What Others Say

Carol Kellermann brought the exact combination of experience and talent necessary to the task of Chief Executive Officer of the September 11th Fund for the final two-thirds of its life: A creative mind, a compassionate heart, an extraordinary ability to execute and implement policies, the intellectual flexibility to alter plans when circumstances warranted, a keen awareness of the social and political context within which the Fund's Ongoing Recovery Program must operate, a decisiveness which characterizes all great CEOs.

Carol has a remarkable ability to analyze an organization. She quickly and thoroughly understood and assessed all elements: people, program components and systems. Through her questions she helped refocus and reenergize the staff into a more productive and more lively organization.

Carol's clarity and high intelligence brought the Board a better understanding of its own organization. Through increased confidence in the management of the organization, the Board developed a more settled sense of its proper role.

Carol is creative and engaging. She helps those she works with see and understand complexity.

Carol Kellerman took a vague idea about creating a new way of educating community college students and turned it into a national model program. She accomplished this while working in a complicated multi-campus environment with faculty, academic administrators, college presidents, University officials, and representatives from the Mayor's Office.

Even before I knew it, or before the Board of Directors knew it, Carol Kellermann knew that PENCIL and I were a perfect match for each other.

Throughout the interview process, she questioned me and pushed me to think about why I was right for the organization. It also became clear to me that Carol was preparing the Board as well -- forcing them to think not just about the type of President they wanted, but also the type of President they needed.

After I was offered and accepted the position, Carol played a huge role in ensuring a successful transition. She fully briefed me on the substance of the organization, but maybe more importantly, she astutely provided hints and warnings of the subtleties that could make for either success or failure.

If not for Carol, I would not be at PENCIL. And if not Carol, my tenure at PENCIL would not be as successful as it has been thus far.

Carol is an excellent management consultant who is very good at assessing an organization, diagnosing problems and proposing concrete, practical solutions. She has a deservedly excellent reputation for working effectively with management and communicating effectively with staff, so that everyone is engaged and committed to plans for change and the implementation strategies needed to achieve them. She is very smart, works hard and quickly and clients are invariably satisfied with the results.

When Carol took over the CEO role at The September 11th Fund she found a tight-knit, independent and somewhat reticent group of senior staff members who had toiled through the tragedy together. In short order we were humming again as a team, with Carol as our pragmatic and flexible leader. Carol set and communicated priorities clearly, is an astute listener and problem-solver and her heart is always in the right place. She made significant contributions to every project she touched.

Carol did a splendid job as interim executive director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. She scoped out the issues, problems and opportunities so quickly. Then she focused on what was important, especially affiliate relations, technology and staff working together.

I very much enjoyed working with Carol because of her smarts, her directness and her keen insights.