ATLANTA, GA – October 1, 2025 – BoardWalk Consulting, the national executive search firm devoted exclusively to the leadership of nonprofits and foundations, today announced that longtime colleague Crystal Stephens has been appointed Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, effective October 1, 2025.

Stephens succeeds Sam Pettway, who founded BoardWalk in 2002 and will continue to serve as Founding Director. Pettway will remain active in market development, select client engagements, and the continued growth of the firm’s reputation.

“For 23 years, BoardWalk’s focus has been simple but absolute: finding leaders that matter for missions that matter ®,” said Pettway. “Crystal Stephens has been central to our success for over half that time. Her thoughtful, creative, and collaborative leadership with clients and colleagues alike makes her a sterling example of our vision in action. I’m thrilled she will be guiding our firm to its next level of impact.”

Over the past 13 years, Stephens has led many of the firm’s most complex and high-profile searches, earning the trust of such national organizations as Earthjustice, ACLU, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Trust for Public Land, and Year Up United. Her impact in Atlanta is evidenced in the leadership of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Gateway Center, and the Betty & Davis Fitzgerald Foundation.

Stephens joined BoardWalk in 2012, bringing extensive sales, marketing, and recruiting experience with top-tier organizations such as IBM, where she concluded her 18 years as a Vice President managing a team of 1,000, and the for-profit recruiting space at Monster.com and Russell Reynolds Associates.

“It is a privilege to lead BoardWalk into its next chapter,” Stephens said. “The stakes for nonprofit leadership have never been higher, and I am proud to build on the foundation Sam Pettway and our extraordinary team have laid. Our work is about strengthening communities through leadership, and I look forward to expanding the ways we help nonprofits and foundations across the country discover and embrace the leaders who will shape their future—and ours.”

Stephens has a personal affinity for causes supporting children, education, and emerging leaders. She has been a long-time board member of Breakthrough Atlanta. For the past several years, she has also championed a cohort of nonprofit leaders of color, providing a space for collaboration and support.

Stephens grew up in St. Louis, where she recently led the CEO searches for the James S. McDonell Foundation and the St. Louis Community Foundation. She received her undergraduate degree in communications from Northwestern University and her MBA from Emory University. A resident of Atlanta since 1996, Stephens and her husband are the proud parents of a son in his second year of college and one very large dog still at home.

Noted Pettway, “BoardWalk Consulting has consistently been the most rewarding chapter of my career in executive search, and my colleagues and I are deeply grateful for the privilege of serving such compelling causes across the country. With Crystal Stephens as CEO, the support of our extraordinary team, and the confidence of our clients, I am certain the best is yet to come.”

About BoardWalk Consulting

BoardWalk Consulting is a national executive search firm devoted exclusively to the leadership of nonprofits and foundations. Since its founding in 2002, the firm has conducted some 600 CEO and C-suite executive searches for mission-driven organizations in 36 states. Finding leaders that matter for missions that matter ® is the firm’s informing principal.

Ranging from local start-ups to international behemoths, the firm’s clients share two characteristics: All are trying to make the world a better place, and all have chosen BoardWalk for their most critical leadership needs.

BoardWalk Consulting has been consistently recognized among the “Best of” lists of executive search firms by such industry observers as Forbes and Hunt Scanlon. Founding Director Sam Pettway was named one of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Most Admired CEOs in 2024—the only head of an executive search firm to be so honored. While BoardWalk’s sole focus is nonprofits and foundations, the firm has also been privileged to serve all four Atlanta mayors since 2002, reflecting its commitment to the vibrancy of its home city.