Cynthia Remec’s ingenious concept for BoardAssist grew out of a life-changing experience: her survival of a near fatal car accident ten years ago. At the time she was the principal of Cynthia Remec Associates, an executive search firm that provided high impact talent for Wall Street investment banking clients. After the accident she reevaluated her priorities and decided that she wanted to spend more of her time helping others. Cynthia realized that she had the capacity to do that through her own firm; she could make a difference to the nonprofit community, and increase Wall Street executives’ involvement in pro bono work, by talking to her job search candidates about service and guiding them to boards as she was finding them jobs.
Cynthia then took her first steps toward creating what has become the most sought-after board matching service for the nonprofit community. She was familiar with that world herself, as a pro bono attorney and a volunteer who had chaired events for the Fresh Air Fund and served on committees for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of the City of New York and Museum of Natural History, among others. But she knew that the prospect of board service could be daunting to people without such experience.
“I can’t think of many things more rewarding than building and strengthening the capacity of nonprofit organizations that are doing vital and important work across New York,” she says, explaining that her interest in service increased in the aftermath of 9/11, and that a few years later she created BoardAssist, the 501c3 of which she is the Executive Director, to focus exclusively on board matching. Since 2000, Cynthia has created more nonprofit board matches than any other personalized matching service in the country.
BoardAssist’s success is due to Cynthia’s high energy and industry, and her passion for networking and teaching. Elegant, polished and understated, she moves easily from corporate boardrooms to the contemporary art galleries in Chelsea that she visits with her husband Marko, a sculptor. She works with a broad spectrum of nonprofit groups, from the high profile American Ballet Theater to small community start-ups, like a Bronx Charter School. Her open and flexible mind makes her the perfect intermediary, balancing the needs of the diverse nonprofit boards and those of her candidates.
Cynthia is delighted that 2010 started with a surge of interest in her Web site, www.boardassist.org. “In January I think a lot of people made a New Year’s resolution to commit to volunteer service and found me, and I hope that continues,” Cynthia says. “Fortunately, we have boards serving every area of interest or concern, whether it’s the arts, education, homelessness, or the environment. We have the American Red Cross, and also tiny nonprofit galleries. Many organizations serve the city, but we also have national and international groups. There is a range in the kind of financial support nonprofits ask for-from $1,000.00 a year to $25,000.00, with most in the range of $5,000.00 to $10,000 “give and get,” which is money board members give personally and what they raise. There’s a misconception about an organization’s prestige versus the amount necessary to join the board. Some of the most prestigious organizations require only $1,000, while a lot of the smaller groups have higher expectations.”
Cynthia’s board matching service is a “win-win” operation. For the individuals seeking boards, whether they are starting careers or are high-level executives, she provides a way into the nonprofit world at a meaningful level, contributing expertise rather than starting with envelope stuffing. She also de-mystifies the process. “Candidates are relieved when I remove the ‘secret society’ aspect by describing the board culture, the financial and time commitments and expectations. I can assure people that they don’t have to have be over forty, or to have a trust fund or a Roman numeral after their name to be desirable candidates for a nonprofit board.” She offers candidates a vast range of charities to serve. Whatever the financial commitment, all candidates are assured that the boards they serve want their intellectual capital as well as their donations.
“The intellectual capital is the key,” Cynthia says. “Nonprofits know that the executives we place with them want to contribute their talent, not to be just an ATM machine. Our candidates can come in and look at an organization like a McKinsey consultant and see where it needs to go. I won’t work with a nonprofit that says ‘We want $25,000 a year but they don’t have to show up.’ We’re very proud of the fact that 85 percent of our placements are in leadership roles with their organizations within one year of being placed. They are serving as agents of change, not just writing checks.”
Without BoardAssist, says one of Cynthia’s board placements, he would not have made the commitment. “I kept putting off serving on a board, because my schedule made it difficult to even do the research to find the group I wanted to support. BoardAssist took away my excuse for not getting involved, because I got all the details on the organizations and what they expected. Most important, I learned about the people on the board. While many boards list their members by name on their Web site, BoardAssist gave me color as to who these people were.”
As a matchmaker between candidates and boards, Cynthia keeps in mind personalities and cultural fit as well as the more concrete expectations about time and financial commitment. “I have candidates who want to be on a working board, helping to manage and grow a complex organization, but who don’t want to go to benefit dinners and fundraising events. There are boards to fit every personal style.”
For nonprofit organizations, BoardAssist’s presentation of motivated and qualified candidates who understand their expectations saves time, allows them to ask for specific criteria, and to seek a person whose expertise is financial and business strategy. “I placed one executive who repositioned the foundation’s investment portfolio, increasing their annual income by $600,000.00,” Cynthia says. “That money bought a lot of staff time and supplies to serve food to needy New Yorkers.”
In addition to the benefits to board candidates and nonprofits, there is a benefit to the employers that provide BoardAssist with talented individuals to place. Pro bono service helps to develop young executives, makes them aware early in their careers of the importance of giving back to the community, and gives them a chance to use or acquire skills in areas they may not be exposed to in their day jobs.
Cynthia is modest about BoardAssist’s accomplishments, although she acknowledges that many nonprofit leaders have expressed their appreciation for her role in building their organizations. “BoardAssist is a small, streamlined operation with a very clear focus,” she says, “but it is nice when you have a vision and it works out better than you expected it to.” Nonprofit board directors say that Cynthia may consider BoardAssist to be small, but its role in building organizations is huge.
For further information, visit http://www.boardassist.org. Click on the section “Giving Back” to learn more about board service opportunities.
Woman Around Town’s Six Questions
Favorite Place to Eat: Casa Lever
Favorite Place to Shop: Barney’s
Favorite New York Sight: My family
Favorite New York Moment: My wedding
What You Love about New York: Absolutely everything!
What You Hate about New York: Absolutely nothing!
