Over the past 18 months, in tandem with the external organizing and advocacy work we have been doing with you in community, Sage has been through a process of internal discernment: clarifying our values and strategic direction and solidifying an organizational structure that both sustains our staff and advances our mission.
Sage has always been a place where shared leadership is a core value: as a practice of building-consensus in community, a way to share power in coalition, and as a natural way of working and being for our predominately Black, POC and queer staff.
In this context, it is not a surprise that as we looked for people to lead Sage’s next chapter, we thought of ways to practice leadership in partnership.
A few things we’ve learned from the field:
- Shared leadership isn’t always less work! Shared decision-making takes time and great skill. And the upside result of that practice is often stronger decisions.
- Shared leadership IS less isolating. There is an entire generation of non-profit EDs telling their stories of burnout and isolation in the non-profit industrial complex, and we believe there is incredible value to not being in that seat alone.
- Shared leadership is not only about the two at the top, but is part of a model of distributed leadership across an organization.
- In the case of a pair of Co-Directors, the specific people and the relational leadership skills they bring to the table matter. Which is why I’m so excited to introduce you to Chrissy and Eric!
Meet our Acting Co-Directors
Chrissy Shimizu (she/her) will step up from our Deputy Director role to be the Internal-focused Acting Co-Director
Chrissy will continue leading our six-person Internal team focused on finance, operations, HR, and communications, to support the work of our program teams and build sustainable workloads.
Developing people, teams, and systems are some of Chrissy’s superpowers! Some of you know her from her work behind the scenes in organizations across town including as Director of Individual Giving at the Wing Luke Museum, where she helped resource the cultural heartbeat of Seattle’s Chinatown-international District. Chrissy is also the co-founder of Community Centric Fundraising and the former Board President of Asian Pacific Americans for Civic Empowerment Votes (APACE) where she worked to improve AAPI representation in democracy across Washington.
Others may know her from her organizing work centered around lifting up Seattle’s under-represented communities. Whether it’s helping lead grassroots efforts to fight for systemic change in our criminal legal system, or combatting the gentrification and displacement happening in the CID, Chrissy’s dedication to equity work has been a reliable resource for all who have had a chance to be in shared community with her.
Through all of her work, Chrissy connects to her history and heritage. Chrissy is born and raised in Seattle on the cultural, ancestral and unceded land of the Duwamish Tribe. She is a daughter, sister, grandchild, and proud auntie who draws strength from cultural pride in her queer, mixed, Japanese heritage. Chrissy believes that change must occur in our hearts and institutions simultaneously and that our fight for racial and economic justice must center Black Liberation and Indigenous Solidarity.
Eric Opoku Agyemang (he/him) will step up from his current role as Leadership Programs Director to be the External-focused Co-Director, taking lead on Sage’s programs and fundraising campaigns.
Eric started in 2018 at Sage as the Program Manager for the Community Leadership Institute (CLI), which is a six-month fellowship program that resources, trains, and places emerging leaders from low-income communities and communities of color to serve on strategic municipal boards and commissions. In 2020 as we formed our 501c4 Sage Leaders, he transitioned into the role of Leadership Program Director, overseeing the Community Leadership Institute (CLI) as well as the newly-formed Local Elected Leadership Institute (LELI).
Prior to joining Sage, Eric served as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Cheerful Hearts Foundation, a non-profit that uses community-based interventions to address child trafficking in the West African fishing industry. In addition, he served as the national coordinator of the Patriots Ghana, an international organization that promotes youth leadership and active citizen engagement in Ghana, West Africa. His work has been featured in national and international news, including The Guardian, BBC, and Al Jazeera.
Since moving to Seattle from Ghana, Eric’s commitment to racial justice and Black Liberation has been focused on building a pipeline of BIPOC leaders to sustain the movement work. Serving as a mentor coordinator for the Seattle Cares Mentoring Movement and a member of the City of Seattle’s OUR BEST Advisory Council, Eric advocated for equitable policies to advance the Black youth’s educational, health, economic, and social needs. Additionally, he recruited hundreds of Black male adults to mentor Black youth. As part of his racial equity and Black Liberation work, Eric facilitated monthly healing circles for Black male mentors. Eric’s joy is to see the least represented uplifted and supported by the community.
Chrissy and Eric will lead Sage into 2022 in these Acting Co-Director roles. As we learn from this new model, we will recruit one more leader onto our team – stay tuned in September for more information on that recruitment!
It has been an incredible honor to serve Sage as an Interim leader for the past 18 months.
This team has been resilient and powerful in the face of the pandemic and I could not be more proud of what we accomplished together, including:
- Winning Jumpstart, a progressive revenue source at the City of Seattle, with $400M in dedicated funding to the Equitable Development Initiative and Green New Deal
- Standing up for Black Lives, in the fight to Defund the Seattle Police Department
- Keeping all Washington families connected to utilities through the pandemic, by winning 5 extensions to a utility shut-off moratorium
- Publishing a ground-breaking Disaster Gentrification Report and launching a campaign to win an Equitable Development Initiative in King County;
- Protecting the Graham Street Station from being cut in Sound Transit’s realignment.
- Standing up a new 501c4 organization, Sage Leaders which is running a full pipeline of leadership development programs for our BIPOC civic and elected leaders.
These are just a few ways the Sage team has showed up with and for our communities this past year, and I can’t wait to see what’s next under Chrissy and Eric’s leadership.
Thank you for the support that you have offered me in my leadership over the past 18 months. I hope you will move your voice, your money, and your partnerships in the same way in support of our new leaders.
With gratitude,
Esther Handy
Interim Executive Director