The ECS, like other nonprofit groups serving state officials, has faced financial difficulties in recent years, starting when states faced severe revenue shortfalls early in the decade. But its problems became public this spring when Kathy Christie, the group's No. 2 official and a 17-year ECS employee, resigned and said in a letter to the ECS steering committee that Ms. Robertson had failed to inform the board of the group's troubled financial straits. This article discusses the preparation of ECS for its search for a new president to replace Piedad F. Robertson, who announced at its annual conference this month that she plans to leave that job early next year.