Former Chattanooga City Council member Pam Ladd, who was hired by the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults as chief operating officer in 2015 and was promoted to head the nonprofit agency the next year, announced Thursday that she will retire Aug. 24.
The partnership provides a diverse range of assistance programs and served nearly 19,000 people last year. In 2020, the agency reported revenues of more than $6.6 million from grants, donations and program income, according to its 990 filings with the Internal Revenue Service.
Under Ladd's leadership, the partnership said it reduced its administrative costs, ended programs duplicated by other local organizations and created others that aligned with the agency's human services missions.
"We will be so sorry to lose Pam as our CEO," Tyler Forrest, partnership board president and vice chancellor for finance and administration at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said in a statement. "She was a pleasure to work with and the partnership benefited from her leadership style and business acumen. Our search committee is seeking someone equally committed to our mission and values."
Ladd, an active Rotarian, holds a mater's of science in industrial organizational psychology from UTC. Before joining the partnership, she served as manager of custodial services at the Tennessee Valley Authority and as assistant vice president of support services at Provident Life and Accident Insurance Co. She then founded and operated Custom Custodial Inc., an industrial cleaning service. She also is a retired real estate agent with Real Estate Partners and served as the City Council representative for District 3 in Chattanooga.
"Serving partnership has been one of the greatest honors of my career," Ladd said in a statement about her decision to retire. "This is an extensive and complex nonprofit organization that requires cooperation with the community and other local nonprofits. This combination led us to where we are today."
The board's executive committee is serving as the search committee for a new CEO. The panel is partnering with Buffkin/Baker, a Nashville-based executive search firm, to complete the search.
- Compiled by Dave Flessner