Ed Mishrell began his career as a Probation Officer then went to graduate school to learn what organizational development. He spent over 40 years in the nonprofit sector first at community centers in Philadelphia and then at the national office of Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA). At BGCA Ed led the development of numerous national strategic initiatives including the Spillett Leadership University and the Advanced Leadership Program (ALP). The impact of this program was documented in an article published in McKinsey Quarterly entitled Putting a Value on Training. Ed remains part of the faculty for ALP.

Ed served as the Chief Strategy Officer for BGCA from 2010 to 2019. Working in collaboration with Club board and professional leaders, he led the development and deployment of BGCA’s strategic and operating plans. When Ed retired from BGCA he served as an Adjunct Professor for the Master of Public Administration program at the Andrew Young School of Social Policy at Georgia State University. He was surprised how little information was available for his students about leadership of nonprofit organizations especially for small nonprofits. This led him to begin investigating why some leaders are more successful than others. The result was Five Truths for Transformational Leaders.