Heritage Foundation President Kay C. James and Executive Vice President Dr. Kim R. Holmes have announced their resignations, the organization confirmed in a Monday press release.
James will continue to serve as president of the foundation for up to six months until a replacement is found, and Holmes’ resignation is effective April 16. James will become a Heritage distinguished visiting fellow and remain on the organization’s board of trustees, according to the press release.
James has served as a trustee of Heritage’s board since 2005 and has been president since 2018. During her time at Heritage, she focused on outreach to young people, women and minorities, and founded a new policy institute, the Edwin J. Feulner Institute.
Scoop: @Heritage President Kay Coles James will announce her resignation this afternoon.
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) March 22, 2021
“When we came on board as the executive leadership team three years ago, we set several goals and told Heritage’s board of trustees that we would serve for three to five years to see them through,” James said. “We accomplished everything we set out to do. Now it’s time to let someone else take the reins.” (RELATED: Google Employees Flip Out After Executives Appoint A Black, Conservative Woman To Tech Board)
Holmes joined The Heritage Foundation in 1985 and became vice president in 1991. He left in 2002 to serve in the State Department before returning in 2018 to serve as executive vice president.
“It has been a privilege to work at Heritage for over three decades,” Holmes said. “I am deeply proud of our accomplishments and honored to have played a role in helping Heritage to be ‘True North’ for the conservative moment long into the future. I look forward to seeing the great successes yet to come.”
Greg Scott, the Director of Media and Public Relations at The Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Caller “the departures were entirely voluntary.”
“Mrs. James and Dr. Holmes felt like they had accomplished what they wanted to accomplish, especially from the management and organizational standpoint for Heritage,” he said. “They left Heritage better than they found it.”
Scott added he came to work at the organization because he thought James was an “inspiring choice to lead the organization.”
“She’s over-delivered, from my perspective,” Scott told the Daily Caller.