Todd Gustafson will step down as president and CEO of Kinexus Group effective Sept. 8, the organization announced Monday, ending a 21-year tenure at the agency that runs the Michigan Works! offices for Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren counties.
“After 21 years of leading the organization, Todd has decided to end his tenure at Kinexus Group, effective September 8,” board chair George Saleeby said in a press release issued Monday morning. “On behalf of the Kinexus Group Board of Directors, we are incredibly proud of all that has been accomplished under Todd’s leadership.”
Erin Wright, the organization’s chief people officer since 2018, will serve as interim leader while the board searches for a successor. The release says the board identified Wright as its “interim designated successor” in 2023 as part of succession planning.
“Serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of Kinexus Group for more than two decades has been one of the greatest honors of my professional life,” Gustafson said in the release. “I am confident that the foundation we have built together will continue to drive impact under the organization’s next leader.”
Gustafson joined the organization in 2005. The release describes his decision as a move “to begin the next chapter in his career.” It does not give a reason for the timing and does not mention the inquiry by the three counties that created the workforce board.
The announcement comes seven weeks into that inquiry. On June 29, Berrien County’s corporate counsel, writing on behalf of all three counties, demanded six years of records from the organization. Kinexus produced 467 pages on July 20 and about 1,650 more on Aug. 4. WSJM has published a series of special reports drawn from those records and from state monitoring files, most recently Monday morning, examining the board’s governance, its executives’ compensation, its audits, and the state’s oversight of its performance. The organization’s response to 22 written questions from WSJM is due Tuesday.
“During this transition, our focus is on keeping Kinexus moving forward, supporting our employees and continuing the work our communities count on us to do,” Wright said in the release.
This story will be updated.