Building Strength for a Promising Future
For generations, the Lincoln Institute has been a well-established force for change and a provider of high-quality education and publications on dozens of topics of global interest. When George “Mac” McCarthy began his tenure as president and CEO in 2014, the Board of Trustees—led by Kathryn J. “Katie” Lincoln—charged him with expanding our relevance and impact.
A decade later, our global influence and reach have hit new heights, and the Lincoln Institute is today at its strongest, thanks to our extraordinary staff, partners, and supporters. This is therefore an optimal time to begin transitioning to new leadership. Accordingly, Katie will depart from her position as chief investment officer at the end of fiscal year 2024, and Mac informed the board of his intent to retire in 2025.
Preparing to leave these roles is bittersweet, but we are deeply proud of the institute’s current standing. Our ample yet relatively secure financial assets allow us to stay on the cutting edge and be proactive and provocative in our work, remaining independent in pursuing our mission while working alongside a growing list of external funders.
Our relatively new matrix structure has enabled incredible collaborations across geographies, policy areas, and goals, and our legacy programs now have greater reach and more depth than ever. What’s more, long-term relationships in regions like Latin America now inform practices the world over, connecting like-minded leaders interested in learning to do more with land. Our longevity has also given the Lincoln Institute a new capacity to respond to practitioners in the field.
The expanded relationship with Claremont Lincoln University is one such project. We now have the long-requested ability to confer degrees—including the first master’s in land policy in the United States—through an accredited partner. The three-year-old Center for Geospatial Solutions is another remarkable example: its state-of-the-art findings in projects like “Who Owns America” tell parcel-level stories of land use with unprecedented detail that were simply not possible even five years ago.
Looking toward the institute’s future—and its future leadership—we feel immeasurably fortunate to have helped build such a strong organization, made more so by the connections and synergies among our own programs and experts. The possibilities ahead truly expand our mission of finding answers in land, and we are inspired by imagining how our successors will continue to transform the life of this idea.
Kathryn J. Lincoln, Chair of the Board and CIO
George W. McCarthy, President and CEO