A message from Chris Manley regarding today’s announcment

February 24, 2022

Dear Rebuild Upstate family and friends,

We have come so far over the past few years. We’ve grown our team to be able to serve more. We’ve expanded funding sources to both combat rising materials costs and tackle more projects at each home we serve (a record 556 in 2021 – thanks to your help). We are now making more progress than ever before in achieving our goal of every person in Upstate SC having a safe and healthy home.

But we’re not there yet – and we have more growing to do. In the middle of last year, as I looked toward our 15th anniversary, it became clear that to achieve future growth and to continue making leaps toward serving more homes, full-time leadership is necessary and vital.

While I have led Rebuild Upstate since its founding, for the past decade, it has been done so part-time. In the early days, it was easier to balance two jobs and leading two organizations, as my family was smaller and I was younger with more energy. The organization was also much, much smaller than it is today. We’ve had incredible growth.

Rebuild Upstate needs a full-time CEO with full-time, daily hands-on focus within the organization to take our next leaps as an organization. As such, I will step aside from the President/CEO role at the end of June.

Since late last year, I have been working with our board and staff to take steps toward this transition. Our team is already hard at work taking steps to find the right leader to propel us forward and make this a smooth transition. That has come as no surprise to me, as we are blessed with an incredible, passionate staff and a fantastic, supportive board. We plan to have the new CEO join our team in late spring.

This is no goodbye, despite the change. My passion for the mission of Rebuild Upstate has never been stronger than it is today. Following the transition, I will shift into the role of strategic advisor to continue supporting the mission as best I can at the direction of the new CEO and the board.

The first decade and a half of Rebuild Upstate has been an amazing journey. Together we have changed the lives of over 1,300 families by repairing their homes. Countless others have been affected by our passion and love for our neighbors.

May the next fifteen years be even more fruitful in bringing hope and restoring dignity to thousands of more families. The need is big. But so is our passion. Together, we can continue to make the mission of Rebuild Upstate a reality each and every day.

Onward,

Chris

Chris Manley
Founder & President/CEO
Rebuild Upstate

Read the full press release and review the job posting at rebuildupstate.org/CEO.