Rigaud & Ian – Class of 2024

Rigaud Noel and Ian Broadwater – Class of 2024 – started their Greater NY Partnership talking about management tactics for a first-time CEO but quickly pivoted their conversations to strategically navigating crisis. Their Partnership built Noel’s “crisis muscle” and offered Broadwater an opportunity to reflect on a new definition of “business value” for nonprofit business.

Their Greater NY conversation began when Broadwater was winding down an 18-year tenure at Aquiline Capital Partners, a private equity firm where he developed deep experience in long-term value creation. Noel was in his second year as Executive Director of New Settlement, a community center in the Mount Eden section of the Bronx. New Settlement’s parent company, Settlement Housing Fund, owns and runs affordable housing and partners with New Settlement on services that include after-school services, college-readiness services, workforce development, tenant support, and community organizing – all centered in New Settlement’s state-of-the-art community serving over 15,000 New Yorkers annually.

For 35 years, Settlement Housing Fund made an annual $950,000 contribution to New Settlement. In 2024, Noel was told this would no longer continue. “A loss of almost $1M unrestricted dollars when we were an $8 million organization was pretty stressful,” says Noel. “I called Ian and said: ‘What the hell do I do?’ I was a new CEO, and this kind of thing had never been fully on my shoulders. Ian was an amazing resource. He talked me out of panic and really stabilized me at that moment.”

Broadwater had helped CEOs of private equity firms in his portfolio through a wide variety of crises. “Crisis is never fun,” he says. “I’ve dealt with a lot of crises and, for better or worse, there’s a crisis muscle that develops over time. What I’ve learned is to avoid clouding my judgment with immediate, urgent issues and instead focus on the long-term value of a business.”

Together, Noel and Broadwater identified immediate help. Noel reached out to Greater NY’s Analyst Corps to develop a detailed financial model of New Settlement's programs and operations. Broadwater provided feedback and was a sounding board as Noel thought through how to frame the crisis and present the finances to the Board.

Noel also engaged long-time funder Robin Hood to support development of a strategic plan. He says, “It became clear the biggest deficit in the organization was our community center, and the $1M we got every year was essentially going to cover the community center. We were forced to have a serious conversation about whether we closed the community center. No one wanted that. In my conversations with Ian, we began to talk about how the community center could be seen as the driver of our deficit, but it was also a revenue center and had the potential to elevate the organization to a better financial position.”

Broadwater says: “Over my career I’ve seen that quarter to quarter doesn't really matter. There are always fires, but as a leader you are primarily in the business of vision and the long-term plan. I think the important lesson is to never lose sight of the long-term play. Because ultimately, you're going to be judged by what the organization looks like at the end of your tenure. I had been to New Settlement’s community center enough to know that was a big part of the profile of this business. You could look at the P and L and say, ‘this is the deficit.’ But you also have to step back and say: ‘this is the organization.’”

As the Partners brainstormed, Noel got a phone call from Robert Cordero, Greater NY Class of 2018 and CEO of Grand Street Settlement on the Lower East Side. Grand Street had Head Start programs in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn and was looking for a partner in the Bronx. He encouraged Noel to apply for Head Start to be based out of New Settlement’s community center. “Fast forward,” says Noel. “We have signed a lease, so we are the landlord, and are going to host Grand Street’s program, which will generate about $400,000 a year for the community center for the next 15 years.”

Noel says the key lesson of the crisis for him was to step back as a leader and develop a broader view. "It was important for me and the staff to pause," says Noel. "I had to ask: What are we doing as an organization? What are the needs of this community? I don’t think we would’ve answered those questions for ourselves if that funding hadn’t gone away."

Broadwater says the Greater NY Partnership with Noel helped him understand the value proposition of nonprofit business. “I come from a world where profit orientation is permanent. Nonprofits are in the expense-provision business. Expenses provide services and jobs and make up the core value of your organizations. And cutting expenses is cutting services. So, while you need to look at your organization like a business in a P&L sense, the last thing you are going to do is cut expenses, because that's the value driver of your business.

“This means that for the ED revenue generation is really important, because it’s a means to an end towards value creation. I know this doesn’t sound all that revolutionary, but it is something that I had to come to terms with as I thought about my role in advising Rigaud and a nonprofit business.”

Greater NY connects leaders in strategic service to the people of New York City. The goal is not for the private sector to teach the nonprofit sector how to approach business, but for partners to forge shared business values and a mutual commitment to the vitality of New York City’s nonprofit businesses and the communities they serve.