Interim Chief Executive Officer- Wyoming Business Council

State of Wyoming; Cheyenne (WY); On-site; USD 220,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Wyoming Business Council seeks an experienced senior executive to serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer during a period of significant organizational change. The appointment is roughly nine to 12 months, starting as soon as possible.

The interim CEO will sustain operations, strengthen statewide relationships, and guide the transition toward a permanent leadership solution with the Board and state leaders.

Qualifications

• Senior executive leadership with experience running or guiding an economic development organization.
• Proven ability to manage leadership transitions and governance changes.
• Credibility with governors, legislators, local officials, and private sector partners.
• Strong collaboration across state, regional, and local partners.

Responsibilities

• Maintain operational stability and staff confidence.
• Strengthen trust and external relationships with legislators, officials, business leaders, and stakeholders.
• Prepare for the permanent CEO search and engage a national search firm if needed.
• Advance regional planning design with Board and partners and align with state priorities.
• Develop a strategic foundation and evidence base integrating prior research and stakeholder input.
• Establish measurable progress indicators and transparent reporting frameworks.
• Support legislative consideration and implementation during the session.

Skills

Senior leadership

Economic development

Government relations

Stakeholder engagement

Strategic planning

Public-private partnerships

Job description

Interim Chief Executive Officer

Appointment: Approximately nine to 12 months

Start Date: As soon as possible, by mutual agreement

Compensation: Negotiable, based on qualifications and expertise

Lead a consequential transition for Wyoming

The Wyoming Business Council (WBC), the state’s economic development agency, seeks an experienced, trusted executive to serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) during a period of significant change. The interim CEO will sustain effective operations, strengthen relationships across the state, and help the WBC Board of Directors and state leaders prepare for the next chapter of Wyoming’s economic development era. This is a time-limited leadership appointment, expected to last approximately nine to 12 months. The successful candidate will bring senior-level economic development experience, sound judgment, and the ability to work constructively with elected officials, business leaders, regional and local partners, and a Board whose composition and responsibilities may evolve.

About the Wyoming Business Council

Created in 1998, the Wyoming Business Council leads statewide economic growth to support business success, build resilient communities, and expand opportunity. Headquartered in Cheyenne, WBC works with communities, businesses, economic development organizations, and public and private partners throughout Wyoming. Wyoming is preparing for a new gubernatorial administration in January 2027, and legislative consideration of changes to WBC’s statutes, programs, and governance may shape the organization’s future. These developments create an important opportunity to maintain continuity while helping local and state leaders identify sound choices for the state’s long-term economic growth and diversification.

The interim CEO’s charge

Reporting to the WBC Board of Directors, the interim CEO will provide steady executive leadership while working in concert with the Board, the outgoing and incoming gubernatorial administrations, legislative leaders, WBC staff, and statewide partners. The interim will help create the conditions for a successful permanent CEO transition and set the stage for the next era of the WBC. The appointment is designed to produce practical, decision-ready groundwork during a period of uncertainty and transition. The interim CEO will advance work already underway, surface options and tradeoffs, and preserve the ability of the incoming Governor and any newly constituted Board of Directors to set final policy and strategic direction.

Key responsibilities and outcomes

• Maintain operational stability and staff confidence. Lead WBC’s day-to-day work, maintain clear priorities and sound financial and organizational controls, communicate consistently with employees, and identify near-term risks or decisions requiring Board attention.
• Strengthen trust and external relationships. Listen to legislators, state and local officials, business and civic leaders, economic development organizations, education and workforce partners, and other stakeholders. Identify areas of alignment, concerns, and practical opportunities for better coordination; establish a clear engagement and communications approach.
• Prepare for the permanent CEO search. Work with the Board to define the search process and schedule, assist in selecting and engaging a national search firm, develop a transition-ready leadership profile and candidate materials, and organize a thorough handoff for the permanent CEO.
• Advance regional planning design. Help the Board and partners shape a durable, locally grounded regional planning structure. Drawing on relevant state and regional practice, including the Brookings state-regional playbook, develop options for regional boundaries or collaboratives, partner roles, planning support, and alignment between regional priorities and state investments. Keep the design responsive to Wyoming’s communities and existing institutions.
• Develop a strategic foundation and shared evidence base. Synthesize the findings and recommendations of ENDOW, the Harvard Growth Lab, Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) work, current WBC initiatives, and regional and stakeholder input. With the Board and state leaders, prepare a concise, high-level strategy framework that clarifies possible statewide priorities, opportunities, tradeoffs, and implementation questions.
• Establish useful measures of progress. Work with the Board and partners to identify a manageable set of leading and lagging indicators for statewide economic conditions and WBC performance. Recommend an approach to transparent reporting, financial stewardship, and a practical dashboard that supports decisions and learning.
• Support legislative consideration and implementation. During the legislative session, build on the statutory recommendations previously presented to the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee, and work with the Board, the Governor’s Office, legislators, and WBC staff to provide timely, balanced analysis and practical support as committee measures and individual legislator-sponsored bills affecting WBC are developed and considered. Clarify operational and fiscal implications, answer technical questions, and help prepare to implement enacted changes across rules, programs, staffing, and funding, consistent with Board direction.

Early priorities and deliverables

Early priorities will include listening and operational assessment, agreement with the Board on a focused work plan, and a clear engagement protocol for the leadership transition. Over the appointment, the interim CEO is expected to provide the Board with regular progress updates and usable work products.

Possible work products include

a transition assessment of operations, relationships, and near-term decisions; a stakeholder summary of alignment and open questions; a regional planning framework and statewide synthesis; a strategy foundation integrating prior research, current WBC work, and regional perspectives; proposed leading and lagging indicators and reporting; a review of statutory, program, staffing, and funding questions; and a permanent CEO search plan, leadership profile, and transition record. The scope and sequence of deliverables will be agreed upon with the Board and adjusted as governance, legislative, and transition decisions develop. The interim CEO will emphasize clear analysis and decision support over producing plans that cannot be implemented or sustained.

Desired experience and leadership strengths

• Senior executive experience leading an economic development organization, regional development effort, or business growth work at the state or regional level.
• A record of maintaining effective operations and guiding an organization through significant transition, governance change, or leadership succession.
• Experience across multiple states or territories is especially valuable, and candidates providing such background will have preference.
• Credibility working with governors, legislators, local elected officials, senior public administrators, private-sector CEOs, and community and regional partners.
• Skill in building trust, listening across differing views, facilitating difficult conversations, and communicating clearly and constructively.
• Experience translating economic analysis and stakeholder priorities into strategy, useful measures, and implementable recommendations, with an understanding of state and local economic development systems and public-private partnerships.

Appointment and application

The appointment is expected to last approximately nine to 12 months, with the exact term set by the WBC Board. The position will have a physical office in Cheyenne (although a flexible work arrangement may be agreed to), will require regular travel throughout Wyoming and occasional out-of-state travel, and is expected to begin by mutual agreement.

Review of applications will be ongoing, and this position will remain open until filled.

Finalists will be required to authorize a credit and criminal background check.