Co-Executive Director Liz Derias Transitions to New Role at Movement for Black Lives

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Note: This announcement was originally posted on February 26, 2024 via our monthly newsletter.

Dear CompassPoint Community,

We’re writing to let you know that after five and half years of leadership at CompassPoint, our Co-Executive Director Liz Derias has transitioned from the organization and accepted a new position as Managing Director at Movement for Black Lives. We are excited for Liz’s next chapter in her career, and offer congratulations to her as she steps into this new role focused on Black movement building.  

We want to express our gratitude for Liz’s contributions to our organization during her tenure as Project Director (2018 - 2020) and as one of our three Co-Executive Directors (2020-2024). As Co-Executive Director, Liz helped to renew our board and grow our staff and teacher team capacity. Liz also supported the evolution of CompassPoint’s public training program by co-developing an approach to learning that centers the leadership of Black, Indigenous, and people of color, including an emphasis on popular education and expanding our spaces exclusively for Black leaders and BIPOC leaders to learn from and empower one another. With her leadership. CompassPoint launched our inaugural Black Programming team, which will focus on designing leadership offerings that serve the needs of Black leaders.  

We thank Liz for the part she played in igniting conversations and exploration of Pro-Blackness and what it could look like in our workplaces, most notably by co-authoring the article What It Looks Like to Build a Pro-Black Organization, published in the Nonprofit Quarterly (2022).  

We are so appreciative of the many gifts Liz has contributed to CompassPoint as our organization’s first Black Co-Executive Director, and wish her all the best in this new endeavor.

In partnership and solidarity,
The CompassPoint Team