About Ari
Advice from someone who has carried the weight of the seat.
Ari Leubitz is a sitting nonprofit CEO and an ICF-credentialed (ACC) executive coach. He brings the discipline of operating leadership to advisory work with nonprofit CEOs, boards, and senior teams facing real decisions, not theoretical leadership exercises.
At $45M+ scale, with board partnership and accountability for a 300-person staff, his work centers on how strategy, people, money, and trust collide in the room and in daily decisions.
20+
Years senior nonprofit leadership
$45M+
Operating scope
300
Staff workforce led
97%
Faculty and staff retention
$70M
Capital development oversight
Who this is for
Built for leaders carrying real institutional weight
LeadForwardNow works with mission-driven organizations typically managing senior teams of five or more, a functioning board with real governance responsibilities, and decisions that carry meaningful institutional consequences.
Ari's work sits at the intersection of executive coaching, board alignment, strategic facilitation, and operating judgment. The differentiator is not the credential alone — it is leading from inside complex institutions where every decision touches people, money, mission, and trust.
- Senior teams of five or more with real governance
- Board partnership that carries institutional weight
- Decisions with meaningful mission and financial consequences
- Coaching grounded in operating judgment — not theory alone
In Ari's words
Why this work
I started this practice because I kept having conversations that I could not have anywhere else. Not conversations about tactics or messaging. The conversations I needed were the ones that went underneath: What am I actually afraid of here? What am I avoiding? Where is my own certainty getting in the way?
I have led organizations through board friction, staff transitions that could have broken things, financial pressure that did not show up in public, and moments where I had to make a call with incomplete information and real consequences attached.
The leaders I work with do not need someone to tell them how to lead. They need someone who can help them see the pattern they are too close to, ask the question they have not let themselves ask, and stay in it long enough to turn insight into something the organization can actually feel.
Practice
Coaching philosophy
Leadership is a Practice, Not a Position.
Titles create authority. They do not create clarity, trust, discipline, or judgment. Those have to be practiced in the way a leader communicates, sets boundaries, makes decisions, works with a board, and builds a senior team.
Ari's coaching is practical and direct. It helps leaders examine what is happening, test their assumptions, and decide what the moment requires.
Background
Operating background
Ari is a sitting nonprofit CEO. He carries full operational and financial responsibility, partners closely with a board, and leads major work across strategy, culture, talent, fundraising, and long-term institutional growth. His advisory work is grounded in that operating reality, not in theory alone.
He is an ICF Associate Certified Coach and is certified in Genos Emotional Intelligence, Five Behaviors / Everything DiSC, Working Genius, and PXT Select.
- Sitting nonprofit CEO carrying full operational and financial responsibility
- $45M+ operating scope with direct board partnership
- Accountability for a 300-person staff
- Two decades of senior leadership across mission-driven organizations
Certifications and tools
- ICF ACC
- Genos Emotional Intelligence
- Five Behaviors / Everything DiSC
- Working Genius
- PXT Select
- The Whole Leader Dashboard (proprietary)
What clients say
“Ari did not give me generic leadership advice. He helped me see the pattern underneath the issue and pushed me to be clearer about what I was responsible for. That changed how I prepared for board conversations and how I communicated expectations to my team.”
I still carry the full weight of an institution every day. That keeps this work honest. I know what it takes to stay clear under real pressure — and I know how quickly things drift when you try to do it alone.