After more than a decade of leading CoCoDA, Jim Mulholland has expressed his desire to retire as Executive Director in October 2025.

A change in leadership is no small undertaking, especially for a small international organization like CoCoDA.

Anticipating this, Jim has worked with:

  • CoCoDA’s Board of Directors,
  • CoCoDA’s staff,
  • and CoCoDA’s partners in Central America

to develop a multi-year transition plan to find his successor.

▶️ Listen to CoCoDA Executive Director, Jim Mulholland talk about his goal of finding his successor and the importance of a transition plan for non-profit organizations:

This transition plan, funded by the Brave Heart Foundation, is designed to allow CoCoDA to seamlessly transfer knowledge and intentionally identify an excellent successor.

After meeting with several highly qualified candidates, the Board of Directors has selected two finalists with a robust understanding of international community development and who have been champions of the work of CoCoDA for years.

Both candidates will travel to Central America this June to meet with CoCoDA’s Central American staff and partners and present their vision of CoCoDA’s future and how they plan to lead the organization.

The Board intends to announce the Executive Director elected by July 1st, 2024. This person will start working alongside Jim in October of this year and take over as the new Executive Director when Jim retires on October 1st, 2025. CoCoDA will share more information about this process in the upcoming months.

Today we want to celebrate the impact of Jim Mulholland on CoCoDA. It was in the summer of 2014 that Ivan Villasboa, CoCoDA’s Executive Director came to Jim Mulholland, who was the President of the CoCoDA Board at that time, and said, “Would you consider replacing me as Executive Director of CoCoDA?”

Over the next ten years, Jim accomplished much of what Ivan envisioned:

This wasn’t always easy.

CoCoDA faced a series of challenges in the past decade: navigating gang violence in El Salvador, Zika and Chikungunya outbreaks and, finally, the COVID-19 pandemic.

Early on, Jim sometimes went unpaid so other staff could be paid. Amid these challenges, Jim still moved CoCoDA from an organization that was surviving to one that is thriving.

▶️ Listen to CoCoDA Board Chair, Nate Addington, talk about the legacy of Executive Director Jim Mulholland and the importance of the search for his successor to CoCoDA’s work in Central America:

Jim’s work over the last 10 years will continue to benefit thousands of people in the years to come as CoCoDA continues its mission of connecting communities to communities and people to people!