Sarah Lee and Chloe Chittick Patton step down from Slover Linett’s leadership team; Tanya Treptow, PhD, Jen Benoit-Bryan, PhD, and Nancy Plaskett named to vice president roles in new management structure.

This is hard for me to write, because it means acknowledging the sunsetting of two remarkable partnerships with two remarkable people. For the last fourteen years Cheryl and I have had the privilege of working closely with Sarah Lee and Chloe Chittick Patton, both of whom — in different and complementary ways — helped define and deepen Slover Linett’s research practice and grow our reputation across the cultural sector. Recently, both Sarah and Chloe made unrelated decisions to step down from their leadership roles at the firm to explore new professional paths.

Cheryl and I saw first-hand how difficult both of these decisions were for them, and we feel deeply grateful for the almost decade-and-a-half we’ve had with each of them. (Both started working with us in 2005, and they were promoted to their current roles in early 2016: Sarah as president and Chloe as chief operating officer). We’ve learned so much from both Sarah and Chloe — and so much with them about cultural engagement as we served our clients together.

Luckily, both of them will remain in the Slover Linett family for a while longer. Sarah will work as a senior consultant on our multi-year engagement with the Irvine Foundation and its New California Arts Fund throughout 2019 and into 2020, while also developing her own practice focusing on nonprofits, foundations, and public agencies in adjacent areas of the social sector, including community and economic development, social justice, and equity. Chloe will serve as a senior advisor to us for the next four months, ensuring continuity on current projects and contributing to staff development while also launching her new, independent practice; she’ll be working on a major project with Ingenuity, a Chicago-based arts education and access organization.

But it’s not just “farewell,” it’s also “congratulations!” I’m excited to announce that three fantastic colleagues at the firm—Nancy Plaskett, Jen-Benoit-Bryan, PhD, and Tanya Treptow, PhD—have stepped up to new roles in a restructured management level to help guide Slover Linett’s growth and innovation in the coming years. Tanya and Jen will both serve as vice president and co-director of research, bringing their qualitative and quantitative expertise, respectively, to our whole research and evaluation portfolio. Nancy will become vice president and chief operating officer, leveraging her leadership-team and institution-building experience from the museum sector both internally and on key client projects. All three, in fact, will continue to direct specific research and evaluation projects, working in close collaboration with our talented (and expanding) team of researchers and with my strategic support.

I’m excited about this new management circle and the feeling of creativity and energy around the office. As with any senior-level departures at a healthy organization, Sarah and Chloe’s decisions have created opportunities for everyone else — including me — to grow into new roles, new ways of thinking about our work and our future. We will all miss Sarah and Chloe’s wisdom, wit, and rigor. But I couldn’t ask for a better team of colleagues at every level of the firm, and as I look ahead I’m fully confident in our ability to continue to shed important light on audiences, communities, and possibilities for our clients and the wider cultural sector.

Please join me in congratulating and thanking Sarah and Chloe as they embark on their new professional adventures, and in congratulating Jen, Tanya, and Nancy on their well-deserved promotions to senior posts.

If you have any questions or want further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me.