Lauren M. Schadle has resigned as CEO and executive director of the Financial Planning Association and will be replaced with an interim chief while a permanent successor is sought, the FPA announced today.

Patrick Mahoney, who has experience as an executive in the profit and nonprofit sectors, will take over immediately, leading the day-to-day management of the association, the FPA said.

Mahoney currently provides strategic leadership consulting to global organizations focused on market relevance, innovation, and growth, the FPA said. A past chief marketing officer for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and former president and CEO of GlobalSpec, an IEEE company that provides news, data and analytics to the engineering community. Mahoney brings marketing, business development, and financial oversight to the organization, the FPA said.

The move comes amid continuing declining membership for the national organization, which recently underwent a complete reorganization of its structure and brand. The FPA board of directors will begin an immediate search for Schadle’s permanent replacement, FPA said.

Tension has existed for years between the national FPA organization and the 86 independent chapters spread across the country. Starting in 2018, the FPA rolled out an ambitious plan to centralize the organization, parts of which were enacted. However, local chapters balked at rolling their budgets into a centralized budget system that was designed to simplify accounting.

FPA’s more than 22,000 members have access to a wide array of services and events planned by the local chapters and the national association. A national conference held each year draws industry leaders and advisors from across the country. Earlier this month, FPA announced its new website and branding effort.

Schadle said in an article she authored in April, “While FPA offers a robust set of services and programs nationally and through our network of 88 chapters and state councils, we need to face the truth that the landscape for national voluntary professional membership associations has changed dramatically. Simply doing business the way we have been will not get us where we need to be as an organization. Here’s the reality about voluntary professional membership associations like FPA.”

She added, “Competition from the nonprofit and for-profit sectors in areas that were reserved for associations like FPA in the past has increased exponentially. Professionals joining related associations because of loyalty or professional obligation, which was the norm in the past, is the exception now. The homogeneity of membership that existed in professional membership organizations in the past made the development of attractive programs and services simpler. Demographic and business diversity has multiplied the complexity and number of target markets that professional associations must consider. This is all occurring against the backdrop of our technology-driven economy.”

Last year, FPA President Evelyn Zohlen said the restructuring of the organization was being done because of the disorganized structure that was then in place. The move came after a study of the structures of other voluntary organizations, Zohlen said.

However, the moves have not stemmed the criticisms. Michael Kitces, an advisor and columnist who has long been a critic of the FPA, said six years of flat or declining membership and declining  revenues should have been a sign that current leadership in the organization needed to be replaced before now.

“I don’t know any other organization where the CEO could preside over what is now a full eight years of declining membership, in the middle of a raging bull market and giant economic expansion, and still keep her job. It was/is time for new leadership at FPA to breathe new life into a crucial organization for the profession,” Kitces said in an email. “This isn’t an abrupt leadership change. It was long overdue.”

Schadle has been with the FPA in various roles since before two industry associations merged to create the FPA more than 20 years ago. She had served in various positions at one of those organizations, the Institute of Certified Financial Planners, before the merger.

The search for FPA’s next chief executive will include input from FPA’s various stakeholder groups, including staff and national and local volunteer leaders, FPA said.