Dr. Michael Wirth-Davis

Dr. Michael Wirth-Davis has served as President and CEO of Goodwill-Easter Seals
Minnesota (St. Paul) since 1990 and also President of the Goodwill-Easter Seals Foundation since 2014. He has more than 35 years of experience in a variety of nonprofit and community leadership positions.

He is currently serving on the board of directors of Workability International. He was recently elected to the Board of Trustees of Hamline University. He is a co-founder and co-leader of WorkWell MN a coalition of workforce development providers. He completed his term on the National Easter Seals board in October of 2024. He has served in national leadership roles for both Goodwill Industries International (GII) and Easterseals, serving on their boards and on a variety of board committees. Locally he has served on the boards of MN Council of Nonprofits, Charities Review Council, Nonprofit Assistance Fund, and the Midway YMCA; and has been a leader in the Itasca Project and on the Baldrige Minnesota Quality Award Panel of Judges. He served as a CARF surveyor for over 30 years. He has received numerous local and national leadership awards.

Wirth-Davis is the longest serving adjunct faculty member for the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Graduate School of Public Affairs and served with the Humphrey School’s Future Services Institute. He was also an adjunct faculty member for Hamline University’s School of Business Graduate Program in Nonprofit Management. He served on Hamline’s faculty advisory committee and the Dean’s search committee.

He holds a doctorate in Public Administration and Management. He has completed executive education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgetown University and Harvard Kennedy School. His doctoral dissertation topic was, Nonprofit Boards of Directors: The Relationship between Governance Purpose and Governance Maturity. Wirth-Davis’ academic areas of expertise and interest are nonprofit board governance; nonprofit leadership and management; nonprofit strategic planning; international rehabilitation; and ethics for nonprofit leadership. His publications include Subject Matter Expert, Governance Playbook, Goodwill Industries International, Inc. Publications, Contributor, Guidelines for Corporate Governance, A Tool for Goodwill CEOs, and Board Chairs. Goodwill Industries International, Inc. Publications; Author, Designing Ethical Practices for Quality Services. CARF Publications; and Co-Author, Managing Outcomes, Customer-Driven Outcomes Measurement and Management Systems. CARF Publications.

He is an active presenter at both local and national conferences. He also provides consultation to nonprofit organizations locally and nationally.