Good Insight CEO Carlyn Madden Recognized as 40 Under 40 Honoree

The Good Insight Team congratulates our Founder and CEO, Carlyn Madden, for being named one of the Washington Business Journal’s 2022 40 Under 40!

Carlyn has dedicated her career to helping nonprofits access resources for the communities that they serve. Following nearly a decade in local grantmaking, Carlyn embarked on a career as an independent consultant to nonprofits in 2013. Since that time, Good Insight has expanded from a one-woman consultancy into a national executive search firm for nonprofits with a team of nine. The firm has tripled in size and revenue since the start of the pandemic.

Through Good Insight, Carlyn is on a mission to connect good causes to great leaders, helping nonprofits navigate leadership transitions, recruit a variety of C-suite executives, and develop effective boards. As a 100% women-owned and operated firm, Good Insight is committed to gender, racial, and social justice. We are developing anti-racist approaches to executive search to build more inclusive, diverse workplaces for the social sector.

Regarding Good Insight’s rapid growth and expansion, Carlyn says:

“I am honored by the Washington Business Journal’s 2022 40 under 40 recognition. Good Insight’s growth is directly connected to our ability to achieve impact in the local community. The more leaders we place, the stronger and the better equipped our clients are to address the opportunities and challenges ahead. I look forward to many more years of serving DC area residents through our work.”

As the founder of Good Insight, Carlyn has established a firm committed to centering the region’s most vulnerable residents, elevating the arts and humanities, and expanding educational opportunities. Good Insight’s recent clients have included SMYAL, the District Alliance for Safe Housing, Humanities DC, Jubilee Housing, DC Greens, Arlington Arts Center, and Reach Education, Inc.

Carlyn began her career at the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, where she managed a portfolio of grantees crossing community services, health, the environment, and the arts. Later at the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities she steered millions of dollars of grants, programs, and special funder initiatives. She has chaired the DC chapter of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, served as an advisor to the Obama administration’s Office of Public Engagement, and helped initiate the Future Executive Director’s professional development program.

In addition to her professional pursuits, she serves on the board for Leadership Greater Washington (Class of 21) and has been a reviewer for the Catalogue for Philanthropy for nearly 15 years. In 2019, she co-founded the Next Gen Giving Circle, which engages mid-career professionals in local philanthropy. Since its inception, the giving circle has raised over $100,000 from 150 professionals to redistribute to nonprofits led and governed by people of color in the Washington, DC region.

Please join us in extending our congratulations to our founder, Carlyn—we are very proud of her!