Staffing Advisors is proud to have partnered with the American Kidney Fund (AKF) in the selection of its Senior Director of Human Resources and Administration, Dr. Adaora Otiji. AKF is a national charitable nonprofit organization that directly supports patients and caregivers wherever they are in the fight against kidney disease. The organization operates with approximately 125 staff members. Learn more about AKF’s leadership team here.

About the Search for AKF’s Next Senior Director of HR

After a deep discovery process to identify the organization’s most critical business issues and strategic priorities, Staffing Advisors sought an experienced executive to take AKF’s effective HR function and shape it into a best-in-class operation. The new leader would be stepping into an organization with a strong foundation of HR best practices, high employee satisfaction, and repeat national recognition as one of the best nonprofits to work for—their challenge would be to maintain a high level of HR responsiveness while building the workforce capacity needed to continue AKF’s mission.

The search was led by Staffing Advisors Vice President of Executive Search Aileen Hedden, with strategy consulting from Founder & President Bob Corlett and support from the entire Staffing Advisors team.

Working closely with AKF’s leadership team, Staffing Advisors surfaced several key focus areas that would demonstrate success within the new leader’s first 1-2 years:

  • Relationship-Building and Trust. Take the time to get to know AKF staff, understand what’s worked and what hasn’t, and use that knowledge to offer recommendations and guide change in ways that make best use of staff resources and are authentic to AKF’s culture.
  • Strategy and Partnership. Position HR as a proactive partner by advising the COO and Executive Team on strategies to develop culture, align cross-functional priorities, and support growth. Provide HR insight to support the development of the 2027-2030 strategic plan.
  • HR Team Leadership. Clarify and streamline HR operations by defining roles within the team, setting clear performance expectations, and building HR’s capacity to anticipate and proactively address staff needs.
  • L&D and Performance Management. Create a learning and development program that equips supervisors with practical people management skills and identifies areas of development for all staff. Ensure the consistent application of performance management practices so that evaluations are fair, constructive, and aligned with AKF’s standards of accountability.

The Staffing Advisors team was honored to support AKF in this important leadership transition. Since 2008, we have partnered with AKF on several key roles, including a Chief Medical Officer, a Senior Director of Clinical Education, and a Senior Director of Brand Marketing.