About Ted

Founder and Principal

Leadership. Judgment. Impact.

For over 30 years, Ted Webb has advised boards and organizations through critical leadership transitions.

As founder and principal of Ford Webb Associates, he works with governing boards, executives, and leadership teams to identify exceptional leaders and to strengthen the institutions that serve the public good.

Ted Webb
By the
Numbers
30
Years

Leadership, public sector, and executive search experience

Hundreds
Of Searches

Hundreds of Chief Executive searches completed

National
Reach

Clients across advocacy, philanthropy, education, health, human services, utilities, government, and public policy

Since 1995
Founder

Founder and Principal, Ford Webb Associates

What Clients Value

Clients engage Ted Webb not simply to recruit executives, but to help boards and leadership teams navigate consequential moments of organizational change.

His work combines executive search, governance insight, leadership assessment, and strategic counsel. Whether assisting a national nonprofit, a public institution, a utility, or a community-based organization, Ted approaches each engagement with the belief that leadership transitions are among the most important decisions an organization will make.

Many client relationships begin long before a search is formally launched, through conversations about succession planning, governance, organizational readiness, and leadership strategy.

The right leader can strengthen a mission, elevate a team, and change the trajectory of an organization.

About Ted

Experience

Ted began his career in government, serving as a social worker, legislative committee staff director, chief of staff to a cabinet secretary and special assistant to a governor.

He has recruited over 300 chief executives for nonprofit organizations, foundations, associations, utilities, educational institutions, health and human service organizations and public agencies.

Personal Perspective

Ted's career has been shaped by a belief that institutions matter and that leadership transitions have lasting consequences for the organizations and communities they serve.

Serving clients ranging from grassroots organizations to national institutions has been an amazing and humbling experience and continues to inform his work.

He views executive search as both a professional discipline and a form of public service — helping organizations identify leaders who will strengthen their missions, advance their values, and build resilient institutions for the future.

Ted is committed to a personal, collaborative approach in every engagement, grounded in discretion, integrity, and a deep respect for the work of leadership.

Essays that reflect the practice