Episode 01 | Part 1: Mike Shaver, President & CEO, Children’s Home & Aid

In part one of this interview, Mike Shaver talks about why he
believes leading in the non-profit sector can offer greater
challenges than leading a for-profit organization. He also shares
lessons he learned during his first CEO post, when he successfully
led his team through a major reorganization of a $120
million-a-year business. Before Mike’s involvement, it was believed
the organization had an uncertain future.

Mike is a longtime advocate for children and a recognized leader in
the child welfare field. He believes in strategic collaboration and
in using research, evidence, and data to develop, deliver, and
analyze innovative practices and programs to ensure children and
families receive only effective, quality services. He has extensive
experience in developing collective impact strategies.

Mike served as the President & CEO of Children’s Home Society
of Florida from 2014 to 2019. He joined the agency after seven
years as the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President
of Children’s Home & Aid. He earned an MA in Public Policy from
the University of Chicago, Irving B. Harris School of Public Policy
and a BA in Political Science from Colorado College.

Children’s Home & Aid is a leading child and family service
agency in Illinois. They help children recover their health, their
hope, and their faith in the people around them.

The organization links children to a network of opportunity and
care, to extended family, teachers, mentors, and the resources of
their neighborhood and community. For 135 years, Children’s Home
& Aid has gone wherever children and families need them, and
where their work has been proven to be most effective: at home, in
the classroom, in the neighborhood, in the course of daily life.
Their offices are located across Illinois and serve more than
40,000 children and families each year in over 60 counties.