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Tri-Valley nonprofit Sunflower Hill is positioning to recruit for a new executive director in 2025 after its previous leader departed earlier this year from the organization that focuses on residential, vocational and educational programs for local adults with developmental disabilities.
Jen Lenard-Benson “left” Sunflower Hill in March after two years at the helm, according to Janeen Rubino-Brumm, president of the nonprofit’s Board of Directors. Rubino-Brumm did not comment on the circumstances of Lenard-Benson’s exit — the news of which was not widely publicized outside of Sunflower Hill circles.
The homegrown nonprofit, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year and has major residential projects in the works in Lafayette and Dublin among its ongoing initiatives, plans to move forward operations for the rest of 2024 without an executive director, in part with support in key areas from board members, according to Rubino-Brumm.
“We do plan to eventually recruit for an ED but our board decided to take some time to realign organizational strategic goals and set the stage for the next few years,” she told the Pleasanton Weekly this week. “With several housing developments underway and 10 years of the garden at Hagemann Ranch, it was a good time to do so.”
“Our Board of Directors and founders has always been a ‘working board’ per se, working closely with our staff,” she added. “Susan Houghton, our founder, leads the Dublin Grace Pointe land project. Lynn Monica, our garden co-founder, works directly with staff at the garden. And our board members and committees are very engaged in the overall day-to-day and organizational operations.”
Attempts to contact Lenard-Benson have been unsuccessful. Her LinkedIn page states her tenure at Sunflower Hill ended in March, and she is currently listed among the active board members for the Tri-Valley Nonprofit Alliance.
The leadership departure was shared within the Sunflower Hill community at the time, including to the nonprofit’s residents, program participants and partners, according to Rubino-Brumm — although it appears the news was not actively publicized to the community at large.
Lenard-Benson joined Sunflower Hill in March 2022 as the organization’s second permanent executive director.
She succeeded Edie Nehls, who worked as the nonprofit’s first executive director from May 2018 to October 2021, a period that included the construction and opening of its Sunflower Hill at Irby Ranch affordable housing community in Pleasanton for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The nonprofit’s board opted to then bring in Janet Cohen as an interim executive director during that prior leadership transition.
For its first five years, Sunflower Hill operated without an executive director and founder Houghton largely serving as the face of its leadership.
Operations director Jennifer Oxe appears to be the highest-ranked staff member for Sunflower Hill at the moment, according to its website. Looking forward, Rubino-Brumm said, “Our plan right now is to post the job for the executive director after the first of the year.”
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