Beyond Hunger’s executive director and chief executive officer, Michele Zurakowski, will retire in June 2025.
The organization hired Zurakowski in 2008, and she has served in her current role since 2012. Beyond Hunger is a local nonprofit organization started in 1978 that provides hunger-relief services to areas across Cook County including parts of Chicago and the western suburbs.
“Building the organization alongside so many dedicated community members has been my life’s work, privilege, and honor,” Zurakowski said in a Beyond Hunger news release. “As Beyond Hunger enters its next phase with tremendous momentum and stability, I am excited about what a new leader can mean for the organization’s future.”
The organization used to be a small food pantry serving 8,400 people per year in 2005, according to the release. But last year, the anti-hunger nonprofit served 65,000 individuals.
Zurakowski reportedly helped grow Beyond Hunger’s budget from $40,000 to $5 million, according to the release. She did that through partnerships with community, civic and religious organizations.
“Michele’s 13 years of leadership has been instrumental to our current success as an organization, and we’re poised for continued growth and impact because of the strong foundation that she has built,” said Laura Gutierrez, president of Beyond Hunger’s board of directors, in the release.
The board of directors created a leadership transition committee to search for the next Beyond Hunger leader. Koya Partners, a Chicago-based executive search firm, will conduct the search, according to the release.
The Oak Park Public Library’s board of trustees also chose Koya Partners to search for a new library executive director.
According to the release, Beyond Hunger hopes to have a new chief executive officer in the role before Zurakowski retires.