COG Chairman Frank Principi and incoming Executive Director, Chuck Bean
Washington, DC – The Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) today named Chuck Bean, currently president of the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington, as its executive director. Board members praised Bean’s long record of building regional partnerships, his intense focus on preparedness, and his role as a successful problem-solver. He will succeed David J. Robertson, who is stepping down from the post after 10 years.
“The Board is thrilled to have found an executive director who has demonstrated his leadership skills in metropolitan Washington by bringing together regional stakeholders and finding creative solutions to major problems during times of crisis,” said Frank Principi, COG’s Board Chairman and a Prince William County, VA Supervisor. “Since 2002, Bean has been the nonprofit sector’s key leader on emergency preparedness issues. Then, during a different kind of emergency - a crippling recession - Bean focused on economic preparedness to help direct efforts to ease the home foreclosure crisis. This is a man equipped with winning strategies for all partners,” he added.
Principi said the COG board is confident that Bean has the critical attributes needed to address regional challenges while developing and publicizing COG’s Region Forward initiative. He said the new executive director understands politics and policy, is adept at bringing together the government, business, philanthropic and civic communities and is an action-oriented leader. Board members also noted Bean’s interest in balancing the needs of those communities that need job training with the concerns of new businesses and job creators.
Bean, who also is known for his expertise at fundraising and leading successful entrepreneurial projects, said he will concentrate sharply on COG’s signature initiative Region Forward, and its new Economy Forward program. Those programs are designed to ensure metropolitan Washington becomes the country’s best locality in the 21st century and bring new industries and jobs to the area.
As the president of the Nonprofit Roundtable for the last decade, Bean led initiatives to build strength and influence for his 300 member organizations, which include community development, advocacy and philanthropic groups. He also developed new affiliates within the Roundtable, including Nonprofit Montgomery, Nonprofit Virginia and Nonprofit NoVA.
Bean created the Capital Area Foreclosure Network (CAFN), in partnership with COG, which supported organizations specializing in mortgage counseling to assist hundreds of families across the region faced with losing their homes.
His work and partnership with several regionally serving organizations, such as COG, the Greater Washington Board of Trade, and Washington Grantmakers – a coalition known as the 8 Neighbors - had a significant impact. It resulted in an ongoing effort to establish an orderly funding transition as the philanthropic arms of the giant federal mortgage corporations Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae face restructuring.
Bean has served on COG’s Emergency Preparedness Council since its beginning and leads several committees responsible for ensuring that nonprofit groups and their clients know how to handle local emergencies or attacks.
Members of the Board’s selection committee said they are excited about the collaboration and leadership skills Bean brings to the post, along with his entrepreneurial and fund-raising prowess.
“Chuck Bean brings to COG the kind of dedication to regional collaboration and creative civic leadership that we need to achieve our goals,” said Penelope Gross, a longtime COG Board member and vice chairman of the Fairfax County, VA Board of Supervisors. “We are thrilled to have him lead an organization that helps develop important policies for metropolitan Washington.”
Phil Mendelson, Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia and vice chairman of the COG Board, said Bean is “well-respected by District of Columbia and suburban nonprofits and philanthropic organizations. I believe those relationships will serve him well at COG.” Bruce Williams, Mayor of Takoma Park, MD, also praised Bean’s “knowledge and understanding of working with a broad range of groups which will serve COG very well.”
“I’m honored to become COG’s next executive director. We live in a great region – from Prince George’s to Prince William – and COG has played a vital role as a forward-looking institution for the common good,” Bean said, “I am thrilled to serve a blue-ribbon board and eager to join as the director of COG’s superb staff.”
Before becoming president of the Nonprofit Roundtable in 2002, Bean was the director of the Community Capacity Fund, a project of Washington Grantmakers, Inc. that provided grants to help local organizations respond to and recover from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Earlier, he led a national consortium of foundations that invested in federal Empowerment Zones located in historically underserved communities. He also has served as vice president of the Eureka Foundation, a fellowship program for nonprofit executive directors. At the New York City Human Resources Administration, he was tasked with implementing welfare reform throughout the city. Bean began his professional career by founding Co-Invest Guatemala, a nonprofit organization that attracted foreign investment to Guatemala to create jobs.
Bean received a Master of Public Policy Degree in 1989 from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He also is a magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. The COG Board conducted a nationwide search for an executive director and received more than 100 applications. Bean will officially assume the post on Dec.13 under a three-year contract.
COG is one of the country’s most prominent regional planning organizations and addresses land-use, human services, environmental and transportation planning. COG, a nonprofit organization, also plays a critical role in emergency preparedness and regional homeland security planning.