Local Goodwill hires from within for new CEO

After 41 years at the helm of Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana Inc., Jim McClelland on Monday welcomed his successor from within the group’s own ranks.

Kent A. Kramer, the chief operating officer of the local Goodwill affiliate, was named the new president and CEO on Monday morning during a press conference. His appointment will be effective April 22. McClelland, 71, had announced in August that he would step down in mid-2015.

Kent A. Kramer

Kramer, 48, joined the local Goodwill office in 2002 as vice president of retail operations and had served as senior vice president and COO from 2012 to the present.

“I’m very grateful for this opportunity to lead one of the nation’s leading Goodwill programs,” Kramer said in a prepared statement. “I am thoroughly familiar with its day-to-day operations and its current strategic vision, and look forward to enhancing our outreach to the thousands of Central Indiana residents who may need our services.”   

Gene Zink, chairman of the group’s board of directors, praised Kramer’s fiscal accomplishments. They included an aggressive growth plan in which retail division revenue increased from $25.6 million to $80.8 million over an 11-year period, with net income increasing from $6.9 million to $15.8 million.

Goodwill conducted a national search for McClelland’s successor.

“In the end, we felt that Kent offered a clear choice, since we were familiar with his style of leadership, his track record to date with Goodwill Indianapolis, and his intense interest in becoming our next CEO,” said Owen B. Melton, Jr., chairman of Goodwill’s search committee.

McClelland was just the third CEO to serve the local Goodwill affiliate since 1934. When he took the job in 1974, the organization had 558 employees, eight retail stores and annual revenue of less than $3 million.

Today, it has 3,000-plus employees, 57 stores, 10 commercial-services sites and 10 charter high schools. It was the area’s 18th largest not-for-profit organization in 2013 based on revenue of $95.8 million, according to the most recently available fiscal information.

In 2013, McClelland’s salary was $442,062, according to federal tax records. Kramer was paid $220,732 as COO and senior vice president.  It was not immediately clear how much Kramer would be paid in his new position.