Bridge Partners is a leading national executive search firm with an unrivaled track record of guiding and implementing an inclusive search process, centering both our work and our own culture in equity. For over two decades our clients have trusted us with their senior leadership assignments because of our consistent delivery of superior results.
We have been long standing executive search partners to leading youth and workforce development organizations where we’ve placed top executives for more than 20 years. Please reach out through the form to schedule a time to speak with our team about your search needs.
How Bridge Partners placed the Chief Executive Officer of Girls Who Code, the international nonprofit working to close the gender gap in technology.
Girls Who Code needed its third Chief Executive Officer, following founder Reshma Saujani and Dr. Tarika Barrett, to lead the organization into its next chapter of innovation, growth, and impact. The mandate: advance the mission to close the gender gap in technology and reach 5 million girls, women, and nonbinary individuals by 2030, while evolving programming to meet the demands of a rapidly changing technology landscape, with artificial intelligence being defined in real time.
Two experienced Partners from the team at Bridge Partners co-led the search, ensuring senior-level engagement at every stage. Our team started by interviewing leaders across Girls Who Code to understand the organization's culture, priorities, and ambitions for its next chapter. From these conversations, we defined a clear mandate for a mission-driven leader with the ability to innovate, scale, and navigate a rapidly evolving technology landscape.
Rather than limiting the search to a traditional nonprofit CEO pool, we engaged leaders across education, workforce development, technology, and other mission-driven sectors. We prioritized executives with a proven record of driving innovation and growth, building programs and organizations at scale, and using technology to expand impact. Structured interviews allowed us to evaluate each candidate consistently against the capabilities and experience most critical to Girls Who Code's future.
Bridge Partners placed Susan Gouijnstook as Chief Executive Officer of Girls Who Code, identifying a leader whose career sits at the intersection of education, workforce development, technology, innovation, and growth. Susan will lead Girls Who Code into its next chapter of innovation, growth, and impact, advancing the organization's mission to close the gender gap in technology and its ambitious goal of reaching 5 million girls, women, and nonbinary individuals by 2030.
Susan brings more than two decades of experience leading strategy, innovation, digital transformation, and growth across education and workforce development. Most recently, she served as Chief Solutions Officer at Jobs for the Future (JFF), where she led a 200+ person team spanning fundraising, program design and delivery, and research, while shaping an $80–$100 million portfolio and revenue strategy. Previously, she spent more than 15 years at McGraw Hill Education, ultimately serving as Senior Vice President of Innovation Strategy, Product Management, and Program Management for its $700 million+ Higher Education division.
B.A., English Literature, Queens College, CUNY. Founding member, Chief in Chicago.
Susan's career brings together the qualities at the center of this search: mission, innovation, technology, and the ability to build and scale for impact.
An international nonprofit working to close the gender gap in technology. Girls Who Code has served over 860,000 students, including 425,000 alumni who are now college- or career-aged, and is at the forefront of equipping the next generation to thrive in emerging fields like artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
Bridge Partners is pleased to announce the appointment of Wendy-Anne Roberts-Johnson as President & CEO of Philadelphia Youth Network.
Ms. Roberts-Johnson joins Philadelphia Youth Network from Need In Deed where she served as Executive Director for nearly five years. As President & CEO of Philadelphia Youth Network, Wendy-Anne will lead the transformation of the organization from its current stage to a more mature organization capable of delivering on its long-term vision. Along with the board, she will ensure that PYN’s fiscal, operations, fundraising, marketing, human resource, technology, and programmatic strategies are effectively implemented across all segments of the organization.
Ms. Roberts-Johnson holds a Bachelor Degree of Social Work and a Master Degree of Social Work from Temple University. She is the Board Chair of Education Plus Health and serves as Women’s Ministry Leader of Calvary Church.
Philadelphia Youth Network’s mission is to alleviate poverty and inequity through education and employment. PYN brings together key players across sectors to alleviate a root cause of poverty by preparing 12–24-year-olds to become productive working adults. Alongside its partners, PYN dramatically changes the trajectory of individuals’ lives by giving voice to underserved youth, and ultimately creating a pipeline for an educated, engaged workforce.
Please reach out through the form to schedule a time to speak with our team about your search needs.
