Nonprofit boards of directors are responsible for overseeing executive transitions, and the practitioner literature is rich with prescriptive guidance of how they should fulfill this vital responsibility. Nevertheless, we have limited evidence of what boards actually do as they navigate the space between an outgoing and an incoming executive, and moreover, we have no research that seeks to explain this critical juncture from a theoretical perspective. This exploratory study sought to fill this gap by applying theories commonly used in other literature about nonprofit governance in the context of an executive transition. Using a sample of twenty-nine US-based nonprofits that had recently experienced an executive transition, interviews were conducted and the resulting analysis is insightful about the approach boards took, the priorities they had, and their reflections on the transitions. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for both research and practice.
