Leading Change Through Unprecedented Times: Nancy Sims and The Robert A. Toigo Foundation

The Robert A. Toigo Foundation was created in 1990 "to change the face of finance" by increasing the number of talented underrepresented minorities at the highest executive levels of leadership within the industry. With support from several donors from the financial services industry, the Toigo Foundation offered a comprehensive mentoring program and financial support for Toigo Fellows, minorities who were pursuing finance-related careers at selective graduate business schools. Nancy Sims, a woman of color with extensive leadership experience in the financial services industry, became involved with the Toigo Foundation during its early years: first as a volunteer mentor to several Toigo Fellows, then as a member of the Foundation's Board of Directors, then ultimately as the Foundation's President & CEO in 1998. Over the next ten years, Sims led the nonprofit Foundation through periods of reorganization and growth, applying her business acumen to balance deftly the roles she played in leading the Foundation's efforts while simultaneously justifying the merits and the imperative of underrepresented racioethnic minorities to industry leaders and educational partners. Sims now faced a new challenge: how would the ongoing financial crisis of 2008 affect the Foundation's ability to fulfill its mission? What should Sims do?

• Change management
• Nonprofit organizations
• Leadership
• Finance and investing
• Crisis management
• Organizational behavior
• Diversity and inclusion
• Decision making