The Road to Retirement: Exit, Stage Left

One year ago I informed my Board of Directors I would retire as CEO on August 31. With that date rapidly approaching, it’s time to take stock of the five years since I joined ACT in the fall of 2010.

First, I’ve learned ACT is an incredible place. We have 1,200 team members dedicated to our nonprofit mission of “Helping people achieve education and workplace success.”

Here is a short list of what we have accomplished:

• The ACT became the nation’s #1 college readiness assessment, testing 57 percent of the U.S. high school class of 2014.

• ACT Aspire was launched, expanding our assessment services into grades 3 to 7.

• Social media was introduced to ACT, and we launched ACT Profile.

• We created an Office for Innovation, a catalyst for creating and nurturing a culture of innovation throughout ACT.

• We launched the ACT Foundation, a supporting 501(c)3. 

• We created the Office for the Advancement of Underserved Learners. 

• We launched an enterprise-wide Lean initiative certifying more than 300 team members.

• We acquired Pacific Metrics, a firm creating world-class psychometric software and with advanced analytics capabilities.

These accomplishments, and more, came to fruition because team members coalesced around a dynamic vision supported by a clear, aggressive strategy.

While it is the CEO’s responsibility to develop, describe and support the vision, these changes would not have occurred without the empowered work of ACT’s passionate team members.

 In addition, new senior leaders, some promoted from within and others recruited from outside, brought forth a sea change of ideas fueled by next-generation thinking. It’s important to acknowledge these special individuals.

Another group that has received too little recognition is our Board of Directors. These outstanding professionals pushed for and supported every step of ACT’s transformation over the past five years.

Marten Roorda will be ACT’s next CEO. He is currently CEO of Cito, a nonprofit based in the Netherlands. ACT’s Board of Directors chose wisely. Marten brings extraordinary international and formative assessment experience that will help millions more people achieve education and workplace success.

For those of you following me because of my current role at ACT, I urge you to add Marten Roorda to your list, and to keep following ACT.

• Marten Roorda’s Twitter: @MartenRoorda
• ACT’s Twitter: @ACT
• ACT’s LinkedIn: ACT 

So what’s likely to happen with my ongoing LinkedIn posts as an Influencer?

Among other things, I will be working on a series of pieces on the importance of “vision” as a key ingredient for successful leadership.

I expect these posts will be informed by travel, with my wife Jennifer, another individual who receives far less credit than she deserves.

I started my career as a professor of theatre, and as a dean of fine and performing arts. I hope to reengage with this important side of my personal history. The arts posit, in profound emotional terms, what it means to be human. 

The importance of travel, and our shared humanity, was underscored to me as I was writing this piece. I was in Thailand, where a bomb in Bangkok killed 20 people.

The lessons I’ve learned over decades, punctuated these past few days, remind me we need more people committed to building the capacity of their fellow human beings, and fewer intent on tearing it down. 

I began my career on a literal stage. I’ve also been afforded the rare privilege to work on a professional stage with an audience far larger than can fit in any single room.

I take great satisfaction in knowing that in some small way—with countless colleagues and fellow “actors” stretching back into the 1960s—I’ve helped to create opportunities for people around the world. As a first-generation college graduate, I will continue to follow my passion for helping underserved students find access to and success in achieving their dreams through educational achievement. 

The curtain is going down on this phase of my professional life, but I can’t wait for what happens next. Thank you for sharing in the adventure.

This article is the first of three from the series, "The Road to Retirement".