Bob Harrington
Director, Strategic Restructuring Practice
Bob Harrington, MSW/LCSW, is the Director of La Piana Consulting's Strategic Restructuring Practice, where he has provided consulting services to the nonprofit sector for more than ten years. In his consulting, Bob draws on his extensive nonprofit management experience to assist nonprofits with strategic restructuring (partnerships between nonprofits, such as mergers, joint ventures, and administrative consolidations), strategic planning, executive/board relations, transition management, human resource issues, program planning and development, nonprofit incorporation, and collaborations including public/private partnerships.
Bob has experienced mergers of nonprofits both as an Executive Director and Board member. He has also consulted with dozens of organizations in the assessment and negotiation of mergers, and the integration of merged organizations. In this work, Bob has consulted with a wide variety of nonprofits including arts and cultural, education, environmental, healthcare, mental health, social services, and management services organizations. Bob has also contributed to two of La Piana’s best selling books on strategic restructuring: The Nonprofit Mergers Workbook, Part I: Considering, Negotiating, and Executing a Merger (2008 updated) and The Nonprofit Mergers Workbook Part II: Unifying the Organization after a Merger.
Prior to coming to La Piana Consulting, Bob worked in the nonprofit social services field for close to 30 years, serving in organizations ranging from small community-based groups to statewide organizations with budgets over $20 million. He has experience as a staff member, administrator, and nonprofit board member with child/family-serving programs in mental health, adoptions, counseling, pregnancy counseling, treatment foster care, residential treatment, group home care, child care, emergency shelter, in-home services, evaluation services, and reunification/ preservation services.
Prior to joining La Piana Consulting, Bob was the Chief Operating Officer of Sunny Hills-Children’s Garden Family and Children’s Services. He took on this role when his prior organization, Children’s Garden of California, completed a merger with Sunny Hills Children’s Services. For eight years, Bob served as Executive Director at Children’s Garden of California, where he was responsible for overall agency oversight, including program operations, development, financial management, new program development, community liaison, and involvement in state and local policy issues.
Bob received his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of California, Davis and his Masters of Social Work degree from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
In his time off, Bob enjoys skiing, hiking, and cycling, and spends as much time as possible in the mountains.
