“The Elders Council is a rich space for reflection and exchange of experiences, in which we are all students.”
Vera Cordeiro
Founder and President of the Board of Dara Institute
The Elders Council is supported by a great team from Ashoka.
Capital, Culture and Change: Perspectives on Succession
4 Dec 2024 09:00 (GMT) / 20:00 (AEDT) / 14:30 (IST)
Join the us as Rachel Harrington (Executive Director, Coutts Family Office and Coutts Institute) and Andrea Coleman (Co-Founder of the Elders Council for Social Entrepreneurs) discuss succession from three perspectives.
Rachel has been a young Board member who supported a founder transitioning out of their organisation, she advises family-owned businesses on their succession planning and she helps philanthropic foundations ask the right questions as they seek to support organisations. Bringing a wealth of knowledge from the private sector, and understanding the differences and similarities for social enterprises, Rachel will discuss ‘how do we maintain the values and culture while preparing an organisation for change?’ With key insights for social entrepreneurs, this is one webinar you don’t want to miss!
Rachel Harrington
Executive Director, Coutts Family Office and Coutts Institute.
Rachel joined Coutts in 2011, having previously worked in the non-profit sector for a social enterprise focused on equitable access to healthcare in Africa. She leads the Coutts Institute – which provides specialist advice to clients and their families around philanthropy, family wealth succession and preparing the next generation – and is part of the leadership team of the Coutts Family Office, which looks after multi-generational UHNW families.
Rachel holds a BA (Hons) in Modern History and English from the University of Oxford, and practising certificates in Family Business Advising and Family Wealth Advising from the Family Firm Institute. She is a Trustee of The Coutts Foundation (having previously also managed its operations) and was formerly chair of the Coutts Women’s Network and the Coutts Diversity & Inclusion Council.
Outside of Coutts, Rachel is a Trustee of an arts and wellbeing charity based in south Devon, and an adviser to the Environmental Funders Network for their work on growing environmental philanthropy.
Previous Webinars.
Exploring the pitfalls of hero culture, thoughts on what to look for in a successor, open discussions about financial struggles and the importance of taking care of your emotional wellbeing through the succession process - we’ve covered a lot in our webinar series and that’s just a sample. Watch the recordings in our Webinar Archive.
Become a member (completely free) to keep up to date with future webinars, news and resources.
Recent Speakers.
Dr. Susanna Kislenko
Dr. Susanna Kislenko is a social psychologist and expert on founder leadership. She is currently the Skoll Centre Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oxford and Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Kislenko spent over a decade working in the non-profit and social enterprise sector in Canada, holding a number of leadership roles in social service organizations. It was during this time that Susanna encountered the realities of Founder’s Syndrome first-hand by working within a number of founder-run organizations that were said to have this malady. These experiences inspired her doctoral work at IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain, where she completed a PhD in Organisational Behaviour, specialising in founder leadership beyond the founding stage.
DY Suharya.
DY Suharya is the Regional Director of Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) Asia Pacific Region and Founder of Alzheimer’s Indonesia, an NGO that aims to improve the quality life of people with dementia and family caregivers and works toward greater Dementia awareness, care and risk reduction in Indonesia.
DY holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Curtin University, Australia, a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, Ohio State University, USA and a Diploma in English Literature from the University of Indonesia. DY has more than 20 years of experience in public health, public private partnerships and communication, in the past, DY has worked as a Health Communication Consultant with the World Bank, WHO and UNICEF. DY has taken the lead in supporting 20 ADI members in the Asia Pacific in advocacy, leadership and capacity building initiatives.
DY’s mother was diagnosed with Dementia in 2009 and has been her source of inspiration in improving the quality of life of people with dementia, caregivers and inter-generations through the establishment of Alzheimer’s Indonesia since 2013. Her mother passed away in April 2017 but her legacy continues. Ms. Suharya was the Values 20 Task Force Leader (2022) and she has also recently been recognised as one of the Ageing Asia Global Ageing Influencers (2021) and as one of the WHO UN Decade Healthy Ageing 50 Leaders to transform the world to be a better place to grow older (2022).
DY can be reached at dy.suharya@alzint.org
Mel Young.
Mel Young MBE is President of the Homeless World Cup, which he co-founded in 2003.
He is an active social entrepreneur. He is a Schwab Fellow of the World Economic Forum, a Senior Ashoka Fellow and a Board member of the Catalyst 2030 network.
He is a lover of sport and a firm believer in the power of sport to create positive change.
He is author of two books: Home Game; A Ball Can Change The World, which he wrote with Peter Barr, and Social Entrepreneurship: A better Way of Thinking About a Sustainable Future, which he wrote with Alexandra Matthews. Previously he worked as a journalist; co-founded The Big Issue in Scotland in 1993 and co-founded Senscot (Social Entrepreneurs Network Scotland). He is former President and Honorary President of INSP (International Network of Street Papers) and also set up City Lynx magazine and New Consumer Magazine. He is also Co-Founder of The New Ism.
He has five Honorary Degrees from Scottish Universities. He has received several awards including an MBE and the prestigious Jackie Robinson Humanitarian Award. He is a lifelong supporter of Hibernian FC.
Cynthia Rayner.
Cynthia Rayner is an independent consultant, researcher and storyteller, focusing on how organisations and communities work together to shape social systems. Her current affiliations include Senior Researcher and Adjunct Lecturer with the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation at the University of Cape Town and Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford Saïd Business School’s Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship.
Cynthia's passion is uncovering stories that reveal the power of people in collectives. She recently co-authored a book, The Systems Work of Social Change, which was awarded the Alliance for Nonprofit Management’s Terry McAdam Book Award for “Changing the Way We Think” in 2022. Most recently, Cynthia led the Systems Storytelling Initiative at the Collective Change Lab, bringing together a diverse group of storytellers from across the globe to understand how to better communicate stories of systems change.
Previously, Cynthia served in several organizations, including Generation Ubuntu, an afterschool program educating children in Cape Town; mothers2mothers, an African social enterprise employing women to guide other women to good health; and the Starfish Greathearts Foundation USA, a fundraising organization supporting children and families in South Africa.
Soul Sessions.
Soul Sessions are a place to talk through difficult issues confidentially.
We are aware that many social entrepreneurs keep many of their professional and personal challenges to themselves which can build up stress, particularly during periods like transitioning out of an organisation and handing over control. We are sympathetic to these issues which are more common than people realise. Talking about them can help.
The number of guests in a Soul Session would be limited to three, to keep the group small.
Upcoming Soul Sessions:
We base our sessions on the needs of our members. Often, we find members contact us with similar challenges. At that point we may offer them the option of us mentoring them individually or the option of us hosting a Soul Session which allows them to talk about the problem as part of a small supportive group, experiencing similar challenges.
Information is not shared with other members unless they agree they would like to take part in the Soul Session, and then only the information they wish to share within the small group is shared.
If you are interested in either a Soul Session or exploring the option of being mentored, then please contact us by emailing chris@elderscouncil.net
Events.
We hold live sessions at some of the best conferences in the social innovation calendar! They are an exciting opportunity for members and new friends to join their fellow social entrepreneurs to explore questions like “what’s next once you leave an organisation you founded”.
One day we hope to create our own conference where there will be first-class speakers, a packed agenda, a great venue and special friends. We will keep all our members updated and, in the meantime, look out for our sessions at your favourite conferences!
Mentoring.
We intend to offer a special mentoring service for social entrepreneurs in the future.
In the meantime, if you would like to speak to someone please send us an email and we will get back in touch as soon as possible.