bearing of what we still must accomplish in our fights for justice and joy.

Thank you for your continued care for this organization, and its work.

Zachary D Wood