Episode 15: Featuring Mike Humphries, Board Chair and Kim Bohr, President & CEO of SparkEffect
What does it actually look like when a CEO spends six years intentionally handing over the reins, and both leaders are willing to tell the whole story?
This episode of Courage to Advance is unlike any we’ve done before. There’s no outside guest. Instead, Kim Bohr sits down with Mike Humphries, her colleague, predecessor, and the leader who has shaped this work for decades, to walk through their succession story together. From the sudden loss of co-founder Tom Waldron in 2017 to a pandemic that hit three weeks into Kim’s tenure, to a merger that brought two established firms together in 2023, to the moment Kim officially stepped into the CEO role on April 1, 2026. This conversation covers the real decisions, the hard conversations, and the trust that had to be built and rebuilt at every turn.
SparkEffect’s own Trust Study found that 71% of organizations faced significant disruption in the last 24 months, but only 36% emerged with stronger trust. Mike and Kim’s story shows what it actually takes to be in that 36%: not just surviving a transition, but coming out of it stronger.
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What You’ll Discover
- Why the sudden loss of a co-founder forced a CEO to rethink risk, retention, and succession all at once
- What specific criteria Mike used to identify his successor, and why entrepreneurial experience mattered more than industry background
- How Kim went from saying “no” to the role to ultimately committing, and the boundaries she set before saying yes
- What it’s like to onboard into a leadership role three weeks before a global pandemic shuts everything down
- How a merger between two established firms tested trust-building in ways neither leader expected
- Why “creating the space for someone to fill,” Mike’s gradual pull-back approach, worked better than a formal handoff plan
- What being fully open about the succession timeline did for team retention and followership (and why the fear of transparency is overblown)
- How Mike knew it was time to step back, and what his continuing role as active board chair looks like
Episode Highlights
[00:00] Introduction: A Different Kind of Episode. Kim sets the stage: no outside guest today. This is SparkEffect’s own succession story, recorded as the CEO transition became official.
[01:09] The Story Starts with Loss. Co-founder Tom Waldron’s sudden passing in 2017 led Mike to reckon with the risks of sole ownership. He focused on three priorities: stabilizing the business, retaining the team, and resetting the strategic plan with broader leadership input.
[05:23] Finding Kim, and Hearing “No.” Mike was searching for a business development leader when a mutual connection introduced him to Kim, who was building her own consulting business and had zero interest in the role. But her entrepreneurial instincts, a prior failed business acquisition, and shared values kept checking the boxes on his successor criteria list.
[11:37] The Boundaries That Made It Work. Kim describes the conditions she set before saying yes: a clear path to CEO, genuine partnership, and a commitment that this would be different from promises she’d heard before.
[13:14] Three Weeks Before a Pandemic. Kim joined at the end of February 2020. Within weeks, she was trying to build relationships with colleagues she’d barely met while the business shifted under everyone’s feet.
[14:50] Build or Buy: The Merger Decision. Mike explains the strategic rationale for merging with Torchiana (now part of SparkEffect), led by Rod Bacon. He laid out Kim’s role and trajectory as a non-negotiable during merger conversations, and gave the incoming partners time to build their own confidence in her leadership.
[19:43] Integration, Rebranding, and Trust Under Pressure. Kim reflects on the hardest year: integrating two organizations with different operating styles while trying to build followership with people who were trusting her through someone else’s endorsement.
[23:23] When Does a CEO Know It’s Time? Mike describes his gradual pull-back (reducing visibility in daily decisions, traveling more, creating space) as a deliberate strategy. Kim explains why it worked for the whole organization: nobody was jarred, comfort built naturally, and the transition felt earned rather than imposed.
[27:54] What Comes Next for Mike. Mike outlines his continuing role as active board chair: governance, financial oversight, select client work, and the luxury of going deep on the parts of the business he loves most.
[29:37] Advice for Leaders Considering Succession. Mike’s counsel: start early, don’t wait for a crisis, be transparent with your team. Kim adds that the common fear of transparency causing departures is overblown. Bringing people along builds followership and trust, not anxiety.
Key Takeaways for Business Leaders
Start succession planning before you need to. Mike’s story began with tragedy. His advice is clear: don’t let a crisis be the catalyst. The earlier you begin identifying and developing successors, the more intentional and effective the process becomes.
Your successor criteria should go beyond the obvious. Mike looked for entrepreneurial experience, a failed business acquisition attempt, transparent communication style, and deep operational instincts, not just industry tenure or a matching resume.
Transparency builds trust, not turnover. Both Mike and Kim emphasize that being open about the succession timeline and pathway strengthened team engagement rather than threatening it. The fear that transparency causes departures is largely overblown.
Succession is a trust-building exercise, not just a business transaction. Merging two firms during a CEO transition meant Kim had to earn followership from people who only trusted her because someone they trusted vouched for her. That kind of secondhand trust takes real time to become the real thing.
Gradual transitions work better than big handoff moments. Rather than a single transfer of authority, Mike describes years of incrementally pulling back: reducing his visibility, expanding Kim’s decision-making authority, and creating space for her to fill naturally.
About Mike & Kim
This episode features two SparkEffect leaders telling their own story. Mike Humphries has shaped this work for decades, leading the firm through the loss of a co-founder, a strategic merger, and a global pandemic. Kim Bohr joined in 2020 as COO, became a co-owner, and as of April 2026, has stepped into the CEO role. Mike continues as active chairperson of the board.
Connect with SparkEffect
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Website: sparkeffect.com
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LinkedIn: SparkEffect
Notable Quotes
Mike Humphries: “Out of all the uncertainty in the world, it is tremendously comforting to know that, particularly as an owner of a business, that it’s going to be in good hands if something happened.”
Kim Bohr: “Bringing people along in the process is a really valuable trust-building exercise. I would encourage others to consider that as a real positive versus it being used as a reason to not want to say anything.”
Mike Humphries: “It’s a matter of creating the space for them to fill as much as it is what does the formal plan look like.”
Kim Bohr: “Our own practices were tested in how we show up and how we deliver feedback and how we get curious and how we build trust.”
Related Resources
- Case Study: Designing Succession wiht Intention: A Case Study in Leadership Continuity
- Article: The Courage to Plan Out Loud: Why Transparent Succession Planning Is the Trust-Building Exercise Most Organizations Skip
- SparkEffect Trust Study – Research showing that 71% of organizations faced disruption in the last 24 months, but only 36% emerged stronger (https://info.sparkeffect.com/trust-study-2025-download).
- SparkEffect’s CEO & Board Advisory Services
About Courage to Advance
Courage to Advance explores how visionary leaders are building the organizations they wish existed, companies that prove business doesn’t have to be dehumanizing. Hosted by Kim Bohr, President and COO of SparkEffect, each episode features executives who refuse to accept that traditional corporate practices are inevitable, sharing the experiments, resistance, and breakthrough results of choosing human flourishing alongside business success.
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