YWCA president to depart job at end of year
Angel has raised more than $13.5M in her tenure
After five years of leadership, Christie Angel is stepping down from her position as president and CEO of YWCA Columbus at the end of the year.
Angel said with all of the accomplishments the YWCA has made over the last five years, she believes now is the best time for the organization to find a new leader. She also sees the need for change as YWCA’S new national CEO, Margaret Mitchell, establishes herself. Mitchell was most recently chief at the Cleveland YWCA.
“The next leader will come and bring her talents and skills to the organization, and we want to be ready for that,” Angel said.
The nonprofit has hired Broadview Talent Partners, a national executive search firm, to find the next president and CEO. The search will begin this spring with the goal of having a new leader by the end of 2022.
Angel became president of the YWCA in 2017 after a local, regional and national search was conducted for the role. The YWCA committee thought she was the “perfect choice,” according to a news release that came out at the time.
Angel already had ties to the organization as a former governing board member and board chair and after serving as a volunteer for several years.
In 2015, Angel was named a YWCA Woman of Achievement, recognized for her years of public service. She has served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including the Mid-ohio Foodbank, local United Way and the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio.
Angel told Columbus CEO in 2020 that the reason she was drawn to the top role at YWCA was because of its mission of hard-working people helping the city’s most vulnerable members – homeless women and children – while advancing equity and inclusion for all.
The organization’s core work involves meeting the acute needs of homeless women and children in a 50bed shelter, a women’s residency program aimed at uplifting women with mental illness, addiction, disability, job insecurity and children’s day programs.
During her tenure, Angel has raised more than $13.5 million, which has helped more than 1,460 homeless families, stated the news release. In addition, Angel helped secure two of the largest grants in the organization’s history: $2.5 million from Jeff Bezos’ Day 1 Families Fund to help homeless families and $1 million from the American Electric Power Foundation to launch YWCA Columbus’ Center for Racial Equity helping to facilitate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion trainings. The center has
already conducted racial equity training for more than 24 Greater Columbus businesses, nonprofits and government entities, reaching more than 1,450 people across the community.
Angel also worked to include younger women in YWCA’S annual Women of Achievement awards.
“As I have recently entered my fifth year leading YWCA Columbus, I am incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made to act boldly on our mission and expand services in our community,” Angel said in the release. “I feel overwhelmed with excitement for the year ahead, as well as the future of this organization as YWCA Columbus continues to confront big problems, change policy, provide essential programming and take a stand for dignity.”
In 2020, Angel was voted CEO of the Year in the large nonprofit category by her peer CEOS in the region as part of
Columbus CEO’S annual awards program.
Angel will continue to serve on numerous boards, including the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio, the Greater Columbus Arts Council and the Fire and Focus Scholarship Fund Inc.
In the fall of 2020, she was appointed by city and county leaders to chair the Columbus Recovery and Resiliency Advisory Committee, which provides advice and counsel on how the city, public sector, non-profit and private sector partners can support an inclusive economic recovery strategy after COVID-19 recovery. Angel said she will continue to serve on the committee.
As for her next full-time job, Angel isn’t sure what her next step will be.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do next,” she said. “I am going to take some time to think about where I can be most impactful. I’m open to new opportunities.”
Micah Walker is the Dispatch trending reporter. Reach her at mwalker@dispatch.com or 740-251-7199.