Ceos As Volunteer Leaders

This case study seeks to gain an understanding of the way private-sector chief executive officers (CEOs) impact a major community development initiative and to determine whether or not the initiative is positively served by CEO leadership. The case study's context is the Chicago Housing Authority's Plan for Transformation (The Plan). The Plan represents the largest reconstruction of public housing in the nation's history. The study found that the CEOs positively impacted the Plan by sharing and leveraging their time, money, intelligence, and social capital and that those CEOs had primarily social motives for participating in the Plan. Additionally, major stakeholders involved with the Plan perceived the CEO's roles as providing leadership, assisting in fundraising, setting policy, guiding the Plan, and serving as mentors.