Steady leadership in moments that matter most.
I serve as an interim executive director for nonprofits navigating leadership transitions, and I build strategic litigation partnerships grounded in real community need.
Before this, I spent 15 years building and leading a nonprofit legal organization in New York City, including six years as its Executive Director.
Organizations don’t call in routine moments. They call when something is shifting.
A leader has stepped away. A search is taking longer than expected. A legal strategy needs someone to move it forward.
These moments require clarity, steadiness, and attention to people. That is where I work.
Interim & Fractional Executive Leadership
Leadership transitions are among the most important and most fragile moments in an organization’s life. I step in as an interim executive to steady staff, protect programs, keep funders confident, and prepare the ground for the next permanent leader.
I have lived every phase of a transition: as an interim ED during a sudden founder departure, as the permanent ED who followed, and as a departing leader who designed his own succession.
100%
funder retention through a founder transition
72%
budget growth as Executive Director, $1.7M to over $3M
8 months
of operating reserves, built from zero
Strategic Litigation & Partnerships
Law firms have talented lawyers and real pro bono capacity. Nonprofits see the harms that need challenging. What is often missing is the strategy and structure to connect the two.
That’s where I come in.
I build litigation partnerships that start from community need, and I carry them from idea through filing and beyond.
How I Work
Most of this work comes down to people.
Supporting staff through uncertainty. Helping boards make clear decisions. Communicating in a way people can rely on.
I start by understanding where an organization is and what matters most, then use limited time and capacity to keep things moving forward.
Mike Pope
Founder & Principal, Groundswell Strategy
Let’s talk
If you’re in the middle of a leadership transition, or trying to move a legal strategy forward, I’m open to a conversation.
Sometimes that leads to working together.
Sometimes it’s simply a useful conversation. Either is a good outcome.
Groundswell Strategy 