President and Chief Executive Officer

Riley Children’s Foundation (RCF) seeks a visionary and proven executive leader to serve as its next president and chief executive officer (CEO) and advance RCF’s vision that all children have equitable access to exceptional health care. RCF is the designated fundraising organization for Riley Children’s Health (RCH) and its affiliated pediatric programs at Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine, the largest medical school in the United States. RCH is Indiana’s only comprehensive pediatric research hospital, and is nationally recognized in all 11 pediatric specialties ranked by U.S. News & World Report. It is also part of the IU Health System, which maintains a close and unique partnership with IU School of Medicine. The foundation’s mission is to improve children’s health by fundraising to support the greatest opportunities and address the most pressing challenges in pediatric health care.

The next CEO will join RCF at an exciting moment. The foundation celebrated a recent centennial milestone, introduced a six-year strategic plan resulting in a comprehensive campaign, and welcomed new RCH president David Biggerstaff in February 2025. As the foundation makes a significant investment in its next century, RCF aspires to grow its deep and historic base of community and state-wide support, while garnering broader philanthropic investment at major, principal, and transformational giving levels. This includes expanding support beyond its Indiana base. The next CEO will realize these aspirations, leveraging RCF’s powerful brand to mobilize and inspire teams and donors to grow the funding, support, partnerships, and overall operational capabilities to deepen the impact and services Riley can provide. The CEO will bring complex and sophisticated executive leadership, core business acumen, and frontline fundraising experience to manage and direct all aspects of RCF as a stand-alone foundation. This leader will demonstrate a track record of past success building and growing high-performing enterprises, including direct work with boards and the successful recruitment and responsible growth of teams through strategic investments in talent.

The CEO will report directly to RCF’s board of governors (board) and partner closely with key leaders across RCH, IU School of Medicine, and IU Health. Leading a growing 70-person team, the CEO will continue raising sights for a foundation committed to forward momentum. Since 2022, RCF has achieved three of the four most successful fundraising years in foundation history, raising a record $74 million in one year. Success for the next CEO will be defined, in large part, by their ability to continue sustainably elevating annual fundraising production. To achieve such growth, the CEO must lead and inspire the team to meet aggressive goals and develop strategies to educate and engage all members of the Riley community and its partners—faculty, staff, grateful families, friends, volunteers, and senior administrators—in philanthropic efforts. The ideal candidate should be an advocate for children’s health, rallying donors, board members, clinical and academic partners, and the community so that all children may reach their optimal health and quality of life. The ability to innovate and adapt to an ever-changing landscape is necessary, as philanthropy continues to professionalize and evolve based on donors’ expectations and the changing health care industry.

The ideal candidate will be a self-starter who uses an innovative and inclusive approach to building and guiding a program, and who reaches out to a broad community to forge collaborative partnerships. The CEO will have at least 15 years of senior-level management experience in a complex, matrixed organization—ideally at the intersections of academic medicine, fundraising, and health systems. This leader will have a strong track record of success personally cultivating and stewarding principal and transformational gifts with exceptional interpersonal skills. As a leader, the CEO will be responsible for motivating a complex team and engaging other key leaders in the fundraising process, bringing a personal commitment and ability to compellingly articulate RCF’s distinct mission, vision, and values.

Jack Gorman is leading this search with Grace Zakim and Lisa Clayton.