Concordia, the leading nonpartisan organization convening leaders across business, government, and civil society, today announced that Matthew Swift, Co-Founder, President & CEO, will transition to Executive Chairman of Concordia, and that Rodney Ferguson has been named CEO Designate, effective immediately. Both transitions take full effect on October 1st, 2026, at which point Ferguson will become President & CEO. He will be working closely with Swift through the transition.
“It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve as President & CEO of Concordia these past sixteen years, and an even greater privilege to have built it alongside Nick Logothetis, our Leadership Council and a community of people I’m proud to call friends,” said Swift. “The appointment of my friend Rodney Ferguson to become our President & CEO in October is both humbling and exciting. Rodney has been a part of the Concordia community almost since the beginning, including as a member, programming partner, Advisory Council member, Board member, and Vice Chairman. I’ve seen his judgment and his integrity firsthand, and I’m confident there’s no one better suited to carry Concordia forward. With Rodney taking the helm and Hanne LeCount continuing to guide our extraordinary team, Concordia could not be in better hands, with its greatest successes still ahead. I’m grateful to step into a strategic role that will allow me to focus on Concordia’s key relationships, now as Executive Chairman beginning this October.”
“Concordia has been part of my life for a decade now, and it’s hard to put into words what it means to step into this role,” said Ferguson. “I’ve watched this organization bring the right people together around the hardest problems, again and again, and I’ve seen what that work can do. The world we’re operating in has only grown more complex, and the need for the kind of cross-sector trust Concordia builds has never been greater. I’m grateful to Matt, Nick and Hanne for their partnership and their confidence, and I’m ready to get to work.”
Concordia’s Board of Directors, including Co-Founder and Chairman Nicholas Logothetis, who will continue in his role as Chairman of the Board, unanimously supported Ferguson’s appointment.
“When we founded Concordia, the idea was simple: get the right people in a room and something real would happen. Watching that grow from a single summit into a global platform has been the privilege of my life, and I’m proud of everything Matt has built over the past sixteen years,” said Logothetis. “Rodney has been a trusted voice in this community for a decade now, first as an advisor, then as a member of our Board, and I’ve seen firsthand the judgment and integrity he brings to every conversation. The Board’s confidence in him is unanimous, and I couldn’t be more excited for what he’ll build next.”
The transition follows a planning process shaped in close coordination with Concordia’s Executive Director, Hanne LeCount, who will continue to work alongside both Swift and Ferguson as it unfolds.
“I’ve had the privilege of building Concordia alongside Matt for a decade, and I can say without hesitation that Rodney is exactly who this next chapter needs. He is someone who knows the entire organization and will be able to help us further scale the work this community does,” said LeCount. “On behalf of our whole team, I’m thrilled to welcome him into this role, and grateful to Matt for the sixteen years of trust and hard work that got us here.”
Ferguson currently leads Pomander Lane Advisors, a Washington, D.C.-based consultancy he founded focused on leadership alignment, management consulting, and public affairs strategy, and serves as a Senior Advisor to the global executive search firm Odgers. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer of The Clearing, Inc., a Washington, D.C., change-management consultancy, and also serves as a Senior Advisor for the firm. From 2013 to 2024, as President & CEO of Winrock International, a $100 million global development nonprofit, Ferguson oversaw the strategic, programmatic, financial, and management operations of an organization with more than 1,000 employees and 100 projects in over 40 countries and served for five years on the Advisory Committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Earlier in his career, he spent twenty years as a leading communications and strategy consultant to the nonprofit sector, managing public affairs for the MacArthur Foundation’s $15 million MacArthur Fellows “genius” awards portfolio and advising institutions including the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Ferguson steps into the role familiar not only with Concordia’s community, but with its stage. He has spoken at multiple summits, including the 2019 Annual Summit, where he delivered a mainstage address on climate innovation and convened sessions on counter-trafficking and sustainable food supply. He became a Concordia Senior Advisor in 2021, joined the Board of Directors in 2022, later chaired the Board’s Budget & Investment Committee, and currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board.
Born and raised in Alabama, Ferguson graduated summa cum laude from Birmingham-Southern College, attended the University of St. Andrews in Scotland as a Rotary Foundation International Scholar, and earned a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and two children, and will remain based there in his new role.
Concordia looks forward to welcoming Ferguson in his new capacity at this year’s Annual Summit, taking place September 20th-23rd in New York City.
