FRACTIONAL AND INTERIM CEO or CDO

When a senior development role is vacant or underpowered, momentum is hard to protect.

Revenue slows, strategic work stalls, and key relationships can lose confidence. The longer the gap lasts, the harder it is to recover. Organizations facing a CEO or CDO vacancy, leadership gap, or revenue performance challenge often need more than advice. They need experienced leadership that can step in quickly, stabilize performance, and keep the work moving while a longer-term solution takes shape.


APPROACH

The Work


Arete fractional and interim engagements combine executive leadership with practical advisory support. The work begins quickly: clarifying priorities, assessing the development operation, protecting key relationships, and identifying the decisions that cannot wait.

In the first 90 days, the focus is stability, visibility, and momentum. Forecasting, pipeline management, board expectations, team roles, and strategic priorities are brought into clearer view so the organization can keep moving while longer-term leadership decisions take shape.

Arete offers four engagement structures — each shaped around the organization's need, not a standard package.

Fractional CDO

Ongoing senior development leadership at a defined weekly cadence.

Interim CEO

Executive continuity during CEO transitions or organizational reset.

Strategic Growth Partner

Senior advisory alongside your existing team, focused on growth.

Interim CDO

Full leadership of the development function during a search or transition.

FIT

Who this is for


Organizations navigating an executive departure that cannot wait for a full search process.

Boards needing senior revenue leadership during a CEO or CDO transition.

Development operations that are underperforming and need experienced leadership to diagnose issues and reset direction.

Organizations preparing for a capital or comprehensive campaign that need senior leadership to build the foundation.

More than 25 years of executive leadership inside national health nonprofits. At Blood Cancer United, NPF, and the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, I led development through growth, transition, and organizational complexity. In fractional and interim roles, I bring the same orientation: lead like an executive, not an advisor.

PROOF

BEGIN THE CONVERSATION

One conversation is usually enough to know whether there is a fit.