For a variety of reasons that I can’t go into here, it’s been difficult until now to more fully share with friends and family some exciting news: we’re making a family move to the greater Philadelphia area to be closer to family, and I’ll be starting a new position with philanthropic consulting firm Geneva Global after Labor Day.
For a number of years, my wife Jen and I have been contemplating a family move to be closer to Jen’s parents, her sister and sister-in-law, and my sister and her family, all of whom are now located in the greater Philadelphia area. It’s been difficult to engineer given that what I do professionally isn’t naturally concentrated in that geography! But things eventually worked out and I’m excited to begin a new professional chapter working at Geneva Global helping philanthropists make smarter decisions around investments in international development programs. My arrival at Geneva Global is an interesting full circle moment: Geneva Global was originally founded by the philanthropists who provided Global Integrity, my first start-up NGO, with its crucial first grant back in 2006. At Geneva Global, I’ll be filling a newly created managing director position, overseeing all of the firm’s client-facing services and deliverables.
On the home front, the move has been a bit of a stressful rush given the compressed timeframe due to the start of the school year up in Chester County, Pennsylvania on August 26th! We’ll eventually be living in Thornbury township, just southeast of West Chester, PA (a fun little college town we’ve always enjoyed), in a new construction home we’re building that should deliver in December (knock on wood!). In the interim, we’ll be decamping at Jen’s parents’ house in Wilmington, DE for roughly four months and can’t thank them enough for their willingness to put up with our roving circus. The good news is that our girls will be able to attend their future school in Pennsylvania starting on the first day of school in August, which is a big relief. Thanks West Chester Area School District!
We’re all excited as well as anxious for the move and the larger transition, and it’s been a whirlwind of bittersweet and mixed emotions. We’ll miss many neighbors, friends, and co-workers without a doubt. We’re also excited for a new adventure and being closer to family (roughly 20 minutes from Jen’s folks and much closer to her sister and sister-in-law, who are in northern Philadelphia). Personally, I’m jazzed about my future 25-minute commute; after two decades of commuting an hour each way, this is a non-trivial upgrade…especially with cycling to work now becoming a real possibility!
We’ve been lucky to sell our house quickly in Virginia and will move out on August 14th, settling on the transaction on August 16th. I’ll be finishing up my last few weeks at Results for Development remotely as well as shuttling back and forth to DC as necessary. The final, official transition to Geneva Global will occur the week after Labor Day, exact day TBC. [UPDATE: First day at Geneva Global = September 5 2019.]
So: that’s a lot of things; wish us luck!