Our executive director Marc Stier shared this letter today with our colleagues and friends.
October 3, 2025
Dear Friends,
This week, the Pennsylvania Policy Center is announcing a search to replace me as executive director. I will stay until we hire a new executive director, which I expect will happen sometime between November and January, and work with the new executive director for as long as she or he wants to help ensure that the organization and its work thrive.
You can find the job announcement and description here. Please share it with people you know who might be interested and are qualified to do the job.
This is not an announcement that I’m retiring. I love my work and can’t imagine ever not doing it. It’s an announcement that I’ll be doing different work in the future and that the organization I founded will go on without me.
Nor is it a suggestion that I’m tired of leading the Penn Policy Center. This is still my ideal job. It combines two things I enjoy—thinking and writing about politics and public policy on the one hand and political advocacy and organizing on the other. I’ve very much valued working with my colleagues at PPC, throughout Pennsylvania, and across the country on various projects, and I’m grateful to many of you who have joined our events and actions over the years or supported us with financial contributions. And given the challenges before us and the incredible additions we’ve made this year to an already first-rate team, I’m a little sad that I’ll no longer be leading this organization.
So, why am I leaving? Because there is other work I want to do. I have a few long-delayed book projects that are close to completion. Ten years ago, I thought I would have time to finish them during our down time. But there is precious little of that while I lead PPC.
The books I want to finish and other writing I want to do is important to me. I also believe it could be important to our efforts not just to address the threat of fascism we now face but to help us turn the corner and revive our efforts to create an inclusive and multi-racial political and economic democracy in the United States. And, at my age, it’s front of mind that I have no guarantee I’ll hold on to my marbles or live long enough to complete this work if I don’t step aside now as head of PPC.
There are, of course, other attractive aspects of stepping down from Penn Policy. I’m looking forward to having the time to become a good trumpet player, to keep up with my friends, and to spend more time with my family. And as they remind me, to exercise more.
So, it’s time for me to mostly change direction. I’ll likely keep my hand in the advocacy world by doing a little consulting on policy, strategy, and organizing. But I’m going to mainly devote myself to writing.
I’m grateful for an incredible ten years leading this organization and its predecessor. I’ve enjoyed this work immensely. I’ve learned so much and we have a had a little success. And the fun and success I’ve had would have been impossible without the support of my wonderful colleagues at Penn Policy, my family and friends, our partners in the advocacy space in Pennsylvania, the tens of thousands of Pennsylvania activists I’ve worked with over the years, and Pennsylvania legislators and legislative staff members.
This is a very dark time in our country, and the future is radically uncertain. But all is not lost. Together, we can change our direction. We can find the resources within ourselves to protect our democracy; restore and expand our safety net and provide equality of opportunity for all; limit and effectively adjust to climate change; and quicken the all-too-halting steps we’ve taken to break down the barriers of patriarchy, white supremacy, and bigotry. When we move in that direction again, it will be because of the efforts of all of you who’ve given tirelessly of yourselves in doing this work for many years.
I’m very proud to have done this work with many of you for the last ten years. And I look forward to still doing it, albeit in a different way, for many years to come.
Marc