{"id":158661,"date":"2025-10-03T15:33:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T19:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/?p=158661"},"modified":"2026-09-19T18:54:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T22:54:01","slug":"announcement-our-executive-director-is-moving-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/?p=158661","title":{"rendered":"Announcement: Our Executive Director Is Moving On"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center<\/a> on October 3, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n

Our executive director Marc Stier shared this letter today with our colleagues and friends.<\/em><\/p>\n

October 3, 2025<\/p>\n

Dear Friends,<\/p>\n

This week, the Pennsylvania Policy Center is announcing a search to replace me as executive director. I will stay until we hire a new executive director, which I expect will happen sometime between November and January, and work with the new executive director for as long as she or he wants to help ensure that the organization and its work thrive.<\/p>\n

You can find the job announcement and description here<\/a>. Please share it with people you know who might be interested and are qualified to do the job.<\/p>\n

This is not an announcement that I\u2019m retiring. I love my work and can\u2019t imagine ever not doing it. It\u2019s an announcement that I\u2019ll be doing different work in the future and that the organization I founded will go on without me. <\/p>\n

Nor is it a suggestion that I\u2019m tired of leading the Penn Policy Center. This is still my ideal job. It combines two things I enjoy\u2014thinking and writing about politics and public policy on the one hand and political advocacy and organizing on the other. I\u2019ve very much valued working with my colleagues at PPC, throughout Pennsylvania, and across the country on various projects, and I\u2019m grateful to many of you who have joined our events and actions over the years or supported us with financial contributions. And given the challenges before us and the incredible additions we\u2019ve made this year to an already first-rate team, I\u2019m a little sad that I\u2019ll no longer be leading this organization.<\/p>\n

So, why am I leaving? Because there is other work I want to do. I have a few long-delayed book projects that are close to completion. Ten years ago, I thought I would have time to finish them during our down time. But there is precious little of that while I lead PPC.<\/p>\n

The books I want to finish and other writing I want to do is important to me. I also believe it could be important to our efforts not just to address the threat of fascism we now face but to help us turn the corner and revive our efforts to create an inclusive and multi-racial political and economic democracy in the United States. And, at my age, it\u2019s front of mind that I have no guarantee I\u2019ll hold on to my marbles or live long enough to complete this work if I don\u2019t step aside now as head of PPC.<\/p>\n

There are, of course, other attractive aspects of stepping down from Penn Policy. I\u2019m looking forward to having the time to become a good trumpet player, to keep up with my friends, and to spend more time with my family. And as they remind me, to exercise more.<\/p>\n

So, it\u2019s time for me to mostly change direction. I\u2019ll likely keep my hand in the advocacy world by doing a little consulting on policy, strategy, and organizing. But I\u2019m going to mainly devote myself to writing.<\/p>\n

I’m grateful for an incredible ten years leading this organization and its predecessor. I\u2019ve enjoyed this work immensely. I\u2019ve learned so much and we have a had a little success. And the fun and success I\u2019ve had would have been impossible without the support of my wonderful colleagues at Penn Policy, my family and friends, our partners in the advocacy space in Pennsylvania, the tens of thousands of Pennsylvania activists I\u2019ve worked with over the years, and Pennsylvania legislators and legislative staff members.<\/p>\n

This is a very dark time in our country, and the future is radically uncertain. But all is not lost. Together, we can change our direction. We can find the resources within ourselves to protect our democracy; restore and expand our safety net and provide equality of opportunity for all; limit and effectively adjust to climate change; and quicken the all-too-halting steps we\u2019ve taken to break down the barriers of patriarchy, white supremacy, and bigotry. When we move in that direction again, it will be because of the efforts of all of you who\u2019ve given tirelessly of yourselves in doing this work for many years.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very proud to have done this work with many of you for the last ten years. And I look forward to still doing it, albeit in a different way, for many years to come.<\/p>\n

Marc<\/p>\n

 <\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on October 3, 2025. Our executive director Marc Stier shared this letter today with our colleagues and friends. October 3, 2025 Dear Friends, This week, the Pennsylvania Policy Center is announcing a search to replace me as executive director. I will stay until we hire a new executive director, which I expect will happen sometime between November and January, and work with the new executive director for as long as she or he wants to help ensure that the organization and its work thrive. You can find the job announcement and description here. Please share it with people you know who might be interested and are qualified to do the job. This is not an announcement that I\u2019m retiring. I love my work and can\u2019t imagine ever not doing it. It\u2019s an announcement that I\u2019ll be doing different work in the future and that\u2026 Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1896,"featured_media":158660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[291,217,288],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-post","category-my-work","category-penn-policy-center"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p35YuU-Fh3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/MarcMovingOnImage-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1896"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=158661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158704,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158661\/revisions\/158704"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/158660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=158661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=158661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=158661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}