Testimonials – AmgottInterim.com

What Others Are Saying

Your thoughtful, witty, forward-thinking and systems-focused guidance and support has truly been a breath of fresh air.

Thank you, Margo! We are incredibly grateful for your leadership. Your thoughtful, witty, forward-thinking, and systems-focused guidance and support has truly been a breath of fresh air! I thank you for the light and engagement you have already brought to CLC, and the visible positive impact you are making!

–Marsha Guthrie, Director of Head Start and Early Head Start, Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County

Your interim leadership is at the forefront of the field, and I'm so glad to have been involved in my minor ways.

It's been a joy to work with you, learn so much from you, and get to see your impact at different organizations. Your interim leadership is at the forefront of the field, and I'm so glad to have been involved in my minor ways. You've also made so many great connections and we've benefited significantly from those; thank you on that account as well.

–Xander Subashi, former Director of Programs, Support Center for Nonprofit Management

You took on an unsustainable nonprofit and engineered a business lifeline. You rebuilt camaraderie and optimism in an overworked, demoralized staff. You engaged the board. And you did it all with indefatigable kindness and humor.

What an 18 months this has been! You took on an unsustainable nonprofit and engineered a business lifeline from a like-minded partner in record time. You inherited an overworked, demoralized staff and re-built camaraderie and optimism (not easy, given our guarded relationships). You engaged the board, which joined the re-tooling and is now deeply involved on committees and councils. And you did this all with indefatigable kindness and humor.

–Gail Carroll, Senior VP Marketing and Resource Development, United Way of Coastal and Western Connecticut

Margo is the ultimate professional…She was really able to build confidence in our staff and our community that she was going to be with us during this difficult time until we found a new executive director.

She’s the ultimate professional. At JCP we have a young staff who very much have a nonprofit mentality and our constituents have a for-profit mentality and that affects what you can do and Margo was able to dance that perfectly. The staff confided in her, the community confided in her, and she was really able to bridge that. She saw what was at hand and what needed to be done in an interim capacity to get us through and ready for an executive director…She was also able to really build confidence in our community that she was going to be with us during this time until we found a new executive director. Then she onboarded the new executive director in such a wonderful way and was really supportive and left the organization in a really good place.

–Erin Silvers, former Co-President, JCP Downtown

Margo is really intelligent and also has amazing EQ skills. And she also really understands development and fundraising. If she wanted to do that full-time, she could. She is amazing.

Margo was head and shoulders above everyone we interviewed as an interim in terms of understanding the job, experience as an executive director, and experience with other institutions that resonated with us….We knew our organization had to be right-sized. We had had layoffs before she started but once she started she looked at our structure; she did executive director evaluations of the staff; she mentored them and worked with them individually; she gained their trust. At the same time she was advising them, she was advising the board about ways to work with the staff.

She’s really intelligent and also has amazing EQ skills. And she also really understands development and fundraising and if she wanted to do that full-time, she could do that. And when I say she understands fundraising, she understands bringing all your constituencies closer to the mission, including relationships with the board and bonding with the board. She is amazing, unbelievable.

–Lynn Sobel, Chair, Board of Directors, Jacob Burns Film Center

Margo was here for about a year. She’s made such a difference to us. It’s been better than anything we could have hoped for. She brought stability to the staff during a time of transition. She brought joy and a positive energy to everybody on the job, and that made a big difference to everyone. And it was certainly wonderful for me to have her here.

–Agnes Gund, Founder, Studio in a School

I just think the world of her. We had been through four or five CEOs in rapid succession. When Margo came in she was immediately able to stabilize the ship and gain the trust of the board.

Margo recruited me to my position. It was a very thorough process. Very professional. One of the things that was really wonderful was having Margo as an interim before me. We had been through four or five CEOs in rapid succession and that is a recipe for disaster in an organization because there’s not trust with the board, there’s not trust with the donor community, there’s not trust with the research committee. When Margo came in she was immediately able to stabilize the ship and gain the trust of the Board; she did an immediate assessment of governance issues so I didn’t walk into a situation where there were major problems with that; she spent a lot of time going to existing donors and reassuring them, especially since we had had the rapid succession of CEOs before. I came in the last quarter of the fiscal year and we were in good financial shape and we were able to continue to make our goal for the year and I really attribute that to Margo’s leadership. Margo’s smart; she’s articulate; she really understands nonprofits.

-Timothy Higdon, President and CEO, Hearing Health Foundation

Margo understands people and has a really good way of digging into individuals to find out what they’re looking to accomplish, what motivates them. She built trust really easily.

Margo understands people and has a really good way of digging into individuals to find out what they’re looking to accomplish, what motivates them. She built trust really easily. I also think it’s her personal style. She’s not a showman. She doesn’t need to be the center of attention.

Leadership change can be traumatic; for the board being leaderless is petrifying. If you don’t have the next leader on deck, it’s a frightening and disruptive time for everybody. And the reason you bring in an interim, it’s very comforting knowing that you’re in good hands until you’re ready for that big search and you know what you’re looking for. That’s what Margo did for us.

–Janet Benton, Chair Emerita, Jacob Burns Film Center

Margo was the one who walked through the front door when the hurt was deep and the future was uncertain. Her leadership…turned lemons into lemonade. These projects gave us purpose and a sense of normality during a wildly abnormal time in our history.

Margo was the one who walked through the front door at a time when the hurt was deep and the future was uncertain. She so deftly took the wheel and gifted us calm (something we all needed desperately). She let us catch our collective breath. The year remained uncertain yet we still found ways to build together. Her leadership made the most of it. Turned lemons into lemonade and seized the opportunity to straighten out things we would neglect when business was humming. These projects gave us purpose and a sense of normality during a wildly abnormal time in our history. Thank you.

–Sean Weiner, Director of Programs, Media Arts Lab: Jacob Burns Film Center

Margo is an outstanding manager….She makes sure to bring out the best in everyone, provides feedback gently but effectively, and is determined to build the skills of everyone around her.

Margo is an outstanding manager, and she showed it when we worked together on a very challenging project. Margo’s thoughtfulness, foresight, and generosity to all around her have made the project manageable. She makes sure to bring out the best in everyone, provides feedback gently but effectively, and is determined to build the skills of everyone around her. Margo takes on responsibility while empowering everyone around her; she also takes the trouble to make sure people are fed and otherwise have the tools they need to do their work, and she makes it all look easy!

–Alexandra Bowie, Principal at Alexandra Bowie Consulting